High Tech Hobo: Unique New Zealander Cuisine

After my travels through South America, finding myself in New Zealand was more than a little discombobulating. I was back in an English-speaking, Western-culture country for the first time in three-and-a-half months. Things were comfortingly familiar, but just different enough from Canada to be disconcerting.

Silver ferns replaced maple leafs. Rugby was the national obsession instead of hockey. The notes in my wallet had pictures of the Queen, but were all plasticky and stuff.

My walk through the CBD (Central Business District) involved dodging jandal-wearing, swimsuit-clad lifeguard fund-raising teams while hearing Christmas carols blasting from the shops during the 25°C heat. (Playing Winter Wonderland when the window display is plastered with signs for a sun-dress sale? Really?)

That first day in Auckland was spent in a surreal haze.

The weirdness didn't stop in the supermarket. Bananas were over two dollars a pound. Minced lamb was cheaper than chicken or beef. It took me ten minutes to locate eggs since stores in New Zealand don't stock them in the refrigerated section.

I was taking all of this in stride. I wandered the store that afternoon -- gathering ingredients for dinner -- content in the idea that while my current style and length of travel brought about a lot of bewilderment, it was also giving me the unique opportunity to prepare an Italian-style ragù from a box of tomato sauce from Peru, a bottle of red wine from Argentina, dried spices I'd purchased in Chile and local New Zealand lamb sausage.

Then my nonchalance was shattered. I was quickly down an aisle when something out of the corner of my eye literally stopped me in my tracks. A split-second later, I was staring at a section of canned goods. A rhetorical "What the Hell is that?" was actually spoken aloud.

What caused me to elicit stares from my fellow grocery shoppers?

Woolworth's Home Brand Potato Salad In Creamy Egg Mayonnaise.

In a can.

Yeah. That's right. Canned Potato Salad.

(Admit it. You weren't expecting that. When you first read the title, you thought I was going to write about Maori hāngi, or possum meat pies, or lamb anything, didn't you?)

Let me be clear: I love potato salad. I especially love a potato salad with plenty of mayonnaise and egg. But I was sceptical that potato salad in a can could be remotely appetising.

Okay, I'm holding back. My first thought was, "That has to be freaking disgusting."

Obviously, I had to pick up a can.

I try to keep an open mind about food. My philosophy is that I should be willing to try anything at least once -- my only requirement being that some culture, somewhere, has to consider whatever I'm trying to be "food". Plus, I figured, "How bad could it be?" I mean, there were a large amount of cans on offer, so somebody was buying them. Plus, it couldn't possibly be worse than eating bugs in the Amazon, right?

Thus, I didn't only buy that can; I partook.