A Cultural Shock

The longer we live in New Zealand, the more and more we become immersed in the culture of this wonderful, beautiful and, it has to be said, bizarre country. To date we have spent Christmas Day on the beach, been camping in the bush, eaten 'kiwi dip' (Google it and be amazed at what has become a national culinary treasure), bought a 4WD vehicle, bought wet suits (not used yet) and even walked barefoot in public.... although that was admittedly by accident because my shoes got wet whilst walking on the beach so I had to walk back to the car without them. But it counts. Sort of.

The next major cultural milestone was the BBQ. We sort of knew that Kiwis were keen on their outdoor eating apparatus. But today we realised that we sort of knew but didn't. Not really.

To the British the idea of a BBQ is having to rush to the nearest petrol station to buy a disposable BBQ tin foil tray because the sun has decided to show itself for two consecutive hours and it would be a shame to not make the most of it. This is closely followed by a trip to the supermarket to find something suitable to cook. Which you can't because everyone else has been hit with the same infliction; the impulse to cook meat in the open air. Lots of meat. More meat than you could shake a meaty-stick at. So armed with a pack of frozen 'better-buy' sausages and a pack of white burger buns, and followed by an anxious drive home looking nervously up at the darkening clouds, the meat feast begins..... or at least will once the BBQ coals have taken the required thirty minutes to turn white. In which time the sun has had enough and decided to hide behind a grey bank of cloud. "No problem we can just grill the sausages". Aaahhh. The great British BBQ. Alfresco dining at its best. So for that reason, it's fair to say that we haven't really embraced the BBQ experience. It's just too short lived. We were even ashamed to export our £10 BBQ in a bucket for fear of being laughed straight back out of the country. As far as we know it's still languishing in the corner of the shed.

The BBQs I saw today in a specialist BBQ shop did not include a BBQ bucket. I feel they are missing out. There were, however, all other shapes, sizes, fuel types and it has to be said cost. I'd like to meet the person who thinks it is appropriate to spend £15,000 on an outside cooker. And then I'd like an invite to their next bash. 

It was an eye opener. And it doesn't stop there. Attachments. Apparently you simply must have the pizza stone attachment for your BBQ if you want to be seen outside this summer. Once you have that then you need a BBQ cover, stand, fish grill plate, outdoor heater, sun shade, tongs, rotisserie unit.... Oh my god. Impressive and worrying in equal measure.

Why were we in there? Well after having a lovely meal cooked for us on New Years's Eve on a BBQ we decided that we needed to get with the programme and get one. I know. I know. But still. I blame the weather. And our hosts at NYE. If the weather had been more inclement or if our hosts had gone with the British traditional disposable BBQ we wouldn't have splashed out. But it wasn't and they didn't so we did. If you catch my drift.

I'd just like to quickly add that we spend nowhere near £15,000 but did buy a cute, if BBQs can be described as such, portable gas BBQ. With attachments.

So you can imagine my disappointment when, after spending a happy half an hour setting up our new purchase, I set off to our local butchers only to find it closed until the 12th January. Damn it! Ah well, at least there are frozen sausages in the freezer.