DINING OUT
A History of the Restaurant in New Zealand
Perrin Rowland
AUP, $60, hbk
To most of us it seems cafes and restaurants are a relatively new phenomenon, a misconception often reinforced by articles in magazines and newspapers.
However, American-born, Auckland-based historian and chef Perrin Rowland puts the lie to that misunderstanding with this detailed history of eating out in New Zealand, and how we have reflected and adapted international influences from the early colonial days until now.
Rebutting the stories we tell ourselves that until the 1960s "New Zealanders were stuck with bad service, terrible food and grim decor of hotel restaurants", she brings a fresh point of view and well-researched information to her book.
As part of the urban developments in Auckland and Dunedin in the 1850s and 1860s, restaurants, dining rooms and cafes sprang up, catering to a variety of purses, providing "a full restaurant experience: a fashionable interpretation of food, service and decor," she writes.
She reveals some fascinating details: who would have thought vegetarian cafes offering healthy food existed around the country in the early 20th century, or that Chinese restaurants were popular as early as the 1870s?
More familiar may be the rise of department-store tearooms and luxurious restaurants such as Dunedin's Savoy, which opened in 1912 and for more than 60 years was one of the city's grandest restaurants.
Rowland chronicles the influence of American servicemen during World War 2, the type of food they liked and the nightclubs that catered for them, and then the cafes established by European immigrants after the war.
She digs out old menus and photographs, explores the growth of ethnic restaurants of numerous persuasions, and particularly that of casual BYOs in the 1970s and '80s, remarking on some of the innovative examples; in Dunedin the Lucerna, a small French bistro opened by Laurie and Rosemary White, and the Huntsman in the 1970s, and 95 Filleul in the 1980s.
The menus show the changing fashions for restaurant food, from those based on French or international cooking styles to the appearance of nouvelle cuisine and fusion food.
She points out, that, as always, any style of cooking can be remarkably good in the hands of capable chefs but dire when cooked by those without real understanding or care.
Along with these changes in cuisine, and the developments of Maori food flavours and styles and the meticulous sourcing of ingredients comes the rise of professionalism, and the shift in status of the chef, from nameless in the kitchen to television celebrities whose food has become an innovative, artistic expression.
Alongside this has grown the sometimes thankless role of the restaurant critic who aims to discriminate between artistry and the mundane and explain the trends to the dining public.
Dining Out is informative and readable, well-illustrated, indexed and referenced, a welcome addition to the current outpouring of books on New Zealand culinary history, and will no doubt lead others to explore the topic further.
Charmian Smith is the ODT food writer.
