top 5 New Zealand things that you love that nobody outside New Zealand has ever heard of?
Cheese rolls. This one's so specific we even gatekeep it from the North Island of Aotearoa lmfao but they are fucking DELICIOUS. A stack of cheese rolls would be my death row final meal. They're the quintessential, like, sports club fundraiser so I always make sure I have space in my freezer as we go into winter because I know someone's kids will be selling them 😅
Chocolate fish. Now, I didn't realise this was Aotearoa-specific until I was working for a globally distributed company and a colleague in Canada did me a favour, and I responded with "cheers mate I owe you a chocolate fish" and he was like "MJ what the fuck does this mean". Chocolate on the outside, marshmallow on the inside, and they are the traditional way to say thank you - teachers will hand them out to their students, bosses will give them to their employees, etc. We're a real country, I swear.
Outrageous Fortune. A truly fantastic TV show that I'm sure could be enjoyed outside of the country but there's a lot of stuff in there that is so culturally specific that it would go over an international audience's heads, I suspect. But has also meant that when people watch The Boys and they're like 'wow Antony Starr is really good at playing a sociopath' Kiwi audiences everywhere were like 'yeah we know lol'
Edmonds Cookery Book. The ultimate gift to someone when they first go flatting, practically every household has one of these. They also have a My First Cookbook version which has been translated into Māori, which is great for the kiddos.
The Topp Twins. Yodeling country singing lesbian twin sisters with both comedic and protest songs - and they are fucking BELOVED across the country and have been since the late 70s. They had a TV show for a while where they played a bunch of different characters. Absolute fucking queens.
[put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer]
