Watchlist
The Food Documentaries Worth Your Evening
A friend sent a list of thirty-odd food documentaries. I watched my way through and sorted the ones worth your time — plus where to find them free from New Zealand.
potatoes
The chemical that finishes New Zealand's potatoes
Leave organic potatoes in a dark cupboard and they sprout within weeks; the supermarket bag doesn't. Between paddock and shelf a commercial potato is sprayed at three stages — and at each one the lead chemical is one the EU banned and New Zealand still allows
community
Six People Shaping Real Food in New Zealand
You can't dig into New Zealand's food system for long without meeting the same people — the growers, writers and advocates quietly doing the work. Here are six of them worth knowing, and a small attempt to say so out loud.
food security
What NZ Promised the World About Food — and What Is Actually Happening
In 2015 NZ committed to building resilient food systems and protecting domestic food production. Four years from that deadline, food insecurity is at a ten-year high, our processing infrastructure is collapsing, and cheap imports are filling the gap — for now.
chicken
SPCA Certified: what the blue badge actually tells you
Standing in the chicken aisle: barn-raised, free-range, organic — three different lives, three different prices, same blue badge. What does SPCA Certified actually certify, how does it compare internationally, and why does the SPCA endorse a higher standard it doesn't require?
eggs
The empty shelf, and a look at Good Farms eggs
Two shops, zero eggs, and the seasonal reason behind it — then a carton of Good Farms "100% Free Range" I'd never noticed, and what happened when I tried to check the claim. A look at daylight, laying hens, and the gap between a label and the proof behind it.
meat
New Zealand sells the world its lamb. Try buying an organic one here.
New Zealand has five times as many sheep as people, and sells its lamb to the world. So I assumed organic lamb would be easy to find here. It wasn't. Here's what I found when I went looking — and the missing piece that explains it.
dairy
Mainland Organic Cheese: Is Non-Animal Rennet Legit?
I bought a block of Mainland Organic Cheese this week. Then I turned it over and actually read the back. Non-animal rennet, in a certified organic cheese. Is that legit? The answer turned out to be more interesting than I expected.
Organic Food
The King Who Chose Organic
In 1985, a British prince converted his farm to organic. People called him a complete idiot. Forty years later, he's the King — and the farm is still going.
the month in food
The Month in Food: May 2026
A monthly recap of everything published — the egg investigation, the Long Drift series, the chicken trilogy, the Real Food Map launch, and a plantation that turns thirty. Plus a quick orientation if it's your first visit.
pork
The 20%. Who actually grows the pork in New Zealand.
Sixty percent of pork in New Zealand is imported. Over eighty percent of bacon and ham. So who's growing the rest? The answer is fifty-eight farms — fewer than the country has Pak'nSave stores. Here's who they are, who makes the best bacon and ham from their pork, and where to buy it.
eggs
The pohutukawa on the carton: who's behind Otaika Valley eggs?
A friend told me she buys Otaika Valley free range eggs because she liked the pohutukawa flower on the label. She didn't know who owned the brand. Neither did I, in any real detail. So I went looking.
