alex (67)

KaiJanuary 21, 2020

The Mad Butcher on being NZ’s greatest food influencer

alex (67)

Alex Casey counts down more of The Mad Butcher’s maddest Insta-breakfasts, with bonus commentary from The Butch himself. 

We live in very uncertain times. We don’t know what the future of our planet looks like, we don’t know if Minou and Jay-Jay will ever see each other again and we can’t even be sure that our nearest and dearest aren’t actually deep fake AI vaping sexbots programmed to mine us for our data secrets to blackmail us into servitude during the robot revolution. 

Perhaps the only thing we can rely on in 2020 is that The Mad Butcher will continue to post pictures of his breakfasts on his Instagram, and that those breakfasts will continue to contain fascinating multitudes. From their avant-garde presentation, to their challenging flavour combinations, to their awe-inspiring vastness, there is truly no influencer content like it. 

Personally, I’m blown away by the comments that I get on the breakfasts,” Sir Butch tells me. “All I’m doing is sharing the love and what I’m up to. I only believe in positivity and I don’t believe in negativity. I just share the love.”

He replies to every single comment left on both his Instagram and Facebook pages – a combined audience of over 40,000 people. 

It’s not just the engagement that keeps people coming back, though, it’s the glorious spectacle of the breakfasts themselves. “I think a lot of people must have really mundane breakfasts like cornflakes and bloody toast, but I like a big Kiwi breakfast,” says Butch, whose feed of feeds is chocka with nostalgic morsels from shrimp cocktails to spaghetti on toast.

“I used to have a high profile and people might think I eat at the flash restaurants and stay in the fancy hotels. But that’s not my go. I’m a simple person who likes simple food.” 

Without further ado, here are 10 of his not-so-simple online offerings. 

10) Janice’s finest

If you are familiar with the Butch breakfast buffet, you will know that his wife Janice is the GOAT of the Kiwi breakfast. She is well deserving of a place in the top 10 and probable also needs an OBE (Original Breakfast Expert). 

Butch’s review: “Someone asked me the other day on Facebook, ‘Butch, where is the best breakfast?’ I said my wife Janice, no doubt, because my wife does cook a bloody good breakfast. Sometimes my wife says ‘don’t take a bloody photo’ but then I just take one when she’s not looking.”

7) Jammin’

Bracingly serious caption matched only by the serious amount of jam on that toast and the serious lack of respect for taking the spreads right to the crust. 

Butch’s review: “Sometimes I have jam on toast. I can have about six pieces on rye bread – I can eat healthy sometimes.”

8) A Denny’s diva

A generous latergram singing the praises of Denny’s ‘Kiwi Slam’ breakfast. “Let’s all share the love out there” Butch preaches. “What’s your favourite meal at Denny’s?” Butch: I like the pancakes at Denny’s. 

Butch’s review: “It’s tucker. You get a hash brown, you get a piece of steak, you get a couple of eggs. What more could you want for breakfast?”

7) Hash brown < hashtag

This gram is rare for a few reasons. 1) the Butch doesn’t often appear, preferring instead to take them from above like God himself. 2) There aren’t 100s of chunks of black pudding anywhere in this photograph. 3) LOOK AT THOSE HASHTAGS?!?!? #foodporn? #instagood? #foodgasm? #hot? Is this the start of Butch’s bonafide influencer career? 

Butch’s review: “Let me tell you now: I get no freebies. Recently I’ve had a lot of people trying to pay me to put things on my Facebook and my Instagram and I won’t have a bar of it. I want credibility.”

6) Huge lamington cake

Unconfirmed as to whether or not this enormous, delicious-looking cake was actually consumed at breakfast time. Lighting scheme suggests no, ‘like’ from @breakfastsam suggests yes. I want to eat this cake very much. 

Butch’s review: “Oh, lady. Lady. Bucklands Beach has this sandwich bar and they make the most beautiful lamington sponges. And I can tell you this – and my wife can verify – that I can eat the whole thing by myself. Unbelievable. Un. Believable.”

5) Three eggs

Can’t stop thinking about the sound of the knife scraping on that plate with no toast buffer. Sorry, you’re probably thinking about it now as well, aren’t you? My teeth feel loose lol. 

Butch’s review: “I must have been feeling off that day. I always tell them not to put anything green on the plate – no green allowed.”

4) Challenging mandarin

Dry cornies, whole mandy, can’t lose. 

Butch’s review: “That’s what you call artistic. I put the milk in afterwards and I ate the mandarin in segments.”

3) Sausage peen

You can’t argue with science. 

Butch’s review: “I like to have a bit of fun with it. For me, I know I’m bringing a lot of people a bit of happiness, so why not have fun with it?”

2) Cheerios installation

Observe the symmetry of the apricots, the parallel curves between the banana gently spooning the bowl, the bit aggressively sliced off the Cheerios box to tie the whole work together. No milk, no worries. This should be in MOMA. 

Butch’s review: “I used to like Cheerios but I’ve gone off them a bit after my big operation. It’s like I used to watch Emmerdale Farm every day on TV1 Monday to Friday, but after me operation I’ve never watched it once. Same with Cheerios.”

1) Mysterious bacon man

This year’s Bachelor to last year’s black pudding boobs Bachelorette. I am truly enamoured by this handsome creation. Stare deep into his dark, bloody eyes, flecked with oats like the twinkling stars in the night sky. Who is he? His bacon monobrow furrows, his hash brown mouth remains firmly pursed. An enigma. 

Butch’s review: “I might be an old butcher but I do like to be artistic every now and again. I’m all about: eat what you like, don’t care what other people think. If you’re going to die anyway you might as well die happy.”

Keep going!
zero alc feat (1)

KaiJanuary 18, 2020

Please stop offering sober people orange juice

zero alc feat (1)

Embrace the many zero-alcohol drink options out there and stop bloody serving OJ.

How many times have you been at home, or at work, or at a concert, or at a birthday party, or at a formal event, and thought, “What would go really well with this experience is some orange juice”?

If your answer isn’t “every time”, please stop serving exclusively orange juice to non-drinkers every time. Non-alcoholic drink options at an event with alcoholic drinks barely even qualifies as an afterthought. Much care and thought will go into making sure to cater to the different beer and wine drinkers, plus that one person who will only drink Malibu for some reason, then half an hour before people arrive, someone will remember that not everyone drinks alcohol and someone else will mutter “just put out some juice” and that’ll be it.

How did this happen? Is it that an orange beverage looks somehow classier than every other option? Did New Zealand as a nation strike a deal with Big OJ aeons ago and now we’re trapped in this citrus hell forever?

It’s as if the very concept of a nice cold drink is rendered obsolete in the presence of alcohol. Serving only orange juice as your non-alcoholic drink option is lazy, not to mention cheap. There are so many ways to make up exciting, respectable drinks for your ADULT friends who happen to not be getting drunk with you. So next time you put on an event and spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on alcohol, put that four-litre bottle of Keri orange juice back on the shelf and consider these options instead.

Drinks that taste like drinks

Beer

Sometimes people who used to drink decide not to drink any more. Going from drinking a crate of beer in one night to drinking two litres of pulpy OJ is not the buzz. Thankfully, zero-alcohol beers are only getting better and are available where most beers are sold. For those who used to drink to excess, zero alcohol beers are a safe and tasty option when heading into a long night. “My favourite is Asahi Zero,” said one former drinker. “Zero alcohol, zero carbs, and tastes decent.”

“Heineken 0.0% is good for the barbecues,” added another teetotaller. Asahi and Heineken offer the staple zero-alcohol beers, while Export Citrus 0% is a twist on the old classic.

Wine

Alcohol-removed wine is less popular than beer but still available. Edenvale has a line of alcohol-removed wines (though important to note that some still have traces of alcohol, so read the label carefully before serving to recovering drinkers). Honestly, it may seem el cheapo, but sparkling grape juice works really well at events where toasts will be made. Don’t make people toast with a glass of water or, you guessed it, orange juice.

Spirits

I’ll be honest, I don’t get this one. There are now non-alcoholic spirits available for making realistic mocktails but not only do they cost as much, if not more, than regular spirits, they also don’t even taste like regular spirits. Don’t pay $60 for a bottle of fake gin that doesn’t taste like gin. You’re better than that. Just make a regular mocktail instead.

One colleague, who definitely doesn’t frequent day spas, offered up her favourite non-alcoholic drink mix: “Sparkling water with lemon, cucumber and mint. Makes you feel like you are at a fancy day spa (I imagine).” These ingredients are not hard to come by, and with just a smidge of effort, you can elevate your party from a kids’ party to an adults’ party.

Drinks for people who hate the taste of drinks

Lemon, lime and bitters is the classic. It comes in a glass bottle (wow, fancy) and has the peach look of a cocktail without any of the work. Again, remember that bitters is technically alcohol. It’s hardly sophisticated but generic soft drinks aka mixers before they’re mixed never go amiss. For those attending all-night events (eg bachelor/ette parties), energy drinks can work to keep up the enthusiasm for being awake, but drinking more than a couple, even throughout the night, can be just as bad as getting drunk. Said one formerly heavy drinker: “I used to drink a lot of Red Bull and energy drinks until I realised it also gives you a hangover.”

If you don’t want a sugar hangover (or an alcohol hangover) but you want to have a big night, have some coffee at your party. An iced coffee at a sunny afternoon event where you’re not drinking? Mwah.

Of everyone I spoke to who attends events and doesn’t drink, not a single person named orange juice as their non-alcoholic drink of juice. Come on, New Zealand, let’s get out of the pocket of Big OJ and put a little effort in for our frankly more sensible friends.