by Angela

I never thought a grocery store could be exciting and sentimental but it was! We went to Martha’s backyard a month or so ago. This American grocery store is one of a kind in Auckland. It started in 2007 as a hobby by a New Yorker Sandy Graham who enjoyed bringing back American items to New Zealand for friends and family. I was wondering where the name “Martha” came from and here is what the website says…

“The Shop is named after the three famous Marthas… Martha Washington for integrity, Martha’s Vineyard for beauty, and everyone knows the third Martha for creativity.”

It is now a popular store in Mount Wellington which ironically is where we initially stayed when we first came and I passed by it several times. My plan for our visit there was to check it out, look around, and grab a few things to share with friends here. But as we stepped in through the doors my heart swelled at the sight of homeland favs like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Goldfish, Cheez-its, Kraft mac and cheese, Swiss Miss hot chocolate. Not that these are necessarily my favorites but it’s like seeing an old friend again when you haven’t seen any friends in 4 months. Danny and the kids were just as enlivened as me. As we filled up two hand baskets, I realized how hard it was to limit our spending and curb the kids and my own nostalgia. Do we really need A1 sauce? (Danny says YES). I don’t think we realized how much we miss the familiarity of home.

There have definitely been some differences when it comes to food here. Initially I noticed all the new things that I hadn’t seen before- meat pies, fish and chips, heaps of amazing Indian restaurants, convenient fast-food sushi. But more recently, I have become aware of what’s missing compared to the US in the grocery stores and fast-food industry. Charles has joked that he could live here if only they had Chick-fil-A. We actually had to talk him out of the idea of trying to get Chick-fil-A mailed here. I am looking forward to Mexican food back home – there aren’t a lot of sit-down restaurants nor fast food like Chipotle or Qdoba.

Something else that is unusual is that Kiwis are super excited when new fast-food chains arrive on the scene like Popeye’s a few months ago that opened up a store in Auckland. Kids at school were talking about it as well as Danny’s coworkers. We thought we would make a stop-by there one night on the way back from a road trip but were sorely disappointed when we saw a line snaking past the entrance. Apparently there has been out the door lines since it opened.

How about the produce? The fruits and vegetables are noticeably fresh and high quality. Most of the vegetables (green beans, broccoli, etc.) seem to have been packaged within the past week which means that they last at least a week in my fridge and still look fresh. And nearly all of the produce is sourced from within New Zealand thanks to the climate. But on the flip side there is less variety as it is quite seasonable. For instance, the plums were around for a few weeks then they seemed to disappear. No more plums to be had. They were replaced by pears and mandarins.

I’ve enjoyed adding some different fruits to our diet such as the feijoas, red kiwis, and persimmons. There is actually a feijoa tree in someone’s front yard on the walk to school that had some neglected feijoas at its base. We clandestinely grabbed as many as we could, stuffed our pockets and ate them at home. The feijoa is native to South America and is quite popular here in New Zealand. Google says it’s known as a Pineapple Guava in the US.  The fruit is egg-shaped with a soft flesh similar in texture to a pear with jelly-like edible seeds. And yes, there are kiwi fruits here. Kiwis are original to China, originally known as Chinese gooseberries. Once I bought mini kiwis the size of grapes. We’ve had our fair share of a new variety that has entered the scene here- the red kiwi which taste delicious but are a bit gory to cut up, like a “kiwi massacre.” Not quite as popular but abundant here as well is the persimmon fruit. Persimmons look like an orange tomato and have an unique flavor. My mom loves persimmons so much she got stuck in a tree here trying to collect some at the top of a tree. Luckily I was within earshot to help her down. Speaking of fruit trees/bushes, I would guess most people have some kind of fruit tree or bush in their yard. We have orange, lemon, lime, and grapes on our property.

If you take a trip to the grocery store here, you will notice a lot less sugary cereals and a smaller boxed dessert mix section. Most food items will have a “health star rating” label on the front from 0-5 encouraging healthy food choices. The meat section will have only grass-fed beef and a large section for lamb. This makes sense considering how many sheep and cattle are in New Zealand… a ton. Seeing sheep in parks and roadside pastures is quite the norm. If you are searching for eggs, you won’t find them in the refrigerated section next to the milk. Instead look in the regular aisle next to spices. You will find more than half of the eggs are either cage-free or free range. The other eggs will be discriminately labeled “caged.”

Still in the grocery store, you may also notice as I have a milk on the shelf called A2. I had no idea what A2 milk was; I had to look into it. Milk has two main proteins- A1 and A2. Some cows produce A1 protein in their milk, others A2. Much of the dairy nowadays (U.S.A. included) contains A1 protein. A friend tells me that what we originally contributed to the cause of longevity in France (red wine) may actually be due to their dairy products being made with A2 protein. There are some thoughts that A2 protein may be less inflammatory than A1 protein although the science is not robust. But on a personal note, I wanted the family to try it out to see if it had any effect. Two of us (who wish to remain anonymous) had milk protein allergies as babies and also have chronic constipation. I have suspected milk to blame for this. Since buying A2 only milk for the last month or so these two have noted no constipation since switching. Coincidence or not?

If you are wanting to get food out, you will notice differences. I’ve already mentioned the abundance of fish and chip places. But you will also notice a bakery on every corner. Although when you go into a bakery, you may be disappointed. You will be expecting cupcakes and a large selection of fancy desserts, but you will instead find a larger selection of cheaper and more savory items (sausage rolls, meat pies, quiches) and less sweet items. But if you are a fan of meat pies and want a quick warm lunch, you will find them a bargain at $6 NZD ($3.60 USD) for a hearty meal to go. If you want to treat the kids one day after school and stop by the bakery or cafe for some sweet treats, you will be out of luck because the bakeries and cafe’s all close around 3pm. If one night you want to take it easy and order Chinese, you will find fried rice, but the other options may sound unusual, and you may not find your favorites like beef and broccoli or sesame chicken. You may decide to order pizza and be happy to see Dominos here, but the peperoni won’t taste like peperoni and the pizza will have shrunk in size – an extra-large is like a medium/regular in the US.  I made the mistake of ordering 4 wood-fired pizzas from a highly rated Italian restaurant for a hungry group of 11 of us. It was quite embarrassing when the four small boxes showed up, that would only comfortably feed about 6-8 of us.

Lastly, if you come to NZ and want to make yourself a cup of coffee in the morning, don’t expect a Keurig coffee maker. But you may be pleasantly surprised to find the instant coffee quite good and incredibly convenient. Just heat the water in your electric kettle, pour, and stir. It is easy to make several cups at once too.

We are approaching the end of our stay here in NZ and things have gotten a bit tougher with emotions and life. My car required more work (after the repair it started leaking oil and they have now replaced the sump), Maria broke her thumb (yes this was after her broken collar bone and Audrey’s broken wrist, don’t ask), and Audrey is on day four of suspected flu with high fevers. Several people have asked how we feel about leaving. Of course we miss our family, friends, the comforts of home, and our pets back in Kentucky. But all of us are experiencing sad moments thinking of leaving here. I’ll be honest, I have been down. Whether it’s the string of unfortunate events, the winter blues, the stress of packing and transitioning, or saying goodbye to people and routines… Six months is not that long but long enough to get attached. And watching the recent presidential debate doesn’t help my anxiety of coming home. A friend in KY noted this and I think I agree- that it is harder leaving a place when you don’t know if you will ever come back. Luckily our friends Casey and Amanda from Florida and Pennsylvania are visiting us now and can distract us. It has been great having them here, they are like family. We will travel together on our last vacation here to Taupo and a ski trip near Queenstown (fingers crossed no more bone breaks or health concerns). Then we come back and have 3 days to pack everything up and head back home on July 17th.