Menu | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

item details

NameMenu

ProductionC1 Espresso; publisher; 2013; New Zealand

Classificationmenus

Materialscardboard, ink

DimensionsClosed: 99mm (width), 200mm (height)

Registration NumberGH024467

Credit lineGift of an anonymous donor, 2015

Overview

This menu provides a typical listing of cafe food and drink in the 2010s, including gluten and diary free options.

However, it is unusual for two reasons. Firstly, the C1 Espresso cafe is housed in one of the few viable buildings left in High Street, Christchurch, after the devastating Canterbury earthquakes of 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011.

Secondly, the menu opens to reveal a portrait of Minister of Parliament Gerry Brownlee, which on further opening distorts him into a five-eyed lizard monster. Gerry Brownlee is the Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery. He has dealt with many controversies during the earthquakes and subsequent rebuild.

The image is satirical and not intended to cause offence - Brownlee actually reopened the cafe in 2012. Many copies of the menu have been souvenired by cafe patrons.