NZHistory, New Zealand history online - food

Army issue ration biscuit

British-made army issue ration biscuit, 'Huntley & Palmers Army No 4', made by the well-known biscuit manufacturers Huntley and Palmers during the First World War. Together with tinned bully beef, these biscuits formed the basis of the military rations eaten by Anzac and British soldiers during the Gallipoli campaign. This monotonous diet was unsuited to the warm climate and lacking in vitamins. The bully beef usually disintegrated into an runny mess in the heat, while the rock-hard biscuits exacerbated or caused dental problems amongst troops on the peninsula.

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gallipoli campaign

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1970s household consumer items

Display of household consumer goods, mainly food. The tags show the cost of each item in 1972 and 1975.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP/1975/3245/13a-F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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1970s

Union Line menu for officers

This 1915 troopship menu was printed on a pre-war Union Company card. This menu was almost certainly for the ship's officers and NZEF officers travelling on the ship. In their diaries and letters, enlisted men sailing aboard troopships frequently complained about the difference in quality and quantity between the officers' meals and their own. Merchant seafarers also often complained about the food they were served at sea.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Eph-A-SHIP-1915-01
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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Gannet pie for Christmas

Gannets roost at Cape Kidnappers in 2005. Now protected, gannets were used by James Cook for his Christmas 'Goose pye' in 1769.

Abel Tasman's New Zealand Christmas

The Christian origins of Christmas meant that before European contact, the celebration had no place in the calendar of Aotearoa. The first celebration of Christmas in New Zealand coincided with Abel Tasman’s voyage to New Zealand in 1642. Unfortunately, things did not get off to a good start.

On 19 December 1642 the Dutch ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen were anchored in Golden Bay, home of the Ngati Tumatakokiri people. Clearly the locals felt threatened by these strange vessels and people. One of Tasman’s small boats was passing between the two vessels when it was rammed by a waka (Maori canoe). Four of Tasman’s party were killed. Several Ngati Tumatakokiri were killed when the Dutch opened fire from both ships.

Tasman saw no reason to hang around. After naming the place Moordenaers Baij (Murderers’ Bay) he immediately set sail. On 20 December his expedition reached the Manawatu coast of the North Island before crossing the entrance of Cook Strait and anchoring east of Stephens and D'Urville islands. Here the crew encountered what many Wellingtonians have become used to at Christmas time – poor weather. While sheltering from a storm, the Dutch enjoyed the first Christmas dinner in New Zealand – freshly killed pork from the ship's menagerie washed down with extra rations of wine.

Cook's 'goose'

The next celebration of Christmas in New Zealand occurred during James Cook’s first expedition in 1769. The crew of the Endeavour marked the occasion by feasting on ‘Goose pye’ for their Christmas dinner while battling heavy seas off the tip of the North Island. There were no geese, so the crew had to improvise – with the magnificent gannet that had been shot in preparation for the feast by the ship’s noted botanist, Joseph Banks.

Apparently the Endeavour’s crew spent Boxing Day ‘nursing hangovers’. The Boxing Day tradition of suffering from Christmas excess clearly has a long history in New Zealand.

Yorkshire goose pie

As a Yorkshireman, Cook might well have insisted upon the following ‘Recipe for an Economical Goose Pie’. This was copied from an early cookery book dated 1791 and dedicated to the Hon. Lady Wourton, whom the author served as housekeeper.

Take a large fat goose, split it down the back and take all the bone out; bone a turkey and two ducks the same way; season them with pepper and salt, with six woodcocks. Lay the goose down on a clean dish with the skin side down and lay the turkey into the goose with the skin down.
Have ready a large hare, cleaned well; cut in pieces and put in the oven with 1 lb of butter, ¼ oz mace, beat fine; the same of white pepper, and salt to taste, till the meat will leave the bones, and scum off the gravy; pick the meat clean off and beat it in a marble mortar very fine with the butter you took off, and lay it on the turkey.
Take 24 lbs of the finest flour, 6 lbs of butter, ½ lb of fresh rendered suet, make the paste thick and raise the pie oval; roll out a lump of paste and cut it in vine leaves or what form you will; rub the pie with yolks of eggs and put your ornaments on the wall, then turn your hare, turkey and goose upside down and lay them on your pie with the ducks at each end and the woodcocks at the sides. Make your lid pretty thick and put it on.
You may make flowers, or the shape of folds in the paste on the lid, and make a hole in the middle of the lid. The walls of the pie are to be 1½ ins. thicker than the lid. Rub it all over with the yolks of eggs and bind it round with three-fold paper and the same over the top. It will take 4 hours baking in a brown bread oven. When it comes out, melt 2 lbs of butter in the gravy that came from the hare and pour it through the ton-dish (funnel). Close it well up and let it be 8 or 10 days before you cut into it. If you send it any distance, close up the hole in the middle with cold butter to prevent the air from getting in.

Banks’s gannet pie probably failed to make the grade in terms of a real goose pie. If this is the recipe for the economical version it is hard to imagine the deluxe model.

Do not attempt this at home

We here at NZHistory.net.nz do not advise attempting to copy the crew of the Endeavour by filling your Christmas pie with any endangered or protected wildlife!

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Image: halfgreek2000, Flickr.com

Find out more about gannets on Te Ara.

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Kiwi Christmas

Christmas in New Zealand is less about snow and sleigh bells and more about sun, sand and barbecues in the backyard. We've provided a range of stories that showcase some of the quirkier aspects of Kiwi Christmases past and present. You can also test yourself on our Kiwi Christmas quiz.

Christmas comes to New Zealand

In 1642, Abel Tasman's crew celebrated the first Christmas dinner in New Zealand – freshly killed pork from the ship's menagerie washed down with 'extra rations of wine'. In 1769 James Cook's crew marked the occasion by feasting on ‘Goose pye’ (made with gannet). more...

The first sermon?

The Christmas Day service given by Church Missionary Society representative Samuel Marsden at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands in 1814 is often cited as the first in New Zealand, but did a French priest travelling with Jean François Marie de Surville in 1769 beat him to it? more...

New Zealand's Christmas tree

The beautiful pohutukawa is regarded as New Zealand’s iconic Christmas tree. The pohutukawa also holds a prominent place in Maori culture: an 800-year-old tree clinging to the cliffs of Cape Reinga is reputed to guard the entrance to a sacred cave through which spirits pass on their way to the next world. more...

Santa parades

Santa or Christmas parades take place throughout New Zealand in November or December each year. They began in the main centres in the early 1900s. They were established by department stores to promote the arrival of in-store Santas, with the clear aim of drawing customers directly into their stores. more...

'Sticky Beak the kiwi'

Many traditional Christmas songs have been adapted for a New Zealand audience and conditions. One of the most popular New Zealand Christmas songs of the 1960s was 'Sticky Beak the kiwi' – read the lyrics and listen to the song (a Web first recording?). more...

Santa goes to the Chathams

When Santa Claus visited the remote Chatham Islands in 1951 he swapped his reindeer for a TEAL Solent flying boat. More than 400 of the islands’ 500 inhabitants cheered him wildly as he stepped ashore from a launch in Te Whanga Lagoon with a huge sack of toys over his shoulder. more...

Politically incorrect Christmas games

Before the time of computers and mass television people played all sorts of games around Christmas time. Some of these games, such as the ‘Light the cigarette race’ and 'The Slave Market', haven’t stood the test of time very well. more...

Kiwi Christmas cards

Historic Christmas cards combine colourful imagery with reflections on contemporary events, such as overseas wars. Familiar New Zealand symbols – tattooed Maori figures, kiwi, tiki and ferns – add a distinctively local flavour to traditional Christmas greetings and imagery. more...

Summer holidays

Come late December and thousands of Kiwis get ready for their annual holidays. They look forward to lazy days at the beach or the bach (or crib), games of backyard cricket, food on the barbie and the holiday uniform of shorts, jandals and T-shirts. more...

Claus in stores

Santa Claus made his commercial debut in New Zealand in 1894 when he took his place, complete with tree and toys, among the furniture in the Wellington DIC store on Lambton Quay. These days, children have the option of sending Santa an email with suggestions about preferred presents. more...

Christmas in wartime

Christmas during wartime gave soldiers a rare opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves away from the stresses and hardships of combat. It was also a time of sadness for many New Zealanders, both overseas and back home, as they thought of their absent family, lovers and friends far away. more...

A day off for Christmas

It's hard for most of us today to imagine Christmas Day not being a holiday, but a day off on 25 December hasn't always been a legal entitlement. An 1841 newspaper for 25 December doesn't even mention Christmas, and the day only became a formal public holiday in 1910. more...

Auckland's giant Santa

In 1960 Farmers erected a giant Santa on their Hobson Street department store in Auckland. He appeared above the store each Christmas for almost 30 years. He left Auckland's CBD in 1990, but was restored above Whitcoulls' store on Queen Street in 1998. more...

Kiwis' attitude to Christmas

In a 2006 survey, Reader's Digest asked a representative sample of 259 New Zealanders ‘Just what does Christmas mean to New Zealanders in 2006 – and what do we treasure most?’ The results show that dinner with the family is still important to Kiwis, but the Queen's message is losing relevance. more...

Mobile cooker on the Western Front

Mobile cookers like this one, which belonged to the Wellington Regiment, were able to provide simple hot meals to soldiers in the support trenches within 1000 metres of the front line. The supply of food and hot drinks, such as tea, coffee and cocoa, was crucial in maintaining the health and morale of troops who had to endure not only the anxiety of combat but the physical hardship of days and nights huddled in cold, muddy trenches.

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Headquarters, New Zealand Defence Force Library
Permission of the New Zealand Defence Force Library must be obtained before any reuse of these images.

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Pies care of the Otago Patriotic League

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These slides show New Zealand soldiers close to the front line enjoying hot meat pies, courtesy of funds provided by the Otago Patriotic League. Such treats were a welcome relief for men enduring the hardships and deprivations of trench life. The captions are those used in the original scrapbook from which these images are taken.

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Headquarters, New Zealand Defence Force Library
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Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium

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All Whites souvenir biscuit tin

A range of commemorative items and souvenirs were produced to celebrate the All Whites’ appearance at the 1982 World Cup finals, including this ‘NZ World Cup Soccer Team’ biscuit tin.

Those featured are: back row (left to right): Glenn Dods, Billy McClure, Brian Turner, Sam Malcolmson, Peter Simonsen, Dave Bright; middle row: John Adshead (coach), Keith Mackay, Grant Turner, Richard Wilson, Frank van Hattum, Ricki Herbert, John Hill, Kevin Fallon (assistant coach); front row: Duncan Cole, Allan Boath, Steve Sumner (captain), Bobby Almond, Adrian Elrick, Steve Wooddin; insets: Barry Pickering (top), Wynton Rufer.

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Paul Hamer private collection

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Life in the trenches - Passchendaele

A soldier's lot

Slide show of life on the battlefield

The drama of combat – going over the top, facing machine-gun fire and enduring terrifying artillery barrages – naturally dominates accounts of Passchendaele and other great battles, but behind the scenes, everyday human activities continued as best they could. Soldiers had to be fed and go to the toilet. If possible, they shaved and washed themselves and cleaned their clothes. When they were not in combat, they carried out routine chores: cleaning their rifles and other gear, filling sandbags, repairing trenches or digging latrines. If they got any free time, they usually spent it reading or writing letters or diaries, playing cards or trying to snatch a few moments of sleep. Even amid the horror of war, daily life was often a mixture of routine and boredom.

Rest and recreation slide show

Apart from the Germans, the New Zealanders' biggest enemy at Passchendaele was the mud. Indeed, the flooded trenches and churned landscape of this battlefield are among the most potent symbols of the First World War. Passchendaele was notoriously sodden due to the wet weather and the high water-table of this low-lying area, much of which was reclaimed marshland. Conditions were made much worse by the shelling, which had disrupted normal drainage.

Finding a dry spot to rest or sleep was often a challenge even though pumps were used to remove water from trenches and dugouts. Many troops succumbed to trench foot, a fungal infection caused by immersion in cold water. Rats and lice were soldiers' constant companions: rats, having gorged on corpses, allegedly grew 'as big as cats'; lice were the (then unknown) vector of another common wartime ailment, trench fever.

Trench art

Then there was the smell. Stinking mud mingled with rotting corpses, lingering gas, open latrines, wet clothes and unwashed bodies to produce an overpowering stench. The main latrines were located behind the lines, but front-line soldiers had to dig small waste pits in their own trenches. The application of chloride and lime to protect against disease and infection only added to the stink. While new arrivals were frequently overwhelmed by the sights, smell and noise of the front line, old hands quickly became hardened to the discomforts and dangers of trench life.

'Eating out'

At night the trenches often became hives of activity. Despite the continued risk of night bombardment or trench raids, the cover of darkness allowed troops to attend to vital supply and maintenance tasks. Rations and water were brought to the front line, and fresh units swapped places with troops returning to the rear for rest and recuperation. Construction parties beavered away repairing trenches and fortifications, laying duckboards and wire and preparing artillery positions. An hour before daybreak, everyone would stand to in readiness for action as another day dawned over the bleak battlefield.

Refreshments - the North Island main trunk line

'The refresh'

Hear about 'the refresh' (1mb).

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A excerpt from Spectrum, 1 October 2006, Radio New Zealand. See transcript of this file.

There were dining cars on main trunk expresses from 1909, but these were removed as a wartime measure in 1917 and not reinstated for more than half a century. Over the next three or four decades, the brief dash into the railway refreshment rooms – with their uniformed 'girls' offering rows of pies, sandwiches and cakes, and steaming tea in thick railway cups – became one of the central rituals of New Zealand life, a teetotal companion to the 'six o'clock swill' in pubs.

The 'unseemly scramble' for refreshments at New Zealand railway stations was often compared to a rugby scrum. In the late 1940s the Dominion complained that:

Long before the train has stopped the more agile travellers, men and boys, swing onto the platforms and when the elderly folk, mothers with children, and those who are reluctant to alight from a moving train finally reach the refreshment counter, it is already two to five deep with customers.

A story in the New Zealand Farmer magazine in 1947 advised a hesitant traveller to 'Use your King Country elbows, Bill.' The Taumarunui refreshment rooms were immortalised by Peter Cape's folk song 'Taumarunui on the main trunk line'. Another song, 'Wellington express' by Barry Lineham, suggested that:

No battlefield is grimmer, where battered heroes die
Than the bloody railway battle for a cupper and a pie.
In a scrum All Blacks would envy
Only hardy souls remain
To grab a bun and sandwich is the saviour of the train

Railway refreshment rooms suffered from numerous complaints about the quality of their food and drink. One visitor described the tea as 'a mixture between a bad disinfectant or a mouth-wash that had deteriorated'; another complained of 'half-hot pie crusts, surrounding the appendages of sundry animals, named and unnamed'. But generally the quality of food and service was as good as, if not better than, that found in most other restaurants or hotels in New Zealand at the time.

By the 1950s and 1960s, with reduced services and newer, faster trains requiring fewer stops, many refreshment rooms faced closure. Marton closed in 1954, Mercer in 1958 and the iconic Frankton and Taumarunui rooms in 1975, bringing to an end one of New Zealand's most distinctive dining experiences.