Foon family features in Chinese fruit shop book

Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon.

Long before supermarkets became a one-stop shop for fresh produce, local fruit and vegetable stores run by Chinese families were a pillar of New Zealand communities, says a new book.

Gisborne mayor Meng Foon’s own family is one of many profiled in the book The Fruits of Our Labour: Chinese Fruit Shops in New Zealand.

A Gisborne launch of the book is planned for next month.

The book is described as “chronicling the lives of these pioneering greengrocers and fruiterers as they carved their place into the country’s rich social and cultural tapestry”.

In the book, Mr Foon says he spent much of his early days at his parents’ shop, now known as Makaraka Veges.

“The whole family worked in and on the business. It was long hours and we kids knew nothing more than the work in the shop and the gardens. Social life was a half-day off a year to go to town. Otherwise there was work in the gardens and the shop; we only knew work.

“We started standing on a box to reach the till, Mum worked while pregnant, Dad would bring the produce from the gardens and Corsons markets.”

Mr Foon’s story runs alongside many others from Gisborne, some dating back to a century ago.

The personal anecdotes, historical documents and photos tell the stories of Chinese families as they provided a service to their community and their journeys of growing up as Kiwis.

It follows the fortunes and misfortunes of the Chinese in New Zealand through the hard times of the Depression and World War 2, the growth and boom times of the 1950s and 60s and the challenge of supermarket giants eating up competition.

The Gisborne book launch and a talk will be held at the HB Williams Memorial Library on Friday, May 11, at 4pm in the Mahutonga Southern Cross Room.

Mr Foon will join authors Ruth Lam and Beverly Lowe at the launch.

The book is a fully illustrated, two-volume set of books commissioned by the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust written and researched by Ruth Lam, Beverly Lowe, Helen Wong, Michael Wong and Carolyn King.