When the chips are down

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
From time to time New Zealanders have to swallow bad news about the food we like to eat.

Broccoli and fresh vegetables have become way too expensive for some, the price of butter is through the roof, a virus may kill off bananas in the future, and periodic shortages of essential and non-essential products in supermarkets curb the national appetite.

Several years ago, after the Christchurch earthquakes, lovers of New Zealand-made Sanitarium Marmite had to go without for many months, even - heaven forbid - having to make do with Vegemite from across the Tasman. Now another Kiwi snacking staple may be under threat, with mixed messages from supermarket chains that a very wet winter has affected the nation's potato yield, the consequences of which could ripple into potato-chip production.

It is not clear yet just how real the threat is. There are no reported shortages of potato chips at the moment but the spectre of any shortage of potato chips hangs heavy, here in the third-fattest nation on Earth - according to the OECD's latest survey of obesity. Chip aficionados will tell you the crunchy morsels have been disappearing for years anyway, given the packets seem to contain fewer and fewer chips as the years pass.

The good news, if the worst comes to the worst, is we shouldn't panic. There are plenty more snack foods available in supermarkets - aisles and aisles of them, in fact, and some of them even moderately healthy.

Should packets of salt and vinegar or sour cream and chives suddenly become scarce, why not try nuts instead to satisfy those nibbly cravings? Nut researchers at the University of Otago have been delving into their healthy properties, which include cutting blood cholesterol levels and boosting heart health. A small handful of assorted nuts once a day, such as almonds, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts, is said to be sufficient to make a difference to the health and unlikely in such quantities to cause weight gain.

If the snack-food world sky does fall in, and empty shelves appear in supermarkets where potato chips usually reside, would it really be such a disaster?

We should welcome the chance to shed a few tonnes from around the country's increasingly bloated waistline.

And another thing

There was something sad about British and Lions rugby coach Warren Gatland's comments last week that he hated his time in charge during this year's New Zealand tour.

Gatland is a proud Kiwi, a former All Black and a long-serving Waikato rugby player. The tour should have been his moment in the sun, a chance to show his fellow countrymen just how far he has come as an international rugby coach.

Given the Lions managed to draw the series with the All Blacks, many will argue he did just that.

But Gatland revealed he hated the tour because of the orchestrated personal attacks from some media. His coaching style was labelled one-dimensional and boring. Recent criticism by a Lions player did little to help his mood.

New Zealand's rugby landscape is no place for the faint-hearted. Everyone is an expert and when the All Blacks are under pressure fans are often at their worst.

But Gatland, and New Zealand, should take pride in the fact he is one of the best performed Lions coaches of all time. In 2013 he led the team on a successful tour of Australia and the drawn All Black series was another feather in his cap.

Let's not forget Gatland has also had plenty of success as coach of the Welsh national team. A three-times Six Nations title winner, including two Grand Slams, his record of 47 wins in 92 matches surpasses that of current All Black coach Steve Hansen, who coached Wales between 2002 and 2004 and won just 10 of his 29 matches.

Gatland intends to return to New Zealand after the 2019 Rugby World Cup and would like to coach a Super Rugby team. It is to be hoped this will prove a more rewarding experience for him.

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