Australian cuisine
Historically Australian cuisine was based on traditional British cooking brought to the country by the first settlers. This generally consisted of pies, roasted cuts of meat, grilled steak and chops, chicken and other forms of meat generally accompanied by vegetables (the combination known colloquially as "meat and three veg") such as potatoes, beans, peas, and carrots (often served soggy or overcooked).
These origins have been mostly overtaken by the growing multicultural emphasis of Australian culture over the last forty to fifty years, with Australian cuisine now influenced by a variety of Mediterranean and Asian immigrant foods. British traditions still persist to varying degrees but moreso in takeaway food with pies, fish and chips as popular as American burgers in this market sector.
A native Australian cuisine movement has also emerged, evolving out of the Australian themed restaurants of the mid-1980s. The discovery of the spice-like qualities of many native Australian plant ingredients formed the basis of a gourmet cuisine. This contrasted with the Bush tucker or foraged food unfamiliar to gourmands and foodies.
Background
Australian cuisine is some of the most diverse available anywhere, due to the many cultural influences. Modern Australian cuisine has been heavily influenced by the country's South East Asian neighbours, and by the many waves of immigrants from there, and all parts of the world. Similarly, Greek, Lebanese and Italian influences are very common with many of these influences arriving in Australia during the 1950's and 1960's. Fresh produce is readily available and thus used extensively, and the trend (urged by long-term government health initiatives) is towards low-salt, low-fat healthy cookery incorporating lean meat and lightly cooked, colourful, steamed or stir-fried vegetables.
Australia's wide variety of seafood is also popular and barbecues are common at weekend family gatherings. Barbecues are also common in fundraising for schools and local communities, where sausages and onion or hot dogs are served on white bread with tomato sauce.
Some English trends are still evident in domestic cuisine, among them a widespread tradition of having a hot roast turkey, chicken and/or ham with all the trimmings for Christmas dinner, followed by a heavy Christmas pudding.
Breakfast
The typical breakfast of Australians strongly resembles breakfast in many Western countries. Owing to the warm weather in some parts of Australia, generally breakfast is light but in the colder regions can be more like a full English breakfast. The light breakfast consists of cereals, toast, fruit, and fruit juices rather than cooked items. Australians also enjoy a heavy breakfast with fried bacon, egg, mushroom, sausage, tomatoes and toast, with tea or coffee and juice (similar to the full English breakfast). Some other typical meals include pancakes, waffles, yoghurt, bagels and sometimes hash browns.
Takeaway food in Australia
Despite the best intentions of government health schemes and cultural marketing initiatives, the traditional Australian palate is amply serviced by an extensive takeaway food industry. Two of the most traditional takeaway dishes are the meat pie and sausage roll. These come in varying grades, ranging from the mass-produced factory outputs of Four-and-Twenty and Big Ben, sold on every street corner in milk bars, through to gourmet pies sold by specialist pie shops. There is an annual competition to find the 'Great Australian Meat Pie', and the winners are greatly removed from their fat-laden antecedents.
American-style chain stores are common including Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King (known as Hungry Jacks due to a trademark issue), Domino's Pizza, and of course McDonalds (commonly called Maccas by locals). An alternative to the US imports is offered by the Australian chicken fastfood chain Red Rooster, pizza chains Eagle Boys and Pizza Haven, The Portuguese chicken franchises Nando's and Oporto, and by the corner Pizza shops, charcoal chicken stores, stores selling items such as kebabs and gyros, and fish and chip shops. Many of these sell high-quality food for reasonable prices.
A very wide variety of Chinese, Indian and various Asian restaurants provide eat-in and take-away services, and are very popular in the cities. With the high levels of immigration from the Middle East, South and South East Asia, Korea, China and other countries from all over the world to Australia, many authentic and high-quality restaurants are run by first and second generation immigrants from these areas. Chinese cuisine, however, ranges from a long established very Australian-Chinese style based on the cooking of the Chinese community established during the gold rushes of the late 1800's, to quite different cuisine only very recently imported from different regions of China.
Unique and Iconic Australian foods
"Research has shown that 85% of the products in the average Australian supermarket trolley are imported or made by foreign-owned companies with $100 million of profits a day going out of the country." (Dick Smith - a notable and passionately chauvinistic Australian businessman quoted in Foodweek)
Probably the most well known Australian food is Vegemite™ (allthough is now under an american company Kraft). Similar to the British product Marmite™ it is a strong tasting, yeast extract spread, common in sandwiches or on toast. It is considered an iconic Australian foodstuff but seems to be only liked by people brought up on it.
Other unique or iconic national foods are:- Chiko Roll, Violet Crumble, Jaffas, Tim Tams, Weet-Bix and new to the scene are Wattleseed and lemon myrtle sprinkle. Australians also enjoy their own meat pie, which are pies made with beef and gravy. They have been adapted from the British pork pie. Damper is a traditional type of bread.
Meats and fish that are genuinely Australian include:
These meats have long been traditional in Aboriginal diets, and in rural white Australia. They can be seen on the menus of some of Australia's top restaurants.
Sweets
Some Australian sweets, such as the Violet Crumble chocolate bar, are manufactured in Australia and are sold within the country, as well as internationally in places such as Hawaii. Tim Tams are a chocolate biscuit produced in Australia which are now exported throughout the world.
Desserts
There are a small number of desserts and sweet dishes that are popularly thought of as being peculiarly Australian:
Evidence suggests Pavlova, Lamingtons and Anzac biscuits all originated in New Zealand, not Australia.
References
- Bruneteau, Jean-Paul, Tukka, Real Australian Food, ISBN 0207189668.
- Cherikoff, Vic, The Bushfood Handbook, ISBN 0731669045.
- Kersh, Jennice and Raymond, Edna's Table, ISBN 0733605397.
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