Gluten-free in NZ

For anyone who is curious how I'm surviving in New Zealand, in terms of food, I've found NZ to be surprisingly gluten-aware and glutard-friendly. The first few days in Auckland were very promising, as the first grocery store we went to had an embarassingly large selection of GF bread (none of which was frozen!) and every grocery store I've been too, even the discount ones, have had some kind of GF bread available. I was able to have the infamous 'mushrooms on toast' at Dizengoff in the Ponsonby area of Auckland (thanks Matt + Ally for the recommendation) because they had gluten free bread available. The trend continued with many cafes and restaurants having GF options or at the very least labelling their GF items as being GF. Even in the middle of nowhere, at a climber's cafe in Wharepapa South, they had a GF feta and spinach pasta pie which was crazy delicious.

And then there's Burger Fuel ... which we literally stumbled upon in Auckland. Burger Fuel would be an amazing find for anyone who loves burgers. They make big, juicy burgers (beef, chicken, fish and veg) fresh to order with 'real' ingredients, homemade toppings (like aioli), and have great fries. It's not really fast food, as it usually takes about 10 minutes to get your burger, but it's not exactly a restaurant either. But it's how a burger should be. And, best of all ... get this ... they have gluten free burger buns! Yes, that's right, not hard, dry biscuit type buns like you find in Canada or gummy rice bread, but real burger buns that you could market under the slogan you-won't-believe-it's-gluten-free. The first time I ate one I had to keep checking my burger bun against Adam's burger bun to ensure that mine was different and they hadn't simply made a mistake and it was a regular bun, because it tasted so good. And that's when I realized that this was the first real burger that I had eaten in years.

Not that I don't make good burgers (word is I make great burgers), but I can never really enjoy the complete experience because I'm either using rice bread, or a crappy biscuit type bun or no bread at all and just covering the burger and toppings with my patented roasted-pepper-toque contraption. This was the real burger deal.

Needless to say, we've eaten at Burger Fuel a lot. I've made Adam stop the Spaceship (van) at just about every Burger Fuel we see ... two more in subburban Auckland (one on the way out to Northland, and one on the way back), Rotorua, and Taupo. There's Burger Fuel in Wellington and since sadly, there are no Burger Fuel outlets on the South Island, you better believe I'll be getting my Burger Fuel fix in Wellington before I get on that ferry.

But I think I'll manage on the South Island in any event. It's striking that so far, at almost any cafe, coffee shop, or restauarant, I can walk in and ask if something is GF and the staff knows. They often don't even have to check with the kitchen - they know. GF options are almost invariably available, and yummy. Canada, it's time to catch up.