Words Denise Irvine, Images Ashlee DeCaires
On September 14, bang on the fourth birthday of Hamilton’s Vetro store, owner Anna Greentree will celebrate with a spring festival outside her building on Rostrevor Street. “We want to bring people together for a good time,” she says.
The programme includes live music, stalls stocked by some of the city’s specialty food makers and suppliers, and a display of European cars. You can meet friends for lunch, or just browse and buy, happy in the knowledge that this portion of the street will be closed off from 9am to 4pm. The only cars in sight will be the enviable European jobs.
There will be pizza, paella, breads, French pastries and chocolates, European sausages and more, as well as in-store sampling of Italian wines, coffee and cheese. Anna has imported a 40kg wheel of Italian Parmigiano Reggiano especially for the festival and it will be cut on the day, available for tasting and purchasing. “It’s the real thing, perfect for pasta or risotto.”
Vetro Spring Festival is held in conjunction with the Hamilton Central Business Association, and it is Vetro’s second festival, the first held in 2021. Anna says Hamilton is the country’s best-kept secret, it’s a great place to be part of, and she loves the opportunity to support the CBD association and showcase some of the city’s artisan food suppliers.
In 2020 Anna and husband Daryl opened Vetro Mediterranean Foods, part of the North Island-wide Vetro co-operative buying group started in 1999 by the late Jan Patulski, and they pride themselves on stocking quality foods at affordable prices from Mediterranean and New Zealand producers.
The Hamilton Vetro project was well underway when the country went into the first nationwide Covid pandemic lockdown, in March 2020. It was a challenging time for Anna and Daryl, and some people thought they were mad to continue amid such economic uncertainty.
Anna says they remained positive. They opened six months after the first lockdown and they’ve built a solid base of customers and a great team of staff. “We know many of our customers by name. We’ve become part of people’s cooking repertoire. We’ve grown into ourselves here. We have thousands of products on our shelves, a diverse range of customers, and we’re good at sourcing hard-to-find items.”
When people began travelling again, post-Covid, Anna noticed people dropping into the store on their return to buy the wine, cheeses, pastas and items that they’d loved in Europe. Vegans, vegetarians and others with dietary requirements often find suitable products at Vetro, and home cooks perhaps making spaghetti carbonara for dinner are pleased to find guanciale in Vetro’s deli, Italian pork cheek bacon that is the traditional ingredient for this dish.
“Our customers are so knowledgeable,” Anna says. “We learn from them all the time.”
Four years on, there seems like a lot to celebrate at the Vetro Spring Festival.
- Vetro Spring Festival, Saturday 14 September, 122 Rostrevor St, 9am–
FOUR VETRO TAKEWAYS FROM ANNA:
Best new product?
Bella Sundried Tomato Paste, $4.99/360g: Chopped sundried tomatoes in olive oil with garlic and herbs, a Turkish product with great depth of flavour and colour. It is so versatile. Add it to a scone mix, to any pasta dish, use it as a pizza base, a sauce for sausage rolls, or stir into hummus, yoghurt or mayo to create a great dip. One of our staff eats it straight from the jar with a spoon!
Best sellers?
Our canned tomatoes: Chopped tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, tomato paste – they all fly out the door. Bottled Greek peaches are big sellers, too, as well as our pastas, Turbo Tonics (turmeric, ginger and lime concentrate), Fowlers Eggs, and ciabatta from The Grumpy Baker on Victoria Street. We’ve been selling Grumpy Baker bread almost since we opened, and they’ll have a stall at the spring festival.
Unsung heroes?
Our fish shelves: We stock outstanding tinned fish: Baltic sardines, big chunky pieces of tuna, and wonderful Italian anchovies. There are some excellent (and nutritious) meals to put together here.
Current favourite Vetro dinner?
Italian Granoro Conchiglioni pasta. The shells are big enough to stuff and bake: I parboil the shells and fill them with a mixture of gently fried onion and garlic, Zany Zeus mint feta, ricotta, finely chopped spinach, an egg to bind, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Place the filled shells on a bed of passata, in an oven dish, dot with some small fresh mozzarella balls and bake until lightly golden and cooked. Delicious.
