Soup Week highlights our love of the meal

18 June, 2007

Wattie’s National Soup Week highlights our love of the meal in a bowl

New Zealanders nominate soup as their favourite winter food. In a survey to mark this year’s Wattie’s National Soup Week people were asked their favourite winter food, and unprompted, 44% of people said soup.*

The sixth annual National Soup Week takes place from 18 – 24 June and incorporates the longest night of the year on Thursday, 21 June.

To encourage soup-loving New Zealanders to make the most of winter, Wattie’s National Soup Week is encouraging New Zealanders to celebrate and make the most of winter, despite the chill.

Registered laugh doctor and clinical psychologist, Malcolm Robertson, says a good dose of laughter can make the worst winter day seem manageable.

“Whether we realise it or not, the weather can affect our emotions dramatically. Making the most of winter means not only getting outside to enjoy the crisp air or a fresh snowfall, but also making sure we participate in a good laughter session whenever we get the chance.

“Laughter boosts mental and emotional health and is nature’s remedy for stress. Studies show children laugh 300-400 times a day, but adult laughter reduces to just 10-15 times a day. Laughter yoga is one way to get a good laughter ‘dose’, but you can easily find ways to incorporate laughter into your everyday routine.”

Malcolm’s winter laughter tips include:

1. Practice laughing everyday.

2. Hang out with people who laugh.

3. Watch at least one funny movie per week, and listen to funny CDs or tapes.

4. Every day practice a “half-smile”, a technique to enhance our sense of wellbeing.

5. Cultivate an attitude of childlike playfulness.

6. Listen out for laughter.

7. Laughter helps remove the negative effects of stress.

8. Laughter keeps you healthy. It has been called internal jogging.

The ‘Make the most of Winter’ survey provided an interesting overview of what our nation will be up to this Wattie’s National Soup Week:

Favourite winter food
- 44% of people chose soup, with South Islanders (52%) preferring it more than North Islanders (46%).
- Soup was most popular with flatters (56%) and couples over the age of 60 (53.2%).
- Other hot meals (roast dinner, casserole) were the top three favourite winter foods – but they’re not nearly as easy to prepare as soup!

Winter activities
- Reading is the most popular winter activity, with 41% of people taking up the hobby during winter either indoors or outdoors.
- Many of us also like to get outdoors and experience winter by going for a walk (30%), skiing or snowboarding (26%) or escaping winter by travelling overseas (19.2%)
- Making soup was also a popular activity with 11% of people saying this is their favourite winter activity.

Favourite activities in the main centres showed:
- Aucklanders are more likely to rent DVDs than others in the country (53%)
- Hamiltonians ward of Waikato chills by staying in bed (31%)
- Wellingtonians read more than their North Island counterparts in Hamilton and Auckland (31%)
- Christchurchers go skiing or snowboarding (52%)
- Dunedinites enjoy snuggling up by a warm fire (58%)

Ultimate winter experience
Although a lot of the favourite winter activities showed people liked to spend time indoors, when asked what their ultimate winter experience would be, the results showed Kiwis love the outdoors in winter:
- 15% of people want to experience the snow and spend time skiing or snowboarding
- Queenstown is a popular destination with nearly 10% of people wanting to visit this winter
- Over 30% of people want to escape winter and go on an overseas trip
- 6% want to spend winter with their families
- Luxury accommodation is on the list for 7% of people surveyed
- 2% were keen to travel to Alaska!
- 3% want to enjoy a Canadian winter
- 11% want to travel and explore New Zealand this winter

ENDS

About Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson founded the New Zealand School of Laughter Yoga. He is a Certified Teacher of Laughter Yoga and started New Zealand’s first certified laughter club in Ponsonby in 2006. He now runs free weekly laughter yoga classes in Auckland. Malcolm is the director of The Pop Group (Ltd) a company specialising in positive psychology in organisations and he also runs an independent clinical psychology practice.

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