I HAVE often wondered if New Zealand has been a bit too smug for its own good about its green image and now we're getting a backlash.
When I lived in London in the 2000s, I was able to get a lot of kudos by remarking how the Lord of the Ring film location for Rivendell was "just down the road" from where I lived and that, yes, the New Zealand scenery really does look like that. The 100 per cent Pure brand was alive as well. The All Blacks weren't winning the Rugby World Cup at the time, but were always acknowledged as the best. The best parties in London were in New Zealand House. Workers on the building sites I managed were genuinely freaked out by Once Were Warriors, but apart from that, people thought New Zealand was the bomb.
And you learned quickly not to rub it in people's faces.
We've weathered, with some difficulty, the Fonterra milk crisis and now we've got a somewhat vague hit against our manuka honey exports. The NZ Herald hit the message home a bit hard with its headline "The land of bad milk and fake honey", but consumers do have a right to know products they spend money on are safe or genuine - especially if you're going to be spending 35 ($69) for a jar of manuka honey at Tescos in UK.
At the same time, it seems a bit petty for the UK to get sniffy because some honey products sold in their country don't have the manuka proportions they claim to have. Anyone who has bought on-line knows perfectly well there are fakes everywhere, and I would suggest those who want to import honey for sale should do their research. New Zealand honey has a good reputation; it's not hard to find the real deal.
