New Zealanders generally take a fairly light "continental" breakfast of juice, cereals, toast and tea or coffee. Visitors staying at a homestay or B&B may well be offered an additional "cooked breakfast" probably along the lines of the traditional English breakfast of bacon and eggs; if you're staying in motels, hostels or campsites, you'll generally have to fend for yourself. In the bigger towns, you'll often find a bakery selling fresh croissants, bagels and focaccia, but increasingly New Zealanders are going out for breakfast or brunch, aided by the proliferation of cafés serving anything from a bowl of fruit and muesli ($5) to stupendous platefuls of Eggs Florentine and smoked salmon ($12-14).

In the cities you'll also come across food courts, usually in shopping malls where a central seating area is surrounded by a dozen or so stalls selling bargain plates of all manner of ethnic dishes. Some have outlets for fast food , a market dominated by the ubiquitous McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King. Meat pies are a stalwart of Kiwi snacking: sold in bakeries and from warming cabinets in pubs everywhere, the traditional steak and mince varieties are now supplemented by bacon and egg, venison, steak and cheese, steak and oyster and many others, though there is seldom a vegetarian version.

Undeterred by US fast-food hegemony, traditional burger bars continue to serve constructions far removed from the limp franchise offerings: weighty buns with juicy patties, thick ketchup, a stack of lettuce and tomato and that all-important slice of beetroot. At one stage, McDonald's even succumbed to consumer pressure and produced a Kiwiburger laden with beetroot and not a pickle in sight.

Fish and chips (or "greasies") are also rightly popular - the fish is often shark (euphemistically called lemon fish) and the chips (fries) are invariably thick and crisp. Look out too for paua fritters, a battered slab of minced abalone that's something of an acquired taste.