Beyond the supermarket duopoly
On supermarket alternatives, hospitality industry wage theft and strawberry milk-flavoured corn snacks.
Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to The Boil Up, The Spinoff’s weekly food newsletter produced in partnership with Boring Oat Milk. Written by me, Charlotte Muru-Lanning. It’s lovely to have you here!
Most weeks, my shopping list is crossed off in an assortment of different places. I’ll likely visit one of our main supermarket chains to secure the most necessary of staples: butter, flour, oat milk (Boring, of course), eggs, salt and vinegar chips and frequently, a bag of fresh mussels. Almost everything else though, is gathered by way of smaller supermarkets, grocers, bulk food stores and fruit and vegetable markets.
The proliferation and dominance of supermarkets has had a profound impact on our lives. Occasionally these have been positive but, as we’ve seen more recently, the supermarket duopoly model we’ve allowed to reign in Aotearoa has created a raft of issues. Namely, that while supermarket profits perpetually increase, grocery shoppers pay ever more exorbitant amounts at the till.
Expeditions to the supermarket have always been something I’ve enjoyed and actually found quite inspiring, but this state of affairs has tinged those trips with gloom. Most of the trip is spent attempting rudimentary calculations in my head to predict how much my trolley is going to cost me, and whether my card might be declined. Because of this, I treasure the opportunities I have to buy my kai from supermarket alternatives.
To me, these places are absolute treasure troves. Hesari Supermarket, with the slogan “Experience Mediterranea”, on Auckland’s North Shore, comes to mind. They have glass bottles of sour cherry soda, saffron cookies, 1kg jars of olives for $10 and perhaps most wonderfully, fresh flat breads that are piled up still warm from a gap in the wall where you can peek behind to see the bakers at work. Or, Wang Mart in East Auckland where you can buy pickles made in-house; noodles, sauces and seasonings imported from Korea; and varieties of fresh produce that are near impossible to find anywhere else. There are, for many reasons, more options in Auckland. But towns and cities up and down the country have alternative supermarket options – in fact, some of my favourites are in Hamilton, Rotorua and Invercargill.
I’m sure there’s a case to be made about shopping in this way being somehow more virtuous. Whether that’s true I’m unsure and, admittedly, I don’t think that’s particularly important. I do like the idea that my dollars are being shared out, rather than going entirely to a duopoly. Unlike the supermarket, I’m often surprised, pleasantly surprised that is, by my bill at the end – even if it does take more time and most of my receipt is made up of items I didn’t necessarily need. But really, it’s more that there’s more range, it’s a more delightful experience and in most cases, the food tastes far better.
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Weekly bites
Two of the country’s largest cardboard packaging companies, which includes primary packaging and boxing for food products, have been shuttered by industrial action this week. Workers from Charta Packaging Limited and Visy Board, both in Auckland, have been striking over conditions and pay. Newsroom spoke to one picketing worker who said after serving 19 years at the company, he was still on just $23 an hour. "We want to be with the children, but we can’t,” he said. “Sometimes they have to be on their own, or a family member will come and stay with them. We pay the rent first, then power and petrol, and then food.”
Last week, The Herald reported that after wiping $427 worth of drinks from customers’ bills, a Queenstown bartender was charged with theft. He was later sentenced to 65 hours of community work, and ordered to pay his former employer $427. It makes me think about how peculiar it is that wage theft by employers, which often accounts for far more in lost wages, isn’t treated in the same manner. Especially when you consider recent AUT research which found, among a survey of 396 hospitality workers, 18 percent were not receiving the minimum wage, 22 percent did not get the correct holiday pay and 22 percent were not getting time off or correct pay for working statutory holidays. Although employee misdemeanors like this Queenstown example are considered criminal, wage theft by employers, while technically illegal, is not considered criminal. And when it comes to being remedied, victims have to hope one of New Zealand’s very few labour inspectors will investigate. Contrast that with Australian state Victoria, where it became a criminal offence to deliberately and dishonestly underpay or withhold wages from employees. Breaches are punishable by a fine of up to $218,088 or up to ten years in prison for individuals and a fine of up to $1,090,440 for companies.
Cannabis has a long history in Thai cuisine. Until the late 1970s, when Thailand instituted its US-sponsored drug eradication program, the bud was a common ingredient: the leaves and roots were used in soups and stir fries, as well as eaten raw with curry paste. Writer, John McMahon describes in this article in Whetstone how the complete decriminalization of cannabis in Thailand in July this year, which saw the government release 3,000 people serving sentences related to the drug, also has brought the ingredient back to menus around the country.
This month we’re celebrating eight years of The Spinoff. We’ve come a long way since 2014 and that is in no small part thanks to our members – we literally wouldn’t be here today without them.
Their generous support underpins all our work and has meant we are able to cover more areas of life in Aotearoa, to tackle more stories about our people and issues impacting our communities. From our ongoing coverage of inequality and the cost-of-living crisis, to political reporting and our focus on te ao Māori, it’s important mahi and we can’t do it without you.
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Five places with comedian Kura Turuwhenua
Auckland-based comedian Kura Turuwhenua (Ngāti Porou, Kāi Tahu, Tūhoe, Moriori) has a passion for dark and silly humour. In just over a year on the stand up comedy scene, the 21-year old has won the NZ Raw Comedy Quest 2022, has worked as a writer for the show 7 Days, and has produced and directed her own comedic short films. Next week, she features as part of the entirely wāhine Māori lineup comedy show Shoes off (at the door) at Auckland’s Basement Theatre. Turuwhenua shares her top five kai picks in Tāmaki Makaurau below.
Hong Yuan, Somerville: I’m an east side wahine, and east is where you can get the mean Asian kai. I smash back red bean pancakes from this place and I’m not even that big on red beans. But they do it right and I’ll always be their b*tch.
Genghis Khan, Botany: Genghis Khan is a buffet-style restaurant where you pick all your raw items and the cooks grill it in front of you. It’s where our whānau would always go for celebrations, so it’s one of the few places in the world where I have exclusively happy memories. They also make pancakes in front of you. When I was a kid they’d shape them like Mickey Mouse. I went on a date there when I was a teen and my boyfriend asked the cook to make us pancakes in the Mickey Mouse shape. That memory stays with me to this day – especially because I have photo evidence of it. I’d say mine is the sad looking one, but they actually both look sad.
My Taua’s house, “A-town” Ōtautahi (taua is Kāi Tahu kupu for grandma): Everyone’s gonna say their Nan is the best cook, but they don’t know my Taua. She’s always cleaning, baking or cooking. I’m determined to get her steam pudding recipe. She’s one of those people where she’s better off without you offering to “help” aka getting in her way. When I think of Taua I think of ciggies on the porch, PK chewing gum and marshmallow slice.
Sushi Sora, Botany: This sushi place in Botany has literally been here my whole life. Every single time I’ve gone in they’re always playing jazz or classical music. It’s like its own little world, and their sushi is BOMB. Treat vibes only though because it’s on the dearer side.
GoGo Music Café, Mount Eden: Everyone knows Dominion feeds are on, but I only went to this place once and it’s solidified itself in my memory forever. It’s Chinese barbecue open until 2am, which is ideal when you’re out trying to find a good feed. I’m a vegetarian but man, I was ready to drop it when I saw their barbecue pork noodles.
The weekly snack
Kuai Kuai Strawberry Milky Corn Chips, $2.99 from NH Mall: Before I share any thoughts about this snack, I feel I need to quickly discuss Kuai Kuai culture – a phenomenon in Taiwan where snacks from the brand Kuai Kuai (乖乖) are plonked atop machines in the hopes that it will appease the machine and keep it running. The chips are often considered part of the essential supply chain in the information industry in Taiwan, and there was a political scandal surrounding a government ministry placing incorrect coloured chips next to an overwhelmed operational system. Anyway, this bag, that is unfortunately not the correct colour to cure my ailing laptop, was filled with bite-sized puffed corn curls. Just as the name assures, each curl is tinged pink by a strawberry powder that tasted distinctly of strawberry Nesquik or Pocky. Essentially, if you’re a strawberry milk-head these will be right up your alley. 7/10
Talk next week!
Hei kōnā mai, Charlotte
