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This article was one of Herald Lifestyle’s best-read stories of 2024.
A Canadian chef and TikTok star has stirred the pot and triggered Kiwis after he cheekily trash-talked a classic New Zealand meal, labelling it worse than slop they serve in cafeterias.
Peter Earley, nicknamed Early Pete, has made aname for himself on social media for making viral videos and clips discussing foods from around the world.
And while the chef is a popular figure with thousands of followers, he’s found a way to rile Kiwis online.
Despite revealing in the comments that he wants to come to New Zealand, Early Pete took aim at the classic Kiwi cuisine spaghetti and cheese on toast.
Canadian chef Early Pete compared spaghetti and cheese on toast to slop, and it sent Kiwis into a spin.
Disgusted at our creation, he wrote “New Zealand, are you ok?” before laying into what Kiwis claim is “poor person’s comfort food”.
“New Zealand has been lying to us all,” Pete started.
“They claim to the public they’ve been serving seasonal ingredients and local produce. If that’s true, explain this. A New Zealand classic,” Pete said to his viewers, while sharing an image of spaghetti and cheese on toast.
“A comfort food that’s literally canned spaghetti on toast.
“New Zealand, you have lost all credibility in criticising other country’s food. I mean this is worse than a lot of the slop they serve in American cafeterias. This is worse than a lot of the boiled dinners that people call food across the world.
“What are you guys doing?” he finished by asking his New Zealand followers.
It’s safe to say his hot-take on our classic didn’t go down well.
Early Pete was flooded with thousands of comments either defending the cuisine, wanting to pick a fight, or inviting him to experience what New Zealand cuisine has to offer.
“Wait till he hears about a knuckle sandwich,” one joked.
Another wrote “oi, spaghetti and cheese on toast is God tier” while a third said “wait till he hears about the pie sandwich”.
“New Zealand, you have lost all credibility in criticising other country’s food. I mean this is worse than a lot of the slop they serve in American cafeterias," Early Pete claimed.
A fourth added: “Seriously don’t mock our food, spaghetti and cheese on toast is comfort food it’s the bomb”.
A fifth invited Early Pete to come to Aotearoa promising that “I will cook you some of our staples. Spaghetti on toast, pie sandwich, noodle sandwich, cornbeef and spaghetti and boil up”.
Early Pete’s viral post also captured the attention of Kiwi TikToker Liam Liams who responded to the Canadian chef’s video.
“If you were poor, you’d understand our struggle,” Liam told viewers while holding a can of cheap OAK spaghetti.
“You can get 10 of these and get two meals a day, and feed the whole whanau off one can. Even if you have a village you can still feed them off this.”
Liam then pointed out that Early Pete had used a bad photo as an example of our classic cuisine.
“He got the sh***iest photo on planet Earth... You can make that [spaghetti and cheese on toast] look mean. If you are poor this stuff is literally your lifeline.”
This article was originally published on October 23, 2024.
