Food for Thought - Part 1

For a little while now, I have wanted to share my thoughts on the food here in New Zealand compared to the food back home in the States. After arriving in Auckland, one of the first things we noticed was the high price of food. Case in point: beer. A 12 pack of Corona is $22 ~ $24 NZD. Milk is also quite expensive working out to about $6 NZD a gallon. After adjusting for the USD exchange rate (.81 USD per NZD) some items cost less, but on the whole, prices are much higher here than in the States. Obviously, importing beer from across the Pacific is going to raise the price. A lower supply of cattle and farmland will increase food prices as well.

That lack of supply has an interesting effect on quality. In general, foods feel less processed and more genuine (if that makes any kind of sense). For example, apples back home seem a bit waxy compared to the ones you find here. Having eaten apples for most of my life, I have never noticed the seeds sprouting in the core of store bought apples before:

I am not sure what this means but it makes the fruit feel real. This may be attributed to the season in which the apples were harvested, or perhaps in the past, I have eaten them without cutting them up and so have not noticed the seeds. Despite these possibilities, having sprouts in my apple core still seems odd. Let me know in a comment below if you have seen seeds sprouting in your apples before and tell me about it. Stay tuned as I work a little more on part 2.

Note: Domestic brews are cheaper than imports but still pricey compared to beer back home. The prices on beer have scared me off so I haven't really had a chance to test its quality. ^_^