December 6, 2024 • 8 mins
This year, Kate Hall has been participating in a challenge.
At the beginning of the year she set out to only eat food products that were created in New Zealand, and with 2024 coming to a close, she decided to reflect on how it went.
She joined Francesca Rudkin for a chat about the wins, surprises, and failures, and has created a blog so those interested in eating local know where to shop.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Right now though, Kate Hall aka Ethically Kate joins us
to talk about her New Zealand Made Food challenge that
she set herself for the year. Good morning, Kate, have
been Chesska. So at the beginning of the year, I
think you spoke to Jack about this new challenge. It's
not the first time you've picked a challenge for the year,
is it, Kate.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
No, I seemed to like a challenge, and I kind
of I like the calendar year. I think, yeah, some
people poo poo the kind of New Year's resolutions, but
I kind of just pick a an annual challenge. I
find it is really helpful to yeah, do it in
the calendar year and not think I want to do
it forever for my lifetime or go into it with absolutees,
(00:56):
but yeah, just to try it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So, why this year did you pick the New Zealand
Made Food Challenge?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So? I thought, honestly, it was probably on the twenty
ninth of December. I was I really, I am up
for a challenge. I'd like a change, and I thought
it would be good to around food, especially since I
had heard just so much from small food producers, how
much of a struggle. I mean, it always is a
struggle there's a small food producer, but especially at the moment.
(01:24):
And I've always tried to buy produce and food as
local as possible, but I just kind of wanted to
go that extra mile and really really understand what we
grow here in New Zealand, what we have available to us,
and what a diet would look like without having access
to international foods.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Before we have a chat about what you have learned
from this challenge, just remind us again what the rules were.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So the rules were, I could still eat what was
existing in my pantry, so you know those kind of
like using up the soy sauce and things like that,
because that would have been wasteful if I just you know,
throw that stuff out to start the challenge. I also
didn't want it to be a year of me losing friends,
so I decided that I wasn't about so if I
(02:11):
was invited over to someone's house for dinner, I could
eat whatever they served me. So yeah, I wasn't excluding
myself or creating kind of unfair demands on my friends
and family. And it was it was New Zealand made food,
so that doesn't necessarily mean grown, but I had a
(02:33):
strong emphasis on grown, so I tried as much as
possible for New Zealand grown too, but New Zealand made
was the absolute.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So just how easy was.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It was? To be honest, it was easier than I
thought in some ways when you look around it almost
it almost felt like it was harder when I was
doing kind of more staunch, pastic free challenges, so it
felt easier to find. Yeah, New Zealand made food, but
(03:06):
again it almost sometimes felt too easy because of the labeling.
It would say made in New Zealand from local and
important ingredients, and I started to feel really kind of
challenge about the labeling and not actually being able to
know is this, yeah, how much of this is actually
New Zealand grown? And it was very very vague. So
(03:29):
I found that part kind of hard, and that meant
I kept a lot to just eating you know, kind
of raw, not getting raw so it's cooking them, but
just the basics like vegetables and meat and you know,
grains that I knew were grown here. So yeah, the
labeling was a big, big challenge, but I think it's
(03:52):
one of my favorite challenges I've done so far. I've
done a year of no new clothes and minimalist challenges
and things like that, but this has really given me
some good new habits going into twenty twenty five and
beyond to actually not just look at, okay, where is
my produce growing, which I think we're all pretty good
(04:14):
at in New Zealand when we're in the produce section,
but actually looking at our food and labeling too. I
really hope we get better at that, and there's more
laws around what people can put on their products. But
I've missed some foods like bananas and you know, like
black tea. We have one producer here in New Zealand.
(04:36):
But yeah, just things like that which are a bit
harder to find.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
That's going to ask whether it allowed for a good
variety in your diet.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, I think at the start I was feeling the
lack of variety. I missed rice a lot because we
don't have investigated people who have been attempting to grow rice,
which we can, but it's just the machinery around the
husking that rice to make it a commercial and edible
(05:05):
product difficult, but maybe we'll get there. So yeah, Keena,
I really love and it's even better for your body,
it's even more nutritious. But I did get a little
bit sick of it after, you know, probably after the
sixth month, I was like, oh, how many ways can
I cook? Kana?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
What about what about cost, Kate, did you notice any
difference in sort of what it cost you to eat? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
That was a tricky one for me because I'm already Celiac,
so I have to eat a gluten and free diet.
So my food, you know, a loaf of bread for
me as a Celiac is you know, ten to twelve
dollars instead of I don't know what a normal of
spread costs these days of wheat four, but you know
it's maybe a third of that price. So it has
(05:51):
had I know I can't do kind of exact comparison
for the everyday person, but I think, honestly, I don't
think it's as expensive as everyone thought it would be,
because that was the first question. They're like, oh, you know,
it's all right, who can afford it? But I think
because you then just say no to non seasonal things,
(06:12):
you know you're not spending extravagant amounts on a pineapple
in June, or you know, a punnet of strawberries in July.
You're just eating seasonally, meaning it's cheap in that season
because there's an abundance of it. So that also, I
think has connected me more to the seasons and understanding.
(06:32):
You know, like I got in this veggie box from
Misfit which is all Misfit kind of vegetables directly from
the farmers just yesterday some nectarines, and I'm so excited
for the stone fruit kind of season, and I now, yeah,
really far more kind of associate different seasons with those foods.
And yeah, I really don't think. I think it's quite
(06:54):
a myth that New Zealand made food is more expensive
and you just got to try it and you'll see
that actually it can mean that you're saying no to
a lot of those extra foods you're thrown you're trolley?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Was that thinking, and Kate was it time consuming challenge?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah? It was time consuming, mainly because the labels are
really hard to read. So at the stat of the year,
at about seven am and a local supermarket opened, I
went to my bike to the supermarket and I just
spent probably an hour and a half just reading labels
and understanding what I could buy what was there. I
(07:33):
determined that a whole lot of rice crackers mainly made
in Thailand, so those out of the Christian and just yeah,
took that time. But I do these challenges so that
I can do that, you know, work and research up
front so other people can understand things too. So of
made a blog of over one hundred different New Zealand
(07:54):
made food producers and so hopefully you know, yeah again
this book that I've done this year, I've spent the
times so that others don't have to to know that
actually it is possible with me, don't have to be
absolute about it. I actually need to confess also that
I have bought some things like rice because several months
(08:17):
ago I fell pregnant and the first trimester was very
hard with food. Even looking at vegetables was yeah, a
bots my gag reflexes. So I had to be kind
on my body and though that actually I can keep
doing a challenge, but with a few little things thrown
in there. So then that's my conditionion.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I'm not good on you for confessing it, but I
think everybody will totally forgive you for that. Kate congratulations
on the pregnancy. Kate's blog is ethically kate dot com
if you want to go and have a read of
her challenge and also get the list of those New
Zealand food producers.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Right now though, Kate Hall aka Ethically Kate joins us
to talk about her New Zealand Made Food challenge that
she set herself for the year. Good morning, Kate, have
been Chesska. So at the beginning of the year, I
think you spoke to Jack about this new challenge. It's
not the first time you've picked a challenge for the year,
is it, Kate.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
No, I seemed to like a challenge, and I kind
of I like the calendar year. I think, yeah, some
people poo poo the kind of New Year's resolutions, but
I kind of just pick a an annual challenge. I
find it is really helpful to yeah, do it in
the calendar year and not think I want to do
it forever for my lifetime or go into it with absolutees,
(00:56):
but yeah, just to try it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So, why this year did you pick the New Zealand
Made Food Challenge?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So? I thought, honestly, it was probably on the twenty
ninth of December. I was I really, I am up
for a challenge. I'd like a change, and I thought
it would be good to around food, especially since I
had heard just so much from small food producers, how
much of a struggle. I mean, it always is a
struggle there's a small food producer, but especially at the moment.
(01:24):
And I've always tried to buy produce and food as
local as possible, but I just kind of wanted to
go that extra mile and really really understand what we
grow here in New Zealand, what we have available to us,
and what a diet would look like without having access
to international foods.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Before we have a chat about what you have learned
from this challenge, just remind us again what the rules were.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So the rules were, I could still eat what was
existing in my pantry, so you know those kind of
like using up the soy sauce and things like that,
because that would have been wasteful if I just you know,
throw that stuff out to start the challenge. I also
didn't want it to be a year of me losing friends,
so I decided that I wasn't about so if I
(02:11):
was invited over to someone's house for dinner, I could
eat whatever they served me. So yeah, I wasn't excluding
myself or creating kind of unfair demands on my friends
and family. And it was it was New Zealand made food,
so that doesn't necessarily mean grown, but I had a
(02:33):
strong emphasis on grown, so I tried as much as
possible for New Zealand grown too, but New Zealand made
was the absolute.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So just how easy was.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It was? To be honest, it was easier than I
thought in some ways when you look around it almost
it almost felt like it was harder when I was
doing kind of more staunch, pastic free challenges, so it
felt easier to find. Yeah, New Zealand made food, but
(03:06):
again it almost sometimes felt too easy because of the labeling.
It would say made in New Zealand from local and
important ingredients, and I started to feel really kind of
challenge about the labeling and not actually being able to
know is this, yeah, how much of this is actually
New Zealand grown? And it was very very vague. So
(03:29):
I found that part kind of hard, and that meant
I kept a lot to just eating you know, kind
of raw, not getting raw so it's cooking them, but
just the basics like vegetables and meat and you know,
grains that I knew were grown here. So yeah, the
labeling was a big, big challenge, but I think it's
(03:52):
one of my favorite challenges I've done so far. I've
done a year of no new clothes and minimalist challenges
and things like that, but this has really given me
some good new habits going into twenty twenty five and
beyond to actually not just look at, okay, where is
my produce growing, which I think we're all pretty good
(04:14):
at in New Zealand when we're in the produce section,
but actually looking at our food and labeling too. I
really hope we get better at that, and there's more
laws around what people can put on their products. But
I've missed some foods like bananas and you know, like
black tea. We have one producer here in New Zealand.
(04:36):
But yeah, just things like that which are a bit
harder to find.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
That's going to ask whether it allowed for a good
variety in your diet.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, I think at the start I was feeling the
lack of variety. I missed rice a lot because we
don't have investigated people who have been attempting to grow rice,
which we can, but it's just the machinery around the
husking that rice to make it a commercial and edible
(05:05):
product difficult, but maybe we'll get there. So yeah, Keena,
I really love and it's even better for your body,
it's even more nutritious. But I did get a little
bit sick of it after, you know, probably after the
sixth month, I was like, oh, how many ways can
I cook? Kana?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
What about what about cost, Kate, did you notice any
difference in sort of what it cost you to eat? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
That was a tricky one for me because I'm already Celiac,
so I have to eat a gluten and free diet.
So my food, you know, a loaf of bread for
me as a Celiac is you know, ten to twelve
dollars instead of I don't know what a normal of
spread costs these days of wheat four, but you know
it's maybe a third of that price. So it has
(05:51):
had I know I can't do kind of exact comparison
for the everyday person, but I think, honestly, I don't
think it's as expensive as everyone thought it would be,
because that was the first question. They're like, oh, you know,
it's all right, who can afford it? But I think
because you then just say no to non seasonal things,
(06:12):
you know you're not spending extravagant amounts on a pineapple
in June, or you know, a punnet of strawberries in July.
You're just eating seasonally, meaning it's cheap in that season
because there's an abundance of it. So that also, I
think has connected me more to the seasons and understanding.
(06:32):
You know, like I got in this veggie box from
Misfit which is all Misfit kind of vegetables directly from
the farmers just yesterday some nectarines, and I'm so excited
for the stone fruit kind of season, and I now, yeah,
really far more kind of associate different seasons with those foods.
And yeah, I really don't think. I think it's quite
(06:54):
a myth that New Zealand made food is more expensive
and you just got to try it and you'll see
that actually it can mean that you're saying no to
a lot of those extra foods you're thrown you're trolley?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Was that thinking, and Kate was it time consuming challenge?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah? It was time consuming, mainly because the labels are
really hard to read. So at the stat of the year,
at about seven am and a local supermarket opened, I
went to my bike to the supermarket and I just
spent probably an hour and a half just reading labels
and understanding what I could buy what was there. I
(07:33):
determined that a whole lot of rice crackers mainly made
in Thailand, so those out of the Christian and just yeah,
took that time. But I do these challenges so that
I can do that, you know, work and research up
front so other people can understand things too. So of
made a blog of over one hundred different New Zealand
(07:54):
made food producers and so hopefully you know, yeah again
this book that I've done this year, I've spent the
times so that others don't have to to know that
actually it is possible with me, don't have to be
absolute about it. I actually need to confess also that
I have bought some things like rice because several months
(08:17):
ago I fell pregnant and the first trimester was very
hard with food. Even looking at vegetables was yeah, a
bots my gag reflexes. So I had to be kind
on my body and though that actually I can keep
doing a challenge, but with a few little things thrown
in there. So then that's my conditionion.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I'm not good on you for confessing it, but I
think everybody will totally forgive you for that. Kate congratulations
on the pregnancy. Kate's blog is ethically kate dot com
if you want to go and have a read of
her challenge and also get the list of those New
Zealand food producers.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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