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Ping's Pie Cart - Pride of the West
Two biggies of the fast food industry began in the 1950s. Colonel Sanders fried his first chicken legs and Ray Croc opened the first McDonalds. These fast food giants started out in the USA and it was just as well. New Plymouth had a fast food king and his name was Ping.
Rewind to the 1950s
Did these things really happen in the 1950s? Just answer true or false and then check your answers at the end of this week's TreasureLink.
- Rugby players wear black boots with white laces and they stand on people during the game.
- New Zealand's currency has just changed to dollars and cents.
- Netball is called Women's Basketball.
- Some people think teenagers are getting into too much trouble and they have been labelled Milkbar Cowboys, Bodgies and Widgies.
- People stand in one spot and swing their hips to keep a hoop spinning around them. Experts can move this hoop around their heads.
Word watch
All the words and phrases below are in this week's story. Choose the best meaning and then check your choices again when you read the story. The answers are at the end of this week's TreasureLink.
- hot nosh (a) hot food or (b) spicy food
- a sly pint (a) a sneaky glass of beer or (b) a small glass of whisky or some other spirit
- stature (a) strength or (b)natural height when standing
- variations (a) alternatives or (b) differences
- impromptu (a) loud and boisterous or (b) unrehearsed-just happened
- chortles (a) gasps surprisingly or (b) chuckles
- memorable (a) worth remembering or (b) difficult to remember
- knuckle-ups (a) as fast as possible (b) fist fights
- interactive displays (a) exhibitions that respond to viewer activity or (b) informal and changing exhibitions
- punter (a) gambler or (b) customer
Those crazy 50s
Things were done differently when Ping's Pie Cart first opened. It was the 1950s so
team up with a classmate and then look below to see how three things have changed:
What's a pie cart?
Pie carts were like big caravans that opened on one side. The vats of boiling fat and the hamburger hot plates ran along the opposite wall. The pie cart caravans usually sat in one place so the patrons always knew where they were. Ping's pie cart was in the same place for years and so were others like the famous White Lady in Auckland.
Look here for this week's story and read Pie Cart on Ariki Street.
Sly pints and big theatres
This part of the story talks about a "sly pint." Pubs closed at six o'clock in those days and drinking habits were a little different to today. Look here to find out about New Zealand's famous six o'clock swill.
A "pint" was a glass that held a pint (475 mils) of beer. A sly pint was a pint of beer after six o'clock. Hotels with accommodation had house bars for the guests and these bars were allowed to stay open after 6 p.m. Some patrons would sneak from the public bar into the house bar for a "sly pint" after hours. It was against the law but it happened.
The four picture theatres mentioned in the story were all big theatres but movies were very popular in the 1950s- probably even more popular than today. Look here and find one of the reasons why.
Meanwhile, in the USA…
About the time Ping opened his pie cart two gentlemen in the USA were starting fast food businesses that would sweep across the world. They began with almost nothing, took a risk and it worked! Read their stories on the two sites below.
Look here for Mc Donalds.
Look here for KFC.
Ping's pie cart became a very good business but what if you were a fast food operator in New Zealand the 1950s and you knew then what you know now? Would you open a pie cart or would you do something a little different? Think pair and share your ideas with a classmate.
The quickest cook in town
Find out a little about Ping by reading Ping Choy Leong.
A normal working day lasts eight hours with time off for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. How long did Ping's working day last and which three hour period would be Ping's busiest? Work it out.
Fact or fiction?
Being a pie cart man was hard work. Along with the non stop cooking came the practical jokes. Lots of Ping's customers had come straight from dances, pubs and parties so they were ready for some more fun and games. Read Having fun with Ping to see what they got up to. Decide which stories are likely to be fact and which are probably fiction. Think, pair and share your ideas with a classmate.
Policeman Ping
The next part of the story might belong to realms of fiction too. Read Ping and the police and find out what was supposed to have happened when Ping's customer's went a little too far.
It sounds a really good story so finish the limerick to go with the cartoon above.
At a New Plymouth pie cart called Ping's
Was a cook with a cleaver he could swing
When a joke went too far
Ping jumped that food bar
And….
New cook, new fashions
Henry Leong serves the long-haired crowd in 1975. Image Daily News. Copy from Puke Ariki Pictorial Collection TS2006_1003.
This photo moves us into the 70s when fashion was big! Big hair, big flares, big collars, big shoes- big everything! You can see the big hair in the photo.
So what would you be dressed in if you were waiting for your hamburger in 1975?
Look here and dress yourself from top to toe.
Compare your outfit with a classmate's.
Down at the pie cart
When Ping retired, new cooks took over. Ping trained them and the pie cart was good as ever. People even had sing-alongs down there- perhaps the first New Zealand Idol.
Read all about Ping's nephew in the part of the story called Henry Leong. Henry's food was good but find out about his other skills that all helped make the pie cart very popular.
Henry has retired now but the pie cart wasn't his last business. It did however help him set up another. Look here and work out why:
Thumbs up for Daisy Lee
Read Daisy Lee now. She helped make the Pie cart even more popular. There's a clue in the two pie cart photos that tell you why. Try to find it and compare your idea with a classmate's.
The policeman's friend
Jock Ross the policemen tells us about the Ping pie cart days. A careful read will show it was a lot different to today.
Read Jock Ross policeman and jot down four things that we don't see happening today. Compare your list with a classmate's and then check your ideas with the ideas at the end of this week's TreasureLink.
Is that quite cheap?
Here is the menu board from the early pie cart days - the pounds, shillings and pence days. 6/- is six shillings. A shilling was worth 10 cents so 6/- was 60 cents in today's decimal currency. Sixpence was half a shilling or sixpence. Sixpence was worth five cents. 6/6 is 65 cents. Have you got it?
Convert Ping's pricelist to decimal currency and work out how much a person would have paid for the order below.
One bacon and onions
One bacon and eggs
One sausages and eggs
One spaghetti & eggs on toast
Four coffees
Bring back the pie cart?
Finish the story now by reading Pie cart postscript.
We can't follow the letter writer's advice and have the pie cart instead of Puke Ariki - it's already built! Should we though, have a pie cart on the lawn next door? It could be like a living exhibit. People could order from the same menu that Ping once had. Our living exhibit could be open all night then Puke Ariki could open as the pie cart closed. It might be good for business.
Debate the idea in class and chart your thoughts in a plus column, a minus column and an interesting column.
Fast forward
Sue Kedgley the Greens Safe Food spokesperson says many New Zealand children are, eating themselves into an early grave and she blames fast food advertising and special deals like McDonald's Happy Meals.
Some countries in the world ban advertising.
- Ireland: All television commercials for fast food and sweets are banned.
- Sweden/Norway/Austria/Luxembourg: All television advertising to children is banned.
- Belgium/France/Portugal/Vietnam: All marketing is banned in schools.
In New Zealand some of the McDonald's-style selling techniques will be borrowed for the healthy-eating campaign in Auckland schools. Ideas include selling "combos" in school tuck shops, with pupils offered a "combo" of a pizza, low-fat yoghurt and a bottle of water.
Containers of cut-up fruit will also be introduced at tuck shops to encourage children to eat more fruit.
So what's the best solution for getting the healthy eating message across? Do we keep banning things by law or is there a better way?
Come up with two master plans in small groups and present them to the class. You need one for school lunches and one that the fast food giants should have to follow.
List the possible outcomes and consequences too for each of your solutions.
Rewind answers
1. True. In those days they had real rucks and anyone caught on the other team's side of the ruck was rucked out of the way. It made a few marks but didn't hurt that much.
2. False. It is still pounds shillings and pence. It didn't change until 1967.
3. True. It didn't change to netball until 1970.
4. True. The Government even formed a special committee to look into these problem teenagers -although people couldn't really agree that there really was a problem.
5. True. It's the hoola hoop craze and it was huge.
Word watch answers
1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5b, 6b, 7a, 8b, 9a, 10b
Different today (Policemen's friend activity)
1. The policemen walked the beat a lot more than today and they stopped for great feeds at the pie cart.
2. Ping really might have chased someone with a meat cleaver but people probably thought that was okay because the person deserved it.
3. A whistle could bring police running.
4. Police used taxis to get to the action quickly.
Ping's pricelist.
That whole order would have cost $3.00
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