The unexpected delight of a food tour in your own city
On a guided food journey around a local suburb, the playground craze over a banned energy drink and a pink-hued snack.
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!
Saturday, 5.25pm. It had been one of those weekend days where I’d committed to a few too many social engagements during the day and the thought of heading out at 6pm into the wet weather was frankly an unattractive prospect – especially when home held a heat pump blasting out warm air, a comfy couch and a new episode of Bake Off.
The reason for leaving the house? Food writer Perzen Patel had invited me to join her Sandringham food walk: a three-hour evening food tour in the Auckland suburb, which, for those unacquainted, is a tiny yet bustling corner of central Tāmaki Makaurau brimming with South Asian influences: Bollywood theatres, halal butchers, spice shops, grocers and a considerable number of restaurants. When people use the phrase “a feast for the senses”, Sandringham should come to mind. All up, a very good reason to leave the house – even if it was freezing.
Despite my sudden bad weather-fuelled trepidation, I reminded myself that I was actually very excited about this and lucky to be invited. I pulled on my rain jacket, packed a few necessities (pen, notebook, phone, wallet, hand sanitiser, and, unfortunately, not an umbrella) in my tiny patent backpack and shuffled out the door into the drizzle. Sandringham is just a couple of kilometres from my house, so I was there in minutes.
We met down a side street, with the seven of us strangers on the tour sharing a packaged snack – tiny crispy masala moon dal – and introducing ourselves to our dining companions for the evening.
Our first stop was Madras Cafe, a newly opened spot which has taken over what was until very recently the Sri Lankan restaurant 7 Siri. As we chowed down on dosa fried in ghee, a fiery chicken kottu, and dipped the airiest idli into ramekins of sambar and housemade coconut chutney, Perzen began sharing stories of the origins of dishes, the techniques behind them and the subtle nuances between various terms and ingredients.
Our next stop was for masala chai and vada pav (spiced potato fritters sandwiched between fluffy dinner rolls) from food trucks situated in a darkened car park tucked behind the main shops. Perzen shared the complicated politics behind vada pav – a seemingly humble street food dish that has become wrapped up with political party loyalty for workers in Mumbai – a story I was especially enchanted by. By this point the rain was so heavy it had made its way inside my raincoat, which is to say, this should have been deeply unpleasant, but it wasn’t. Yes, we were drenched, but the food was delicious, fascinating and had somehow maintained its crunch.
From there we stopped at the fantastically named EggsnMore for chaat (snacks), Chinese-Indian fusion and, of course, an egg dish called gassi, before making a pit stop at Smartdeal Bazaar for chutneys, spiced snacks and the fresh, seasonal mangoes which had recently been delivered to the store. Then we found ourselves at Bawarchi, sharing a massive plastic container of lamb biryani. After that, we were at our last location: Auckland Indian Sweets and Snacks where we huddled around the counter selecting silver-topped sugary kaju katli, cardamon-scented barfi and coils of sticky jaleebi.
I’m aware that it sounds horribly pretentious, but I’ve always avoided anything with the word “tour” in it. As I’ve wandered aimlessly and without direction around overseas cities, I have, on many occasions, silently and unfairly judged those crammed on top of open-air tour buses or the clusters of camera-clad people following a stick-holding guide around ancient ruins. In short, those who feel the need to lean into the “tour” part of the word “tourist”. But I’ve gained a whole new perspective. Perhaps this tour felt different because it was so small and my tour companions and guide were all especially lovely. What’s more, all of us on the tour lived in Auckland, and some were even regulars to the restaurants and shops in Sandringham. Despite that familiarity, I tried dishes I’d never tasted before and found new layers of meaning to those I had. It turns out having someone else decide where to go next or make the order can be wonderful. We don’t always need to find our own way.
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Weekly bites
Layered upon pre-existing social inequalities, the soaring prices for kai and the aftermath of this year’s cyclones and flooding around the country have seen food banks inundated with need. In response, this week acting prime minister Carmel Sepuloni announced that an additional $6 million in funding would be allocated to community food bank organisations nationwide to support their efforts in helping people struggling to put food on the table. While the $6 million will be available for community food providers across the country, priority will be given to high-demand regions like Auckland, Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay. It follows a $24m injection into food bank funding announced in the government’s May budget.
At the moment, Auckland sends 100,000 tonnes of food waste to landfill – which releases carbon dioxide and methane (bad!) as it rots without air. It’s fashionably late, but Tāmaki Makaurau has begun rolling out bins (not literally though, they don’t have wheels) for food waste collection – a service already operating in Christchurch, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Palmerston North. Trials in Papakura actually began in 2018, but now the service is being expanded to West Auckland and the North Shore, with more areas set to have their food scraps collected from the kerb by way of extremely cute 23L bins. Shanti Mathias explains what kinds of things you’ll be able to put in these bins, where the scraps will end up after they’re picked up and how it’ll all be paid for.
Countdown has told supermarket butchery staff about proposed changes that would make all North island meat department roles redundant, Stuff reports. The changes were communicated to staff last Thursday, and a spokesperson told Stuff Countdown was consulting with First Union and that staff would be reallocated to other roles within the company where possible.
Launched by two prominent YouTube personalities last year, brightly hued bottles and cans of Prime energy and hydration drinks have taken playgrounds around the world by storm. Locally, they’ve become a status symbol among school kids despite the “energy” version being banned for sale in New Zealand because of its gargantuan levels of caffeine, and the extravagant cost: upward of $20 per can, even if the can is empty. I spoke to some experts (primary-school-aged children) along with a professor of nutrition about the craze for the illicit beverages.
The debate surrounding gas stoves has been fiery over the last year. In the US, efforts to shift away from or ban gas in response to climate change and health impacts have faced thunderous pushback from Republicans. While most of the rebuttals have been tied up with a broad ideological distaste for any kind of state regulations geared toward mitigating climate change, this thoughtful piece from US magazine Mother Jones on Asian chefs’ concerns about the impact of gas bans on cooking with woks highlights the cultural complexities that come into play with these kinds of changes.
And I’ve been captivated by the story of a newly uncovered Pompeii fresco that depicts what could be a 2,000-year-old ancestral form of pizza, along with a mysterious pineapple-esque fruit.
There’s no better time to become a Spinoff member As we ramp up our coverage of the 2023 election, there is no better time to become a Spinoff member and support independent journalism in Aotearoa. The financial support of our members is essential, particularly during an election. Every donation will help expand our political coverage from extra episodes of our Gone by Lunchtime podcast, to more on-the-ground reporting on the campaign trail, to more “wtf does that mean?” explainers and maybe even some election memes from editor Madeleine Chapman. Support our coverage of the 2023 election today by becoming a Spinoff member or making a new donation.
The weekly snack
Oreo peach blossom rice stuffed flavour, $3.79 from Jadan: What kind of person could walk past this celestial-looking packaging? There are rosy clouds, whole cherry (or peach) blossoms with their detached petals descending gently, an oversized pink Oreo which hovers heroically at the centre and on the rear, another humongous cookie sets sail aboard a wooden canoe. In fact, I was so taken by this surreal scene that I added the box to my shopping basket without even a thought of checking what the flavour was. It was only on pulling the package out of my pantry this week that I caught sight of the combination: “peach blossom rice stuffed”. Peach blossom, often confused with cherry blossom, I thought was an intriguing choice. And I was curious to find out how the rice would be incorporated – especially considering it’s not listed as an ingredient. You couldn’t write about these without a mention of the scent: an astringent smack with burly floral notes. It’s a sensory experience that signals “perfume” more than it does “yum”. And these first impressions largely match up with the taste – an astonishingly sour (for an Oreo) situation thanks to the filling, thankfully toned down by the sweetened and slightly powdery pink bikkies on either side. I found no suggestion of rice within the biscuits, which left me wondering whether the “rice” mentioned in the name is rather a nod towards rice wine, as the biscuits have an alcoholic, slightly vinegary taste. I’m glad to have tried these, but I’m happy for it to be a one-time thing. 4/10
Talk next week!
Hei kōnā mai, Charlotte
I’m so glad you ignore the word “tour” in the Samdringham food tour and decided to join me. It was a pleasure eating together