Today marks 64 years since New Zealand claimed the Chinese gooseberry, re-branding it as kiwifruit.
As the original name suggests, the beloved and now-iconic food wasn't native to Aotearoa.
The first kiwifruit seeds were brought to New Zealand in 1904 by the principal of Wanganui Girls' College, Mary Fraser, who had been on a trip to China. In the 1950s, New Zealand began exporting the fruit to the US, NZ History records.
But the Cold War was underway, and something called Chinese gooseberry was a tough product to sell US importers and consumers.
So Kiwi produce company Turners and Growers led the change, originally pitching calling the fruit "melonettes".
That didn't take off either, so June 15, 1959, Turners and Growers began calling them kiwifruit.
The idea was originally suggested by Jack Turner, NZ History records.
In 1988 the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board (now called Zespri) was established to distinguish NZ kiwifruit from others.
Zespri is today the world's largest marketer of kiwifruit.
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