Bringing South Africa to Taranaki
South Africans living halfway around the world in Taranaki will soon be able to buy the tastes of home.
Wim and Eunice Jansen will mark two years in New Plymouth in February, and the grand opening of their South African Bok Shop, the only one of its kind in the region, takes place on Saturday morning.
‘‘There’s a lot of South Africans that wanted South African stuff,’’ Eunice said.
The shop sells everything from mayonnaise to sweets, as well as specialty South African spices, rusks, a type of biscuit, and biltong - cured and dried meat they make at home.
’’It’s also part of the heritage to have the rusk and coffee together,’’ said friend Sunelia Buchling, who is also from South Africa.
‘‘It’s that feeling of longing for something familiar,’’ she said. ‘‘Like New Zealand people, we’re big on braai, as in barbecue, and beer and rugby and biltong.’’
All the products are imported from South Africa, apart from the biltong and South African dessert items they make themselves.
The South African community was really excited, Eunice Jansen said.
She said a lot of the products were similar to foods available in New Zealand, but had slightly different tastes.
‘‘It’s just different spices that they use and different ways that they make it.’’
She said they were thinking about what she could do while also raising their three daughters.
‘‘There is a gap in the market,’’ she said. ‘‘All that’s on these shelves is what people really miss. That’s what people want to buy.’’
Wim Jansen said there were traditional South African foods, including pap, a type of maize porridge which is a staple food and affordable.
‘‘One pack like that would feed almost a tribe,’’ he said.
Eunice said there was also the potential for people to request items from the next shipment.
‘‘I’m very excited. We’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s just to see the reactions from the South Africans.’’
"It's that feeling of longing for something familiar."
Sunelia Buchling