Ngā Taonga Sound Archives: New Zealand takeaways

New Zealand’s love for takeaways has been on display this week, with customers queuing outside fast-food premises for their first taste after weeks in level 4 lockdown. 

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s Sarah Johnston joined Jesse Mulligan to talk about our love affair with all things fried and salty.

Fish and chips before the game Athletic Park 1950 [Evening Post newspaper, courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Making hamburgers at McDonald's in Lower Hutt, 1987 [Evening Post newspaper, courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Marama Mateparae serving at McDonald's 1986 [Evening Post newspaper, courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Queue outside Kentucy Fried Chicken, 1976 [Photograph by Max Oettli, courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Public domain

The Fish and chip shop as we know them originated in the East End of London, she says.

One of the original fish and chip shops in London, Malins was recognised in the 1960s as the first shop in London that offered fish and chips together since it started trading in the 1860s in the Bow area of London.

“British migrants then brought fish and chips from the UK, but their place as our number 1 take away was under threat because the big boys of fast food had started arriving,” Johnston says.

“The Wimpy hamburger chain arrived, then we had all the fried chicken franchises and in 1976 McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Porirua.”

By 1980 McDonald’s had 8 stores in New Zealand and the RNZ Insight team was looking at the growing impact of international fast food.

Insight spoke to Michael Baker, who was the spokesman for the Auckland University Environment Group, which was holding a vigil outside a McDonald’s.

The group believed the McDonald’s worldwide chain exemplified all the worst features of big business control of our eating habits.

“I think it’s doing appalling harm to the social structure of New Zealand, basically instead of people sitting around a table to have a pleasant family meal they drive off to the nearest McDonalds.

“In Auckland there is a drive-in McDonald’s so I believe you can get your food with the engine running.

“The average McDonald’s meal is consumed in about 10 minutes and in addition the meal becomes a very bland, uniform experience it’s very repetitive, there’s no diversity," Baker says.

The first drive thru was set up by the Georgie Pie chain in the 1970s.

By the 1980s Georgie Pie expanded to over 30 stores but in 1996 more than half their stores were bought up by McDonald’s and as Checkpoint reported at the time – the writing was on the wall for the local chain.

Videos:

Watch McDonald’s first New Zealand television advertisements

KFC 1975 “Hugo” advertisement video https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kfc-hugo-and-holly/comments