The White Lady: The Great New Zealand Pie Cart

As I've been staying quite alone here in Auckland, I'm always looking for different things to do, which can be both a good and a bad thing at the same time. When we are close to our families and friends, we have so much to do that we end up missing a lot of the city's cultural events. Then, as I got a bit tired of reading on Saturday morning, I decided to check what was on the Auckland Art Gallery, and one event caught my attention: The White Lady – the Great New Zealand Pie Cart.

I clicked on the link and read all the event information, but I must confess: it was the title that got me interested. What is a pie cart? And who is the White Lady? Rather curious, I headed myself to the Art Gallery to enjoy the traditional kiwi pie cart food while Lindsay Neill, Ted Bryant and Claudia Bell gave an illustrated talk on the history of pie carts.

As soon as I got there, I received a warm welcomed from one of the event's organizer. As usual, I was one of the first to get there, and I was soon allocated on a table close to the small stage in the front of the room. Just after that, other four women were seated at the same table and we introduced ourselves – five different women from five different places: New Zealand (Auckland and Christchurch), Czeck Republic and Brazil, which was quite interesting. All wooden tables had a large tray of pies, some bread, a bowl of salad and another one of a typical spicy sausage sauce. Everything was amazingly well organized and cozy!

The event's title The White Lady – the Great New Zealand Pie Cart is the name of the book written by the three presenters and, while they explained about the number 2 best selling food book in 2008, we kept enjoying the food. Apparently, until the late 1960s, instead of going out to dinner, many kiwis used to eat at fish-and-chip shops or pie carts – mobile, trailerlike cafés parked at a convenient location. It was usually opened until late at night, and people could also get a bite after going out. It was a huge success and the so called pie carts were spread all over the country!

A sad thing is that although we can still find pie carts on the streets nowadays, many have already been shut down due to the development of American-style fast food in the country. It's a pity to see that this kind of thing is happening all over the world...

So, I have already explained what a pie cart is, but what about The White Lady? It is actually one of the country's most famous pie carts and has been in continuous operation in Auckland since 1948. It was amazing to see pictures of the The White Lady's first and glorious years – young people dancing in front of it, girls with polka dot skirts and boys with slicked back hair. During the talk, we could also enjoy a young couple doing the Twist on the sound of one of New Zealand's most famous Rock n' Roll songs: The Pie Cart Rock n' Roll by Johnny Cooper and the Maori Boys.

From one lonely afternoon to such a magical day – what a lovely surprise! :)