From the Food Files

The Arts Centre Market in Christchurch is one of the city's best known tourist attractions. I'm in two minds about the quality of some of the goods on sale in the market - there are some very nice wares but they are often so swamped in what I very generously call 'crap' that it's hard to take the place seriously. I often wander through of a weekend. For one thing, as a travel guide writer, I consider it my duty to be informed about as much as possible and that includes the quality of assorted marketplaces; for another thing, quite apart from the goods on sale, there's always a lively atmosphere with buskers and visitors that excites my camera. Just around the corner from the main market are the food caravans - a narrow alley that runs behind Court Theatre, which is crowded with food vendors and hungry punters. All nationalities converge - predominantly Asian - but among them all, I spied this stall selling delicious European pastries. From memory the guy was Czech but don't take my word for it. My camera gets so filled with stuff that I often forget names and places.