An American living in Aotearoa is going viral for ranking her top five favourite Kiwi kai with surprising results.
Madi Gemmell has been living here for three years now, and as you'll soon find out, knows her stuff when it comes to NZ cuisine.
Pies, fish and chips, onion dip and marmite don't even get a look in, but here's what does make her list.
#5 - Twisties
Madi says she knows a lot of Kiwis reckon the crunchy orange chips used to taste better before, but "as a gal without her American Cheetos" she says they really hit the spot.
#4 - Rēwena bread
The Tiktoker comes in hot with the first of her unexpected shout outs to our indigenous foods, saying the she loves the traditional Māori sourdough potato bread so much so she even learned how to make it herself. She also rates NZ butter, saying she "couldn't imagine having American butter on her bread", but here, that's not a problem.
#3 - Whittaker's Chocolate
Ok, so this one isn't much of a shock, but what is interesting is that Madi says the chocolate is "so much higher quality than American chocolate, it's not even funny". Up the Kiwis!
#2 - KFC Wicked WIngs
Thaaaaatta gal. We see you. We feel you. We ARE you, and you are one of us. Welcome.
She also big ups the KFC chips, which is correct, before saying she reckons all the chips in NZ are better than in the states.
#1 - Hāngī and boil up
Madi had to go for a part two for this big reveal, because it's a tie. She says a lot of people get surprised that she loves them both so much, "because I feel like you don't see a lot of pākehā people eating it, and loving it, but I just think what's not to like?"
Heaps of commenters agree with Madi's choices, and plenty of Kiwis have praised her for her awesome pronunciation of te reo Māori and her broad understanding of Aotearoa's diverse culture.
Way to show the haters how it's done, queen!
