Christmas in New Zealand is less about snow and sleigh bells and more about sun, sand and backyard barbecues. Over the holiday season we explore the Kiwi Christmas experience –
from Abel Tasman’s first New Zealand Christmas in 1642 to the declining
reign of the Queen’s message
Back /images/stories/radiant/playsound.gif Hear Herbert Sutcliffe talk about the Eliminating Diet: This clip requires Flash Player 7 or higher. Download Flash Player 7. Click on arrow to play or download as mp3 (634kb) This sound file is taken from an interview with Herbert Sutcliffe shortly before his death in 1971.
Café culture has become integral to Wellington's identity. This culture began in the 1930s with the emergence of the milk bar, followed by coffee houses in the 1950s. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 70s, the city's café
scene has grown in spectacular fashion over the last 20 years.
The pavlova - that frothy, baked confection of egg whites and sugar - has long been seen as an icon of New Zealand cuisine; its place of origin has been debated with Australians for just as long in one of the many instances of trans-Tasman rivalry.
Wellington city centre is renowned for its flourishing café scene and the culture it inhabits. But it was nearly 1950 before there was much sign of the sparkling capital that exists today.
New construction materials and equipment fashioned the cafe culture rising in the 1950s. Wellingtonians were introduced to the espresso machines as European styled cafes emerged.
The rise of coffee houses in the 1940s, 50s and 60s was not a phenomenon confined to Wellington, or indeed to New Zealand. The connection between the history of cafe culture and immigration is significant.
Typical New Zealand meals (particularly in the country) until at least the 1970s featured hearty morning and afternoon teas of homemade scones, biscuits and cakes; rich dinners of fatty roast meat, gravy and vegetables were followed by pudding.
