A taste of South Africa

The larger supermarkets usually have a section which they call 'International' and there you will find products from countries other than New Zealand. This picture gives you an idea of what's on offer - the South African section is only the right hand half of the picture - so as you can see, the selection is not spectacular! The Ceres juice, Ouma rusks and Robertson spices (limited) are always there and you will generally also be able to get your hands on some Ricoffy - if you really want to! I was pleased to note that my favourite chocolate - the good old Tex bar, is usually available and this picture shows the Chocolate Logs too. We have seen Mrs Ball's chutney - but to date have not found the hot one, only the fruit one which we are not particularly fond of. Beside the Ouma rusks there are Nik Naks - I think of you Allan, every time we see those! There is Aromat and small packets of Jelly Tots. Here and there you might be lucky and be able to lay your hands on some of the more popular Koo products in cans, but we have found the local canned goods to be a lot cheaper and just as good.
Of course there is Rooibos Tea - even more than one variety to choose from which is really great, although the kiwis have caught on to it and now offer other brands of Rooibos tea on their own shelves. There was an advertisement on the telly the other day for the stuff and we were half expecting something like 'Redbush tea'. Imagine our surprise when they used the correct name and even got the pronunciation mostly right! Amazing things the kiwis!
The South African butcher in Hamilton also kept a few 'goodies' at his shop - one of which was Rennies! so we will have to find another source of those here in Wanganui since they're not available at the local chemists or supermarkets. To be quite honest, other similar products work just as well so it's not too much of a train smash!
Generally speaking, one would really have to have missed something really badly if you actually buy things from these shelves - the prices are spectacularly horrific! The other day, Marieta (who has been in New Zealand for about two months) couldn't resist a couple of cans of Sparletta Creme Soda - the first time we had seen it here - and paid in the region of twelve Rand per can!
Since I have never been that fond of 'green soda' there was no way I would shell out even half that for those two cans!
It would probably not be a good idea to go into the things that we really miss - most of the time though, it is a question of 'out of sight, out of mind' so we are just fine! There are plenty of new and exciting things to try and putting on a bit of weight appears to be the easiest thing imaginable in this part of the world! There are times though when a Bertrams and Litchi flavoured sparkling water would just hit the spot!
Dis al!