[mmcguire2020]

Hi, I was wondering what stores if any sell Garden Burgers, Veggie Corn Dogs, Vegetarian Sausage basically meat alternatives. And a store that sells organic foods and eggs from cage free hens, Soy Milk etc... Brands I'm looking for is Morning Star, Boca etc.... Thanks in advance everyone:)

[Helsandfamily]

I have managed to get vegetarian sausages in New World and pack and save, They sell bio organic eggs from new world ( Haven't looked elsewhere) and the blurb on the box states that the hens are from small flocks, treated naturally, and have never been caged and have plenty of room to roam etc. They are quite pricey at $5 for 6, (compared to $3, for the other ones) Eating out is more difficult, burgerking and Mc Donalds don't do the veggie stuff that they did in the uk, but they do panini's in Mcdonalds cafe's that are veggie. HTH

Hels

[Familyofmonkeys]

There is plenty of choice of reasonably healthy veggie sausages, tofu based stuff, falafel etc in the deli sections of most supermarkets, also plenty of Veggie burgers, friitters, snitzels, sausage rolls, spring rolls etc in the freezer section...although these are very fatty compared to equivalent in UK and not what I would call a healthy meat alternative. NZ tend to only stock their own local brands or some from Oz.....don't very often see many others. Easy to get free range eggs, soy milk etc and good selection of veggie dips, spreads etc. It is much harder to get veggie cheese though....most of the cheese in supermarkets or delis are definitely not veggie....Woolworths homebrand do veggie Colby and Edam (but not cheddar or mild) and you can get small 250g packs of veggie cheddar and Colby in New World but it is incredibly expensive. For feta, camembert, mozarella, some blue cheese etc the Ornelle and Puhoi Valley brands have a lot with veggie rennet. Other thing to watch out for is some fruit juices have fish oils added, a lot of pasta and baked beans sauces have meat stock in them (even same brands that are veggie in UK), almost all yoghurts and soured cream have gelatine in them...apart from De Winkel brand or you could make your own like we do.

[sweetpea]

Hi, I was wondering what stores if any sell Garden Burgers, Veggie Corn Dogs, Vegetarian Sausage basically meat alternatives. And a store that sells organic foods and eggs from cage free hens, Soy Milk etc... Brands I'm looking for is Morning Star, Boca etc.... Thanks in advance everyone:)

Hi! The grocery stores in my town carry maybe two brands of vegetarian sausages. Each brand offers a couple different flavors. I have seen veggie burgers too, usually just one kind - not Gardenburgers or Boca Burgers. These are usually in the refrigerated section. You can also buy canned nutmeat (I tried it once and that was enough, although one of my friends swears it can be decent when mixed in well with something). Some of the veggie standbys, such as tahini, are rather pricey, as are the fake meats I mentioned above. Also, weird things are exhorbitant here, like almonds: $32/kilo. Still, being vegetarian here is doable. Being vegan would be much, much harder. Milk solids are one of NZ's largest export products, and show up in all sorts of unexpected foods.

I have not seen anything similar to Wild Oats or Whole Foods here. Maybe in Auckland? Other venues do offer a little more variety (but not much more, honestly) than the grocery stores: we have a weekly farmer's market, a bulk food shop, an organic food shop, an Asian food store, a produce shop and a Seventh Day Adventist food shop in town. The organic shop here reminds me of health food stores I saw in the Midwest US in the 1980's: a dusty shop with a limited selection of pricey, non-perishable foods.

Pretty much the NZ food situation will give you a little bit of culture shock coming from California. The good news is, vegetable gardens are pretty common here, so you can grow some of your own food.

[holland]

Hi,

Im not a huge meat eater...and there are lots of vege options at Burger Fuel if you fancy a naughty treat!

[mmcguire2020]

Thanks everyone for you help. Where I live in San Diego I usually shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joes. But I guess I will have to just look around once I'm in New Zealand.

[Kate D]

Not sure which part of NZ you are heading for but here's also The Organic Grocer in Wellington - you can check their web site out to get more info about what they stock. Two branches if I recollect rightly on in Wakefield Street and one on the bottom of Kaiwharawhara road which is quite big.

Kate

[mmcguire2020]

Thanks for the info everyone:p

[nifta]

vegetarian food is definitely one aspect of NZ that is behind other countries, but it has improved a LOT since i first became one 12 years ago. back then, during my visits home to wellington, people seemed quite baffled by the whole not eating meat thing.. heh. (indeed, i am ashamed to admit, i was myself before i moved to the UK). but yeah, it has gotten a lot better.

i can't speak for places other than wellington but there was good, easy access to vegetarian food last time i was there (1 year ago).. there is definitely nothing on the scale of whole foods.. perhaps if we get enough veges there then there will be a market to justify it! :)

[Familyofmonkeys]

people seemed quite baffled by the whole not eating meat thing..


Yes a lot of people really do seem to find this odd :yes Even my kids school and kindy teachers don't really understand what it means to be vegetarian....at their recent sushi day the 'vegetarian option' contained crab sticks so my daughter didn't join in. When I was shopping recently at a deli counter I asked if some cheese was vegetarian and I got a patronising answer "cheese comes from milk, i'm sure there is nothing in there to upset you"......just couldn't be bothered trying to explain to someone about cheesemaking or rennet :roll
Even worse is trying to tactfully explain to people that you won't eat food that hasn't been cooked separately from meat, you don't want your sandwich cut in half with the same knife that has just been used to cut up a bacon buttie or that there are other foods (other than actual flesh) that we don't eat. Reminds me of being a child when it was less common in UK and everytime I went to a birthday party explaining to the parents that I wasn't being rude by not eating the wonderful buffet they had provided, but jelly, marshmallows, cola bottles etc aren't veggie and neither are those ham sandwiches, crisps or sausage rolls. It seems like NZ is still at that stage, but in 10 years time I expect it will be a lot easier.