Advertise on podcast: What‘s Fresh served up by Visa Wellington On a Plate

From farmers’ markets to supermarkets, olive oil is almost everywhere these days, but restaurateur Andronicos Economous from Wellington's Greek Cypriot Community, can remember a time when the pharmacy was the only place you could buy it - even then it was only in tiny medicine bottles. In this episode, Andronicos shares the history of Wellington's once-thriving, now almost forgotten Hellenic Mile. * a taverna (Greek: ταβέρνα) is a small Greek restaurant that serves Greek cuisine. The taverna is an integral part of Greek culture.

In this second episode, we're taking you to Te Papa during our Food Stories Speaker Series to hear from Esther Fung from the Wellington Chinese Association.  Haining Street was once the centre of Wellington's Chinese community. It was a place to meet and eat home-style Chinese cooking. Over the years replaced with apartment blocks, it left little trace of what was once Wellington's Chinatown. However, its lasting influence is now dispersed throughout the capital. Discover about the cookhouses providing the comfort of home cooking to a mainly bachelor community in Haining Street at the turn of the 20th century, and the influences on our dining scene from the diversity of more recent Chinese immigrants.

Our Wellington Food Story Speaker Series took place every Tuesday during Visa Wellington On a Plate 2021 at Te Papa‘s Te Marae Rongomaraeroa. For 2021, we heard from four immigrant communities that have shaped Wellington‘s food scene over the decades.