When Arnott's Shapes finally hit UK supermarket shelves, the chicken flavour sold out within 24 hours. For the writer of NZ Herald Travel's expat column, that moment of snack-based mania said something bigger: for New Zealanders living in London, it's the small stuff — a box of crackers, a block of Whittaker's — that triggers the strongest homesickness.
The column lands right as the annual migration begins. From October onwards, Kiwis in London start flying home for the southern summer, and group chats fill with requests: onion soup mix for Kiwi dip, raspberry cordial, pineapple lumps, Tim Tams (increasingly easy to find in the UK since a major supermarket chain began importing them), even a Swanndri jacket for one brave soul facing a British winter.
But the piece goes beyond snack nostalgia. It makes an argument many long-haul travellers will recognise: living abroad recalibrates your sense of what counts as spectacular. A visit to Jeremy Clarkson's much-hyped Farmer's Dog pub in the Cotswolds? Lovely, but it looked like Hook, near Wānaka. Albania's famous Blue Eye spring? Beautiful — and still, in the writer's head, a shade less impressive than the Makarora Blue Pools or the Clutha River back in Otago.
That's the takeaway for anyone heading to New Zealand, especially in summer: the things locals shrug about are genuinely world-class. The Southern Alps, the swimming holes, the beaches, the wine and the humble meat pie all rank up there with Europe's headline attractions — often with a fraction of the crowds.
There are some practical breadcrumbs for travellers in the story, too. Kiwi expats stave off homesickness by hunting NZ wine on London restaurant menus (a good tip for anyone wanting a taste of Aotearoa mid-trip), and a contingent is heading to Edinburgh this November to watch the All Blacks play — a reminder that travelling to see the All Blacks abroad is a ritual in its own right, and that Dunedin-raised fans feel an odd kinship with Edinburgh's steep streets and stone.
Who's this for? Anyone who has lived abroad and felt a ridiculous pang over something trivial, anyone planning a New Zealand summer trip who wants a local's shopping list (Whittaker's chocolate and Kiwi dip are apparently non-negotiable), and Brits curious why their countrymen just emptied the shelves of chicken Shapes over barbecue. The verdict from across the ditch is unanimous, apparently: chicken is the superior flavour, and anyone who says otherwise cannot be trusted.
The column closes with instructions for returning Kiwis — swim, eat a mince pie, overdo it on the pineapple lumps — which doubles as a decent itinerary for first-time visitors. And if a box of Shapes in a foreign supermarket is enough to make someone appreciate the Southern Alps, that's probably the strongest travel recommendation New Zealand gets this year.
With thanks to NZ Herald Travel for the original piece.
