Summary
Whittaker’s chocolate is New Zealand’s most beloved chocolate brand — family-owned since 1896, made in New Zealand, and available in flavours you will not find anywhere else in the world; every migrant’s first Whittaker’s is a rite of passage
Pineapple Lumps, Chocolate Fish and Jaffas are the holy trinity of Kiwi lollies — chewy, chocolatey and deeply nostalgic; find them at any supermarket, dairy or Countdown for under NZD $3 a bag
L&P is New Zealand’s national soft drink — a lemon and mineral water blend that has been a Kiwi icon since 1907; if a Kiwi offers you a glass of L&P with fish and chips on the beach, you say yes
One of the great pleasures of moving to a new country is discovering what the locals eat when no one is watching. In New Zealand, that means pies from the petrol station at 7am, a bag of Bluebird chips and onion dip at a barbecue, hokey pokey ice cream on a Queenstown summer afternoon, and a Whittaker’s Peanut Slab the size of your forearm.
Kiwi snack culture is warm, unpretentious and genuinely delicious. Here is your guide to what you will find on supermarket shelves, at school galas, in dairies and at every Kiwi household — including a variety of Kiwi snacks New Zealand has to offer — and what to try first.
The sweets and lollies
Whittaker’s Chocolate
Whittaker’s is not just chocolate — it is a point of national pride. Founded in 1896 and still family-owned and made in New Zealand, Whittaker’s is consistently voted New Zealand’s most trusted brand. The chocolate is genuinely excellent — thick, creamy and made with high-quality cocoa.
Start with these:
- Hokey Pokey — milk chocolate with crunchy honeycomb toffee pieces; the most Kiwi flavour in existence
- Peanut Slab — a thick slab of milk chocolate packed with whole peanuts; sold individually for NZD $2 at every dairy in the country
- Dark Ghana — dark chocolate made with Ghanaian cocoa; serious chocolate with genuine depth
- Creamy Milk — the standard; deeply creamy, reliably good
- Berry and Biscuit — cranberry and biscuit pieces in milk chocolate; a newer flavour that has become a firm favourite
Where to buy: Every New World, Countdown, Pak’nSave, Woolworths, Four Square, dairy and petrol station in New Zealand.
Pineapple Lumps
Small, chewy pineapple-flavoured candies coated in chocolate. They look unremarkable. They are addictive. The combination of artificial pineapple flavour and cheap milk chocolate should not work as well as it does — and yet Pineapple Lumps are one of the most beloved Kiwi lollies in existence.
The origin story: Pineapple Lumps were born from leftover scrap pieces of pineapple-flavoured marshmallow from another lolly production line. Someone covered the scraps in chocolate. The rest is Kiwiana history.
Available in small bags (NZD $2-$3) or large sharing bags. Do not share.
Chocolate Fish
A marshmallow fish shape covered in milk chocolate. Soft, sweet and slightly waxy in the way only Kiwi confectionery can be. Chocolate fish are the traditional way to say thank you in New Zealand — “thanks, you deserve a chocolate fish” is a genuine expression. If someone at work puts a chocolate fish on your desk, you have done something right.
Jaffas
Round chocolate balls with a crispy orange-flavoured shell — the New Zealand equivalent of Maltesers but orange and chocolate rather than malt. Famous for being rolled down the aisles of old movie theatres. Still available at cinemas nationwide. The rolling tradition lives on.
Afghan Biscuits
New Zealand’s most iconic homemade biscuit — dark chocolate and cornflake biscuits topped with chocolate icing and a walnut. Found in every bakery, every school gala and every grandmother’s kitchen tin. The Afghan biscuit is New Zealand’s answer to the Anzac biscuit (shared with Australia) — uniquely Kiwi, warmly familiar.
Anzac Biscuits
Shared with Australia and made from rolled oats, coconut, golden syrup and butter — chewy, golden and excellent with a cup of tea. Named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Available in supermarkets year-round but best homemade.
The savoury snacks
The Pie
The New Zealand meat pie is a cultural institution. A flaky pastry shell filled with various combinations of meat and cheese — available at every bakery, dairy, petrol station and supermarket in the country from 6am. Kiwis take their pies very seriously.
The essential flavours:
- Mince and cheese — the classic; the one you try first
- Steak and cheese — chunkier, richer, the premium version
- Bacon and egg — breakfast pie; a morning staple
- Mince — the basic; reliable and everywhere
The verdict: An exceptional pie has a golden, flaky lid and a saucy, well-seasoned filling. A mediocre pie has a doughy, pale lid and a dry filling. Seek out a proper bakery rather than a service station for your first experience.
Pie rating culture: New Zealand has an annual Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards — a genuine national competition judged by food critics. Award-winning pies are proudly displayed in bakery windows. Trust the gold sticker.
Bluebird Chips
New Zealand’s dominant chip brand — thick-cut, reliably seasoned and available in every dairy, supermarket and corner shop. The salt and vinegar flavour is considered among the best in the world by the specific subset of people who have opinions about this.
The Kiwi chip-and-dip ritual: At any New Zealand barbecue, birthday party or gathering, there will be a bowl of Bluebird chips next to a tub of Meadowfresh sour cream and chives onion dip. This is non-negotiable. Join the ritual.
Crackers and Marmite
New Zealand Marmite is not the same as British Marmite. It is made locally, has a slightly different flavour profile — sweeter, less aggressively yeasty — and inspires the same fierce loyalty from its fans. Spread thinly on Cruskits or Vitaweat crackers. Do not apply generously on your first attempt.
The Marmite shortage: New Zealand experienced a national Marmite shortage in 2012 after the Christchurch earthquake damaged the factory. It was treated as a genuine crisis. This tells you everything you need to know about how seriously Kiwis take their Marmite.
The ice cream
Hokey Pokey Ice Cream
The single most important ice cream flavour in New Zealand. Vanilla ice cream studded with irregular chunks of crunchy honeycomb toffee (hokey pokey). Creamy, crunchy, sweet, slightly caramelised. Every ice cream shop in New Zealand stocks it and every Kiwi has a strong opinion on which brand is best.
The brands: Tip Top (national institution, widely available), Lewis Road Creamery (premium, Auckland-based, genuinely exceptional), Kapiti (South Island prestige).
How to eat it: Single scoop in a waffle cone on a warm afternoon. The honeycomb soaks slightly into the ice cream as it melts. This is the correct experience.
Pavlova
New Zealand’s most contested dessert — both New Zealand and Australia claim to have invented it. Named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who toured both countries in the 1920s. The argument will never be resolved; do not raise it at a dinner table.
What it is: A large meringue base — crisp on the outside, soft and marshmallow-like inside — topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit (kiwifruit, strawberries, passionfruit, raspberries). Served at Christmas and special occasions. New Zealand does dairy products extraordinarily well and the cream on a Kiwi pavlova reflects that.
The drinks
L&P (Lemon and Paeroa)
New Zealand’s national soft drink. A lemon-flavoured fizzy drink originally made by blending lemon juice with naturally carbonated spring water from the town of Paeroa in the North Island. Now made by Coca-Cola but still deeply Kiwi in character — lighter, less sweet than Sprite, with a genuine lemon flavour.
The classic pairing: L&P and fish and chips on the beach. The bottle says “World Famous in New Zealand” — the most Kiwi marketing tagline ever written.
L&P has been around since 1907. It is the drink equivalent of a Kiwi uncle — unpretentious, familiar and always there when you need it.
Milo
Not uniquely Kiwi (it is also an Australian and Asian institution), but Milo is a household staple in New Zealand homes — particularly in Indian, Filipino, Fijian, Samoan and Pacific Island communities who will already know it well. Hot or cold, it is a comfort drink that crosses cultural lines.
Feijoa everything
The feijoa (pronounced “feh-JOY-ah”) is a small green fruit native to South America but deeply embedded in New Zealand garden culture. In autumn (March-April), feijoa trees in New Zealand suburban gardens produce so abundantly that neighbours leave bags of them on fenceposts for anyone to take.
The flavour: Tropical, floral, slightly guava-like, with a texture somewhere between a pear and a kiwifruit. Distinctive and divisive — you either love it or find it overwhelming.
Where feijoa appears: Feijoa juice, feijoa cider, feijoa flavoured lollies, feijoa chutney, feijoa crumble, feijoa and apple juice. In autumn, everything in New Zealand smells faintly of feijoa.
Where to buy Kiwi snacks
Supermarkets: New World, Pak’nSave, Countdown (now Woolworths NZ), and Four Square all stock the full range. Pak’nSave is cheapest; New World has the widest selection.
Dairies: The New Zealand dairy (a small convenience store, nothing to do with dairy products) is the spiritual home of the Pineapple Lump, the Chocolate Fish and the Bluebird chip. Find your nearest one and visit regularly.
Bakeries: For pies, Afghan biscuits, cream doughnuts, custard squares and fresh scones the size of your head. A good New Zealand bakery is one of life’s genuine pleasures.
Farmers markets: For feijoa products, artisan Whittaker’s-adjacent chocolate, locally made biscuits and anything involving manuka honey.
Kiwi food phrases to know
Dairy: Not a milk shop — a corner convenience store. “Pop down to the dairy” means go to the local shop.
Lollies: Sweets or candy — not lollipops specifically.
Kai: Māori word for food, used widely across New Zealand. “Kai time” means mealtime.
Biscuits: Cookies. A “biscuit” in New Zealand is what Americans call a cookie; what Americans call a biscuit does not really exist here.
Fizzy: Soft drink or soda. “A fizzy” means any carbonated drink.
Chippies: Chips (crisps). “A bag of chippies” is a bag of crisps.
Flat white: Not just a coffee order — a cultural identity. Made with a double ristretto shot and textured milk; originated in New Zealand (or Australia, depending on who you ask — see also: pavlova).
FAQs (frequently asked questions)
What is the most iconic New Zealand snack?
Pineapple Lumps and Whittaker’s Chocolate are the two most Kiwi snacks you can eat. Hokey Pokey ice cream is the most iconic ice cream flavour. The meat pie is the most iconic savoury snack.
Where can I buy Kiwi snacks in New Zealand?
Any New World, Pak’nSave, Countdown/Woolworths or Four Square supermarket. Dairies (corner convenience stores) stock most lolly and chip varieties. Bakeries for pies and biscuits.
What is hokey pokey in New Zealand?
Hokey pokey is New Zealand’s word for honeycomb toffee — the crunchy, caramelised sugar and baking soda confection. Hokey Pokey ice cream is vanilla ice cream with pieces of honeycomb toffee mixed through it.
What is L&P?
Lemon and Paeroa — a lemon-flavoured fizzy drink invented in New Zealand in 1907, made with lemon juice and the naturally carbonated spring water from the town of Paeroa. Now owned by Coca-Cola but still made in New Zealand. A national icon.
What is a feijoa?
A small green fruit that grows abundantly in New Zealand suburban gardens in autumn. It has a tropical, floral flavour and appears in juice, cider, lollies and baked goods throughout March and April each year.
Last updated August 2026.
Sources: nzpocketguide.com — Top New Zealand Food (3 weeks ago) | klook.com — New Zealand snacks (March 2026) | travelinsighter.com — Must-try New Zealand snacks | pssremovals.com — Popular foods in New Zealand (May 2026) | goingawesomeplaces.com — New Zealand food souvenirs (3 weeks ago)
