What a beautiful story and what a great mum !

Actually i have had chicken sashim in Tokyo and whilst i didnt die or get sick it wasnt so memorable that id go out of my way to try it again

Sheesh Gareth ! Cant believe you bothered to read my journalistic scratchings ! It was incredibly hard to fit everything i wanted to in that chapter length. I wanted to do pages on my experiences eating Chinese food in New Zealand. Going to Chans International Diner in Lyttelton in 1984 and getting buttered white bread cut into triangles with everything... Buying salted black beans from Hop Yick Cheong ( with illicit fireworks )....
Maybe i should do a book - think i can hear editor Emma screaming somewhere !

Thanks Paul,
I remember going to Horotane Valley ( just outside of Christchurch ) as a child and queuing to get ripe tomatoes,apricots, peaches etc. As food options have increased and time poverty rises we seem to have slipped into accepting whatever vegetables and fruit are available rather than what tastes good.
In my one and only trip to Spain i marvelled at the beautiful fruit and vegetables- although would say that our meat and seafood are better ( we just need to handle them as well as the Spanish ).
However as I try to point out in the article - it is the immigrants here that offer us such an array of flavours and our culture is open to embrace them . I remember going to a restaurant in Turin that served Chinese,Japanese, Thai and Indian cuisine (none of them done well).
There is no way the average Spaniard, Italian, French or Greek person etc would be open to the idea of trying a curry for the first time. Same would apply in India im sure to trying a Japanese dish. We are each a product of our food culture.
What we do need to do here is to embrace what is uniquely from New Zealand and incorporate that into our melting pot cuisine
Cheers Nik

Hi Russell,
just enjoyed reading your curry story ( im sure many NZ people share this including the UK part !)
You should do one on the history of the sausage curry ! I remember getting the one with apples and sultanas in it- with precooked sausages. I also remember having to cook "Chinese Mince" at manual classes - this included sultanas, soy sauce etc. These sort of dishes certainly seem to have more of a South African bent than anything resembling China or India
Cheers Nik