Lindsay Neill

A Vernacular Food Tradition and National Identity in New Zealand

Abstract The humble meat pie is one of the most consumed casual takeout foods in New Zealand. Readily available in every bakery, corner dairy, café and gas station, they were traditionally the mainstay of roadside food vendor wagons known as “pie carts.” This paper demonstrates how that modest, familiar feature of everyday life in New Zealand—the roadside pie cart—is a site where values of national identity were/are enacted. Contemporary pie carts no longer necessarily sell pies—but the name remains. Traditional pie carts do however live on in the memories and narratives of patrons. This paper investigates the role of these carts, past and present, in reiterating national food attitudes, and as a reflection of social change.

His own kind of honour: reluctant celebrity chef Michael Van de Elzen

ABSTRACT Australasian chef Michael Van de Elzen provides a valuable Antipodean insight into chef celebrity. Within an emic perspective, this article explores his antinomic celebrity experiences. Michael’s contradictions and anxieties emerge within the dilemma he experiences in being a chef celebrity yet not wanting to be a celebrity chef. Language nuance reflects his dilemma. We explore Michael’s lived celebrity experience using an adapted version of a well known celebrity framework. Michael’s celebrity is revealed as he negotiates the antinomy between his ‘culinary self’ and his ‘celebrity self’. We extend this binary to include Michael’s ‘private self’. Michael Van de Elzen’s antinomies are embodied within his celebrity chef status. This triptych simultaneously motivates and detracts from his celebrity experience. Consequently, our article illuminates a domain that is often ignored in the ‘scramble’ of celebrity: celebrity reluctance, anxiety and avoidance. Within a qualitative framework, the article presents his career, illuminating his struggle. Our work contributes towards a wider understanding of how celebrity chefs negotiate celebrity’s negative aspects, and extends Rockwell and Giles’ celebrity framework.

Utilising Flexible Learning Packages to Enhance Teaching Effectiveness: A New Zealand Case Study

This study details a two year project which involved the development, implementation and evaluation of flexible learning packages for four hospitality courses. Using case study methodology, the process and outcomes associated with the implementation of these innovative teaching tools in one course is examined. Implications for the scholarship of learning and teaching, technical literacy, industry partnerships, and further study are outlined.

Tourism Education in New Zealand’s Secondary Schools: the Teachers’ Perspective

ABSTRACT Tourism has major economic significance for global economies. In New Zealand, Tourism Industry Aotearoa’s Tourism 2025 strategy outlines the goal of increasing revenue from

Gastronomy or Food Studies: a Case of Academic Distinction

24 billion in 2013 to

‘Think of New Zealand as a small town’: methodological and ethical issues in researching everyday culture

41 billion by 2025. The strategy highlights the shortage of workers, with the tourism industry needing to attract, recruit, and develop a skilled and qualified workforce. Research has shown that the study of tourism is stigmatised, stemming from its multidisciplinary nature and vocational roots. In addition, secondary school tourism students are labelled less academically capable in comparison to those students studying traditional subjects. Interviews conducted with teachers offer insights into the challenges encountered by tourism educators. The discussion highlights the disparity between tourism’s economic importance and the status and perception of tourism. This study identifies patterns in the data that can be theoretically generalised and has implications for tourism education in other economies in which tourism plays a significant role.

The “New World” and international pâtisserie competition

ABSTRACT This article addresses the complexities in differentiating gastronomy from food studies as an academic topic. We use the case of Auckland University of Technology’s development of a Master of Gastronomy to illustrate the importance of the distinction. The literature review discusses the similarities and differences between these two domains, and the case study explores the processes and problems encountered in establishing the degree as a background to addressing the challenges inherent in naming a qualification. The combination of these topics and their discussion is timely as the academy realizes an increased offering of gastronomy and food studies programs. This article therefore outlines local processes and key decisions to assist others with decision-making processes as they develop similar programs.

Choosing texts for today's students: do they understand language?

Abstract This article explores some of the methodological and ethical issues intrinsic to the processes of carrying out ethnographic research in a very small country, when most participating individuals can be readily identified. The inherent conflicts will be applicable to research in any community where individual participants may be recognised. Internal confidentiality has the potential to place limits on ethical assurances. However, these limitations were more of a concern for outputs generated for an academic audience, than when the primary research output for a commercial book. We examine this paradox. The book we co-wrote is about a modest, familiar feature of everyday life in New Zealand: roadside pie carts, which have been selling cheap street food since the 1930s. While their menus have changed – most no longer sell pies, even though they are still called pie carts – the surviving food vendors are still important night-time food providers in many cities and small towns. We investigated their persistence in the face of social change and competition from the global fast-food giants. In collecting their stories, and addressing the place of nostalgia, narratives and memories in restating local vernacular culture, various methodological and ethics issues arose.

Journalistic integrity or arbiter of taste? The case study of restaurant critic Peter Calder

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the New Zealand Junior Pastry Team negotiated the rigours of international competition at the 2013 Junior Pastry World Cup in Rimini, Italy and how what was learnt from this experience holds relevance to creative hospitality practice and business application. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an inductive qualitative enquiry to illuminate the narratives and subjective experiences of the competition team. Structured and semi-structured interview data responses were themed using an open coding system. This data were critically evaluated against both competition data, participant experience and relevant academic literature. Findings – This paper shows how the team’s desire to highlight its national identity through food in the competition resulted in problematic experiences that were compounded by a tyranny of distance. However, these challenges were overcome through the creative dynamic the team developed and the networking benefits which ...