Mar 18, 2025 Metro Eats
Kia ora,
American politics, try as we might to shield ourselves, now seems almost impossible to avoid — especially as many of our own politicians appear intent on importing ideologies to our shores. For that reason, I typically avoid global politics in this newsletter but over the past few days, I’ve found myself tumbling down a rabbit hole on the topic of food dye bans in the US.
The general gist of it is that West Virginia has just announced a sweeping ban on several common food dyes over public health concerns, and at least a dozen other states are following suit. Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration also banned the use of the notorious Red #3 colouring — used in all sorts of grocery products and snacks — including the bag of Candy Corn in my pantry.
On the surface, it’s pretty dry stuff, but I was intrigued by how these new rules might eventually affect the imported things I enjoy eating. Will my Lucky Charms and Heinz Ketchup have the vibrant colour sucked out of them much like the sad, washed-out versions of sprinkles I often come across these days? For now, I remain unsure, though it sounds like the rollout of the new rules will be slow. Then I started thinking about how this whole food dye situation represents a very 2025 brand of politicisation and fear-mongering around food and health.
The movement to ban certain food dyes in America has been an ongoing one, with advocates sitting across the political spectrum. However it seems that this latest push has been propelled by US Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr, an environmental lawyer with no background in health and a long track record of propounding pseudoscience. His “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative, which aims to address chronic disease rates, sounds all well and good until you realise much of it is driven by the opinions of wellness influencers and pseudoscientific rhetoric.
Banning artificial dyes isn’t inherently a bad thing. The science around their risks remains inconclusive, and varies dye to dye, so at best, these bans might reduce some health risks, and at worst, they’re simply cosmetic changes that make food a little less cheerful to look at. It’s mostly quite innocuous. But what freaks me out far more than the prospect of dreary-looking snacks is what these bans represent: the creeping influence of a broader ideological movement which insists that health problems can be solved almost entirely by what we eat. It’s a way of thinking that, while not fully embedded in Aotearoa and not entirely new, seems to be gaining traction.
This is where it gets complicated for me. I’m not an apologist for the industrial food system. And of course, yes, diet is crucial to physical health. What I’m wary about is that within this movement legitimate concerns about microplastics and ultra-processed foods are tangled up with dubious claims about things like fluoridated water, vaccines and seed oils. Healthy scepticism about the profit-driven nature of the food industry has been melded with unhealthy cynicism toward regulatory bodies, medicine and science.
Personally, I avoid pathologising my food. I eat what I feel like and aim for balance, but I don’t stress about it. In part, this is because I think angsting about food is unhealthy in itself, but also because I’m far more concerned with the bigger picture when it comes to health.
Which brings me to this: The greatest predictor of health in the US, like New Zealand, is wealth, along with a bunch of other not-disconnected social determinants (employment, housing and ethnicity, for example). Making America — or anywhere — truly healthy (again?) means far more than swapping out individual ingredients. It means tackling big, systemic ingredients like food insecurity, health access and environmental problems. America’s food system inarguably does harm its people, and that is the legacy of pro-corporation deregulatory policies prioritising profits and growth over people. There’s a lesson for us in that if we genuinely want to be healthy. It’s why when I hear buzzwords like ‘deregulation’ and ‘growth’ locally, or consider stories of the rejection of evidence-based health policies, or think about the continued erosion of our public healthcare system in favour of privatised care, it sends actual shivers down my spine. I guess whether it be snacks, or politics, we should be very careful what we import.
Hei konā mai,
Charlotte
Comings and goings.
The rooftop-bar-loving people behind Dr Rudi’s, Saint Alice and Queens Rooftop & Wineshop this week launched TAKAPUNA SURF CLUB, which involves a fresh menu by co-founder and chef Maia Atvars of prawns on ice, schnitzel, chicken parmigiana, subs, wood-fired pizzas and more. There’s also a rooftop bar, of course.
The Melbourne- and Sydney-fication of this city’s dining scene (and beyond; we are now apparently calling Ponsonby and its surrounds the “Inner West”) continues to pick up pace with the opening of FITZROY DELI, a new deli and sandwich shop on Shortland St by the people behind Dulcie Cafe. The deal seems to be coffee and made-to-order sandwiches. I will be heading there for a mortadella.
More sandwich news: the THAT SANDO GUY food truck is now parked up in Ponsonby (behind Win-Win Bar) Wednesday–Sunday for lunch and dinner. They’re doing sandos, burgers, donburi and Korean fried chicken and have recently added an extremely cute-looking fruit sando to their menu.
CINNAMON SQUARED is a new shop in the central city (where Meet Balls was located) specialising in cinnamon rolls — in the most quintessential form, but also in six other inventive variations like pistachio and fruit yogurt. They serve something called “Apple Wood Tea” as well which sounds very seasonally appropriate.
VANIYÉ PATISSERIE, famed for the delicate, immaculate and often petal-adorned pastries, which they turn out of their Parnell shop, has opened a second location in an industrial corner of Onehunga.
The infamous PARADISE BUFFET, which shut in 2021, is back. I went once to the original buffet and remain unsure as to whether all-you-can-eat is the best (or even a good) format for enjoying curry, but I guess each to their own.
DEAR DEER, continues its proliferation of roasting bars around the city with their first West Auckland branch that opened in Glen Eden last month.
One of this magazine’s top 50 favourite cafes and spots for pho and Vietnamese coffee, MUG ’n’ BOWL in Three Kings, is now open for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. The dinner menu is evolving and slightly different to their daytime offering, so keep an eye on their Instagram for updates.
One of the city’s best, most beautiful and, presumably, oldest dairies, Jairam’s Dairy & Flower Shop on Ponsonby Rd, is up for sale for the first time in its more than 100-year history. It’s been owned by the same family since it opened in 1915 and I really, really hope that whoever the next owners are keep the inimitable flower selection and historic signage, plus the chocolate ladybugs at the front counter.
Hot.
The anchovy, egg and mayonnaise toast from JUNO in Ponsonby.
LA TROPEZIENNE’s packaging (and their dame blanche biscuits).
The abundance of food stalls at Pasifika.
Retsina Malamatina from MEDITASTE. A very cheap and weirdly funky wine — excellent for a spritzer.
Savoury bread puddings. LIKE THIS.
The scallop and crab raviolo at OLLE.
All the tapas at HAZY TIGER, but especially the gochu (pork-stuffed chilli peppers).
Not.
David Seymour’s ongoing school lunch OMNISHAMBLES. Big yikes. It is, at the same time, cheering that so many people in this country care about school kids having a nice lunch (or at least a lunch that arrives, or doesn’t trigger an allergic reaction, or isn’t imported from Australia, or doesn’t send a child to hospital with second-degree burns).
HelloFresh — EEK.
Coconut yoghurt in savoury dishes.
The HATE over Meghan Markle’s new — and really quite harmless — lifestyle series With Love, Meghan. Just seems a bit much for something so innocuous.
DUNKIN’ DONUTS prices leaping from $3.50 to $4 for a single donut.
Where we’re going.
KELMARNA FARM FESTIVAL is the place to be this Sunday, 16 March. Alongside a hefty music line-up, there will be food and drink from Fatima’s, Bowler, The Lophie Project, Serious Food Co, Behemoth Brewing Company, Karma Drinks, Lothlorien Winery, Huntress Wines, Yealands and Kōkako Coffee, plus a sausage sizzle collaboration by A Lady Butcher and Daily Bread . Plus, activities for kids, workshops and discussions in the ‘Talk Tent’. Buy tickets in advance HERE.
