The phrase "world famous in New Zealand" is a commonly used phrase within New Zealand and the slogan of Lemon & Paeroa soft drink. It is used to describe items that though famous within New Zealand are unknown in the rest of the world, whereas similar items and people in larger countries would have a far higher media profile and would therefore be famous worldwide.

The term is simultaneously both parochially proud and self-deprecatingly humorous. It indicates a pride that a small country should be able to produce individuals which, in the opinion of the speaker, would be of a necessary standard to become world famous, yet at the same time it recognises that these individuals come from a country which does not have a high international recognition factor, and therefore these individuals are destined to remain "big fish in a small pond".