NZ Visual Diary - entry 157

Biáng! Biáng!

Like any cosmopolitan city, Auckland is a curious, exciting and problematic admixture of indigenous and colonising histories tempered by the associations and consequences of geographic positioning.

We are at once Māori and European; first people, multi-generational settler, and recent arrival; permanent and transient; social chameleon willing to be blended in our world view and fiercely resistant to the contingency of contemporary realities.

New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, is at once Pacifica and Asian, with more Samoans living in Auckland than in all of Samoa along side outsized populations of Asian peoples, notably Chinese.

Within the theme of admixtures, the history of the biángbiáng noodle is both documented culinary tradition, linguistic curiosity and the stuff of urban legend.

The noodles restaurant Biáng! Biáng! in Auckland’s city centre plays off that vibe with excellent food and visual narrative playfulness.