L&P

L&P stands for Lemon and Paeroa and is a tasty and nutritious (actually, probably not) carbonated beverage. The obvious question is, what is Paeroa? And the answer is that Paeroa is a town. A fairly nondescript town, at that, halfway between Auckland and Tauranga on State Highway 2 and right before you plunge into the Karangahake Gorge. Never mind that a town isn't an ingredient that can conceivably be put into a soft drink, L&P is an iconic piece of the New Zealand culinary landscape.

While the original L&P was made by adding lemon to carbonated mineral water from a spring near Paeroa, the current version is a sweetened concoction that tastes like nothing I can conceivably compare it to. It's not very lemony, and it's got far too much flavour to be just mineral water. It's now manufactured in the Coca Cola plant in suburban Auckland from artifical flavouring 123, 190 and 187, but it's still awesome.

It mixes well with vodka or scotch whiskey, and is available in dairies, petrol stations and supermarkets the nation over. One of the standard lines that I used to use to make my conversation seem more interesting was that when I owned my own home, I'd get it plumbed for hot water, cold water, and L&P. Unfortunately, that line was retired, as it never really worked, and replaced with "Bacon improves any dish, with the exception of dessert"

The marketing team at L&P have started to play on the nostalgic hold that the drink has on the country - the current slogan is "World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago", and their website features snippets of the mundane things that New Zealanders know and love (which, if I'm being perfectly honest, may have influenced the genesis of this particular internet enterprise (along with Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada)).

Any trip through Paeroa is traditionally marked by all the occupants of the travelling vehicle stopping and climbing out for a snap in front of the giant bottle of Lemon and Paeroa - I can't even begin to think how many such photos I've posed in.


I can't really rhapsodise about the flavour of L&P - describing why you enjoy L&P is like trying to describe why you drink Coke - it doesn't really have a taste that blows you away, but it's sweet, it's refreshing, and nothing goes better with fish and chips while sitting on a beach watching the sun set.

Preamble

If there’s one thing that being away from home makes you realize, it’s the importance of the country you grew up, and much of your character is defined by pure geographical happenstance. You don’t realise how much the place you were raised has an integral hold on your persona until you move away into an alien environment, where every cultural difference prompts an appreciation for the way thing are done back in EnZed.

Friends of mine in other countries are always surprised by my complete conviction that I will always end up back in New Zealand, no matter how well my life is going elsewhere, both personally and professionally. I think many, if not most kiwis share this desire, and in my head, I don’t see myself settling down and raising children anywhere else, because I wouldn’t want my children to know anything other than growing up with walks down to the dairy in jandals, to pick up lollies and ice-blocks, only to return home for some sausages cooked on the barbie, lathered in tomato sauce.

What follows is a item-by-item breakdown of particular pieces of Kiwiana (although I hate that word), from the mundane to the obvious. Suggestions and comments are welcomed.