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A range of quirky objects help define what it is to be a New Zealander, or 'Kiwi'. These wonderful things are known simply as 'Kiwiana'.

Gumboots, ‘Buzzy Bee’ toys, marching girls, a meringue dessert, shell ashtrays, and a cookbook may not seem terribly important objects. But to many Kiwis (New Zealanders), such things assume vital importance as major icons of Kiwiana! What is Kiwiana? It could be described as all the weird and wonderful quirky things from years gone by that contribute to our sense of nationhood — our Kiwi identity.

A Kiwi feast is incomplete without a classic pavlova - a meringue dessert topped with whipped cream, summer berries or kiwifruit.
A classic Kiwi pavlova, New Zealand

Here are some examples of Kiwiana that you can pick up on your New Zealand travels.

The Birds and the Buzzy Bees

The ‘Buzzy Bee’ — not the live one, but the toy — is probably the most famous single piece of Kiwiana. But it’s not just the bright red and yellow colours that make Buzzy Bee so attractive to Kiwis, who are far more used to the greens and browns of their native bush. As you pull the toy, the wings of Buzzy Bee rotate, making a wonderful loud clicking sound.

Pavlova

This dessert was invented as a tribute to the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured New Zealand and Australia in 1926. Pavlova is made of meringue and cream and is usually topped with kiwifruit, another Kiwi icon exported by us under the label ‘Zespri’.

The pavlova has long been at the centre of a trans-Tasman argument. Both New Zealanders and Australians steadfastly maintain they invented it. The first appearance of the recipe in written form was in a New Zealand cookbook in the early 1930s. Surely it is obvious that a Swiss-style meringue cake covered in ‘Chinese gooseberries’ (kiwifruit) and named after a Russian ballerina can only be a New Zealand invention!

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