Having our chocolate controversy and eating it too
Chocolate: melted, remelted, mass-produced, hand-made
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. In the last few weeks we’ve covered key topics for The Weekend: the supremacy of Coffee Supreme (obviously), weather, biking places, and enjoying lots and lots of links. I could write about all of those again – I’m facing the terrifying revelation that I’m a woman of habit – but instead I’m going to mix it up and tell you about which Spinoff story made me laugh the most this week. This interview with poet and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove is both insightful and hilarious and I highly recommend it, as well as all the stories below.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Which chocolate counts as handmade?
Image: Archi Banal
This week, The Spinoff reported on TikTok videos from 2021 that seem to show that Potter Brothers chocolate company were buying mass-produced lollies and covering them in chocolate. The Levin-based chocolate company claims to make “handcrafted” versions of New Zealand classics, but what does “handcrafted” really mean? And is it an indication of quality? Luke Owen Smith, an expert in the New Zealand chocolate industry, explains different manufacturing models used by chocolatiers. While the Potter Brothers are particularly egregious, price points and marketing often disguise the manufacturing process, making it hard for consumers to know where their chocolate is made.
Stewart Sowman-Lund’s initial report about the Potter Brothers controversy
Introducing the Coffee Supreme Iced Coffee range. Roasted for flavour, cold-brewed for taste and canned for convenience —good times by the can are here. Perfect for those rushed mornings, sunny arvos or when you’re packing the chilly bin. Available online by the 4-pack now or by the can at your local cafe who uses Supreme. Grab yours.
Georgina Beyer had guts
This week, trailblazing MP Georgina Beyer died after a long illness. She was an extraordinary person, writes her friend and former MP Chris Carter. “I was the first openly gay MP when I “came out” in my maiden speech in 1994. All NZ media carried the story and much of that coverage was unsupportive — Georgina faced some of the same rough attention,” he says. Carter watched Beyer become an internationally recognised politician. “That’s no mean achievement for a kid from Hataitai, thrown out of home for crossdressing as a young teen. My friend, you were a remarkable person.”
Reading material: Ockham shortlist announced
If you’re looking for a book to pick up this weekend, look no further than the just-announced shortlist for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, announced earlier this week. Books editor Claire Mabey and poet Louise Wallace break down the shortlistees, including the surprises. What are the books about? One is told from the perspective of a magpie, another traces how five carved panels, precious taonga stolen from Taranaki made their way home, and one is a collection of poetry about writing through colonisation.
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Cyclone Gabrielle’s aftermath in Te Tai Tokerau
This week, writer Nadine Anne Hura has been travelling through Northland, talking to people about histories of resilience — and flooding — in the region. Hūhana Lyndon tells her about how crucial marae are in times of crisis, and why they need to be resourced better. “It doesn’t matter about tribal boundaries. It’s all about the aroha and manaaki,” she says. In Whangaroa, Nyze Manuel talks about how leading the local Covid response taught her that support systems can be abandoned in a crisis — and she’d much rather be planning for the future than responding to emergencies. More entries to this series are coming next week. In Mangamuka, Reina Penney talks about the importance of manaakitanga and how the future is built from people who can connect to their whenua.
A tale of frozen dreams
“I imagined my 23 embryos, growing and dividing in a petri dish. The visceral welling flooded through me – a sea of grief, gratitude, heartbreak and hope,” writes Dorothy McLean in this essay about taking part in IVF so that she can have children after a life-changing cancer diagnosis. McLean always knew she wanted children, but a multiplying duct cell in her breast had other ideas. She writes, humourously and gorgeously, about enduring needles that slide some cells out of her body to keep for the future, trusting in science to keep her dreams alive.
Everything else (arbitrary categories edition)
Non-chocolate controversies
Is Ford Ranger Man winning? A divisive Ministry of Transport survey shows that younger people want changes to New Zealand’s transport systems
A substantial, reasoned interview about what weight loss drugs do
Which politicians would win each of these hypothetical boxing matches?
The conspiracy peddlers Voices for Freedom are starting a new radio station, because alternative option The Platform is too woke
There’s no love lost for Auckland Transport in cut-off Karekare
New Ideas
Climate policy is good mental health policy
History shows us how mātauranga Māori can be adopted in schools
Renewable electricity is essential for the future. But how does that knowledge feel when your home sits on top of an enormous lithium deposit?
Buying nothing seems like a good idea — but can it be monetised?
Why sampling penguin blood could reveal why some populations thrive while other’s flounder
Snack sized article: Will climate change effect wave heights?
Supermarket-checkout magazines are still a haven for incredible/outrageous household tips (rebranded in the Silicon Valley age as “lifehacks”)
People doing things
Being deputy prime minister
Scoring really great tries in Super Rugby Aupiki
Going To The Lighthouse (like, the Virginia Woolf lighthouse) Hanging out with each other in different places (objectively the worst possible description of this photo essay)
Influencing Russian mothers to migrate to Argentina
Becoming cats in this freaky (fictional) short story
Running farms in the middle of Wellington
Writing closed captions for TV shows
Fun times
Ten thoughts on the Harry Styles concert
Arjuna Oakes’ genre-defying music is always delightful
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a theatre spectacle that is rare in Aotearoa
“Dupes” are part of the long history of fashion trends being simultaneously accessible and aspirational
Why Drag Storytimes in libraries are so beloved
