A mass outbreak of suspected food poisoning has caused “carnage” across two university halls in New Zealand, with reports of early morning queues for toilets, vomit dripping down building windows and students abandoning exams to dash to the loo.
More than 100 students reported being struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea at two University of Canterbury student residences on Sunday night, the university confirmed on Tuesday.
The cause of the illness was yet to be determined, but students at University Hall and Ilam Apartments – both run by UniLodge – said they began feeling sick on Sunday evening, after eating the catered chicken souvlakia dinner, local news outlet Stuff reported.
If they’d just had mince* on toast instead then this wouldn’t have happened. Proper New Zealand food, not this imported Greek muck.
*I sorta, vaguely, know that mince on toast is something NZ. Kiddie comfort food sorta stuff apparently? But is it lamb mince or beef mince that is usually referred to?
I reckon anyone who can poison people with chicken kebabs could probably do it with mince too. I wasn’t aware that mince on toast was a Kiwi staple; it was never offered to me on my single visit to Kiwiland.
However, I visited a couple of London restaurants (fairly) recently which offered mince: with potatoes in Dean Street Townhouse (£15 main I think) and Story Cellar in Covent Garden, which had a dish of snail bolognaise on toast at £19 for a starter….
Savoury beef mince on toast with a couple of soft poached eggs on top is a very common breakfast menu item in Australia.
Ah yes… This is simply the Gods of Olympus having their vengeance for serving an abomination…
Souvlaki made from chicken is a modern city affectation that is not part of the greek culinary tradition, but rather an antipodean heresy.
Souvlaki is lamb. With beef or pork as possible alternatives.
Souvlaki is lamb. With beef or pork as possible alternatives.
Chicken or Pork in The Republic of Cyprus for some reason and Lamb in ‘The Occupied Areas’… 😉
Although Souvla can be Lamb, Chicken or Pork here…
I think we should quarantine New Zealand from the outside world until we are absolutely sure. Two and a half years should do it. You can’t be too careful.
Grik, an impossibly pretentious restaurant with star in London serves, indeed it their “signature dish” apparently, a “chicken Milanese”. Better half ordered it. It’s about an inch thick, so has to be gently warmed so as not to burn the bread while getting middle to a temperature that won’t turn your insides into a Kiwi hall of residence on a bad night.
I dunno, but to me the whole point of schnitzel and its Italian knock-off (or the other way around) is to use up a slab of meat no one really wants and make it pleasant by smashing it wafer thin and breading it thickly. But London’s fine set won’t eat veal, if you do find veal in the UK it’s a “delicacy”, so half the portion at double the price (opposite of the continent) so chicken it is.
I guess the resemblance to a Findus chicken Kiev without the Kiev makes it simultaneously comfort food and enrapturingly exotic to those who think Italian cuisine is about posh.
NZ food: my experience has included disappointment with their so-called whitebait and great pleasure from their mutton bird. Their fish and chips seemed rather erratic – not that they are alone in that. They are noticeably fond of kumara. They don’t seem to have tried to find a good recipe for seals. We found their cherries at Xmas a lovely habit. Their apples are good too: we even found Russets at a farmer’s market, and you can’t get much more civilised than that.
NZ wine: pleasure, pleasure everywhere.
If you go to Queenstown in NZ, eat here:
https://botswanabutchery.nz/queenstown/
Have a light breakfast (not savoury mince) and no lunch.
There is one in Auckland but we haven’t eaten there.
In the last few years lots of pubs have started doing chicken katsu curry. When I lived in Japan it was always pork katsu and chicken was really seen. Japanese restaurants in the UK also use chicken instead of whatever meat is in the original recipe (e.g in Gyoza and Raman), presumably because it’s cheaper?
There are two stages of food poisoning:
The fear of imminent death, and then the despair when you realise you’re not going to die.
Another dose of salmonella will probably finish me off. I’d rather be bitten by tigers.
BiG @ 10.11, “Chicken Milanese” takes me back to 1976 and my first job, a Shipping Clerk at Phoenix Timber, Rainham, Essex.
They also had an offering of ‘ Russian Potatoes’ which, if I recall, was mashed potatoes with red and green peppers.
No, I don’t get the connection either…..
UK also use chicken instead of whatever meat is in the original recipe (e.g in Gyoza and Raman), presumably because it’s cheaper?
British meat preferences? I noticed before I left it was pretty well getting down to only chicken, turkey & beef & maybe some pig in bacon & ham. Very few people seem to like lamb or even know what veal is. And definitely no offal.
On the subject of Brit cuisine tastes:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/my-american-mind-boggles-at-british-eating-habits/
If the baguette defines the French, and the hot dog Americans, surely the tinned bean is the ultimate culinary symbol of Britain. They have been named as favoured treats by the current Queen and the late Princess Diana, both of whom presumably had access to a wide range of alternatives. But if you have not been raised on these cloyingly sweet piles of mush, they’re a tough sell.
Although they come from New England, the British collectively consume two million tins of them a day – more than the rest of the world combined.
New England? They’re actually the last remnants of something particularly French. So more likely the Carolinas round to Louisiana. Cassolet. When I was a kid the Heinz 57 variety still contained a token piece of pork.
I had a lovely lambs’ liver and bacon for lunch on Saturday. We had sweetbreads last month. We routinely eat chicken liver pate in winter. Otherwise I avoid chook whenever poss.
I can’t remember when I last had turkey. We’ll have goose at Xmas. We had a pork pie for dinner yesterday. Haggis is another winter favourite.
It’s ages since we had veal – we used to be regular eaters when we lived in the Scottish countryside near a good butcher. It’s a long time since we had ‘roo though. Don’t eat much venison either. We like partridge and pheasant though we don’t have either often. Rabbit is usually a disappointment I find.
if you do find veal in the UK it’s a “delicacy”, so half the portion at double the price (opposite of the continent) so chicken it is
Try the veal chop at the Anacapri (Dorset St, Marylebone). M&S do rose veal steaks, cheaper then the beef equivalent.