Multicultural Influenced Australian Cuisine

[Cheese-lovers]

Hi Its us again and weve got a new asasignment. This one is about the outside influences on Australian cuisine since world war 2 and we were wondering if anyone had any information about this. The practical for this assignment is to make a finger food for a cocktail party and present it appropriatley. The finger food is to from any culture other than our own that incorporates Australian foods and or cooking methods and any ideas would be greatley appreciated.

Luv Kim and Krysten

 

[jkath]

I wish I'd had such wonderful ideas in my school cooking classes!

At my last home, I had a feijoa tree. After some research (some here!), I found out it was native to Australia. How about making small toast rounds, topped with a nutty type aussie cheese, and then topping it with a bit of feijoa jam? If the trees still have flowers, those are edible too, and have a faint cinnamon taste. They'd be lovely to garnish the plate with.

hmmmm...just re-read your posting..."from a culture other than our own..." okay, lemme think some more......

 

[jkath]

Wait! Australia has avocados! Hooray! Could you make a simple mexican guacamole with your avos?

4 avocados, mashed
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
a few shakes of salt & pepper

Serve with either tortilla chips or local flat bread, cut into triangles, brushed with oil and baked till golden & crisp

 

[Cheese-lovers]

they both sound really good, got any more ideas.

 

[jkath]

What food is your city/region known for?
(that'll help the ball get rolling)

 

[daisy]

OK, an Aussie here!

Immigrants to Australia after WW2 seemed to have come in waves. At first we got the Europeans - Italians, Greeks, and Slavs, mostly. The Slavs don't seem to have given us much in the way of foods - certainly not as much as the Italians or Greeks. For those, the best known foods, still very popular, are things like Spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagne; the Greeks gave us Moussaka, Baklava, and salads with feta cheese.

Other Europeans, fewer in number, gave us Wiener Schnitzel and a variety of sausages, particularly salami. A lot of Germans settled in South Australia, and they've provided us with excellent wines.

Since Vietnam, there has been a huge influx of Vietnamese immigrants. These have introduced us to a huge range of Asian vegetables and sauces - most of which are called 'Thai' nowadays. Any stirfry using these vegetables (bok choy, Chinese cabbage, tatsoi etc) would be good examples of what have become popular.

The Chinese have been around since the goldrushes of the early 1800s. Their influence on our food has been immense, and continues. From them, we learned about things like straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and the like. Chicken and Almonds, or Mongolian Beef would be popular examples of their cuisine.

We get a lot of Indonesian foods here, too. Satays and Rendangs would be good examples of what is popular.

Indians and Pakistanis have made up a lot of our immigrant population. So curries would have to be included for that group.

In the 80s there was an influx of immigrants from the Middle East, especially Turkey and Lebanon. So we've learned about flatbreads and Kofta from them.

We've always had a great number of British immigrants, and they're still coming. This includes not only English, but Scots and Irish as well. We get fewer Welshmen, but think Potato and Leek Soup. Think Irish Stew or Colcannon (bubble and squeak); oatcakes from the Scots; steak and kidney pudding; bangers and mash; Toad in the Hole; Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding; fish 'n' chips from the Poms!

Although we haven't had a lot of immigrants from Central America, we've been quite strongly influenced by Mexican cuisine. Tacos, Chilli con Carne, and Burritos would be top of the list in that category.

We've had quite a few Japanese immigrants, but mainly they are our tourist trade, and we've had to learn to cater for them. So we've learned about Sushi and Teriyaki from them.

You can hunt up food from a large number of different countries at this site. It's fairly representive of what we get here in Australia.

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=middle+eastern

Here are some sites that might interest you:
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_IS_ART/places/Ausfoodarticle.html
http://www.recipelink.com/rcpeth2.html
http://www.kraft.com.au/virtualMuseum/decades/index.cfm?Page=decades
http://www.schools.ash.org.au/thscompst/Australia/Aus1.html

 

[auntdot]

Just an idea (and do not know what the requirement is for the Australian foods/cooking methods).

Make some small taco like shells out of rice flour, about 4 cm in diameter.

Fill with diced cooked prawns, cover with a bit of shredded lettuce, put in a thin slice of avocado, and sprinkle on some Chinese dipping sauce.

I think it might work.

Just a thought.

Good luck.

 

[Haggis]

The finger food is to from any culture other than our own that incorporates Australian foods and or cooking methods and any ideas would be greatley appreciated.

What about Japanese gyoza or Chinese wontons made with kangaroo or emu meat...the ingredient couldn't get any more Australian.

Or as Daisy mentioned, some delicious kofta (either meatball or sausage shaped) made with minced roo/emu.

 

[Cheese-lovers]

Omg i had Gyoza when i went to Japan with a school trip. It was so nice and i have been trying to find an excuse to make it for ages now. I had it coz my Japanese teacher had lunch with me and my friends and she suggested to try that. It tastes really nice with soy sauce too

Luv Kim

 

[Cheese-lovers]

Thankyou sooooooooooo much daisy your info has been a great help. and evryones recipies are interesting. wen kim told me wat gyoza is i wanted to make it but if she does it i cant so anyone got anymore ideas, and if possible a few vegetarian ones.

luv Krysten

 

[daisy]

Gotta be completely honest here. Not a lot of Australians eat kangaroo or emu. Some trendy restaurants catering mainly to tourists have these things, but the average Australian (which is not the average Aborigine) probably wouldn't touch the stuff. I've eaten it - but never again, thank you! The vast majority of our population does not eat our wildlife, though some 'wild' meats are now being farmed - buffalo, crocodile, kangaroo, emu, ostrich (not native) - though you can't usually find such things in the supermarket or your local butcher's shop. (You can get kangaroo meat, but it's sold as dog's meat - and a lot of dogs won't eat it either!) We go mostly for lamb, beef or pork, in that order of preference.

If you want fish, see if you can get some barramundi. It's considered a delicacy, but I think it's fairly ordinary, actually! Perhaps try some Tasmanian scallops. We don't have 'shrimp' here in Australia, either - they are prawns!

Although most families eat things like curries and stirfries and such, the majority of people still stick to the English-based recipes - a typical Australian dinner for visitors is still something like the old Roast Lamb and Vegetables - usually pumpkin, potato, and peas and/or beans. Served with Mint Sauce. At Christmas or special occasions, there's always turkey or ham - but seafood is increasingly popular. Cooking a roast dinner with all the trimmings, at the height of summer, doesn't bring much joy to the cook! So in recent years we've seen an increasing number of entertaining events to celebrate Christmas In July, where all the traditional Northern Hemisphere stuff is prepared.

For casual occasions, a meat pie is the go. Never, never eaten formally, never on a plate or with knife and fork!

You'll have to try for Pavlova and Peche Melba, if you're cooking an Australian dessert. Also, in Australia, cakes and brownies etc are not considered desserts. Such things are served for morning or afternoon teas. A cheesecake, however, serves both purposes. We aren't all that adventurous with our cheesecakes - it's nearly always lemon, but sometimes you'll see a chocolate one, or a plain one with some stiff, jam-like fruit sauce on top - usually strawberry or mango.

 

[Cheese-lovers]

Wow from what you have written there Daisy it makes me sound like a freak. Im a 17 year old girl who would normally freak at the idea of eating kangaroo but in year 10 we made a kangaroo stir-fry and i ate it! Also with the meat pie, you said never eaten formally or on a plate with a knife and fork. Yeah well again thats me. Not formally but i eat my pies with a knife and fork on a plate.

Wow there must be something wrong with me. Either that or im just one in like 17 million (probably more) who likes to do things abnormally (is that a word?)

Anyways thanks again for helping

Luv Kimmie

 

[Cheese-lovers]

oh my god kim your such a freak. Then again your my firend and everyone always says it takes one to know one so i guess im a freak too. I never ate the kangaroo like u cause im a vegetarian and i like kangaroos that hop around not lie still and open. I dont eat meat pies either but when i did i prefered to eat them from paper bags cause it is so much more fun.

luv Krysten

 

[Cheese-lovers]

Ok hi its me again (Kim)

Anyways im supposed to looking for recipes right now but i thought i would ask for advice first. To start with i want to make Japanese gyoza but i need to make it in some way Australian. I thought of using lamb in it and then some Australian native herbs or something but im not sure. Also Krysten has decided to make smoked cheese & mozarella balls and she would like some serving tips to suit australia.

If anyone can help with these it would be much appreciated.

Cya

Luv Kim

 

[Robo410]

as daisy said, much asian influence (what we call pacific rim here in USA) As I recall you are vegetarian, so any veggie roll or lettuce wrap from Vietnam would work using your fruits and veggies etc but their sauces spices etc.

 

[Cheese-lovers]

Hi it me (Krysten),

I am the vegetarian not kim and i was wondering if any one had any ideas on what kind of sauce i could serve with my smoked cheese and mozarella balls. They are balls of both cheeses mixed together (with a few other ingredients) deepfried in hot oil. My sister suggeted using sweet chilli sauce qand my mum suggested using white sauce. does anyone have any other ideas.

Bye Bye

Krysten

 

[morgan21]

Help!

i have an assessment where i have to create a menu for a canteen at a football game. the thing is we have to get rid of all the fatty and sugary foods and replace them with healthy alternatives the only catch is we also have to add multicultural items. we have to add a minimum of five of them.

does anybody have any ideas on quick, easy to prepare multicultural foods?

Your help would be much appreciated

 

[archiduc]

Hi Its us again and weve got a new asasignment. This one is about the outside influences on Australian cuisine since world war 2 and we were wondering if anyone had any information about this. The practical for this assignment is to make a finger food for a cocktail party and present it appropriatley. The finger food is to from any culture other than our own that incorporates Australian foods and or cooking methods and any ideas would be greatley appreciated.

Luv Kim and Krysten

Hi Kim and Krysten,
And what work have the pair of you done in response to the assignment? What have you found out.

I susbscirbe to other food sites and on all of these, we get requests from students for us to do their work for them. The general consensus is that posters are not "here" to do the work of students who are too lazy to think or work things out for themselves. Yes, we will help but only once the poster has demonstrated that they have given some thought, which they are willing to share, to the assignment - are you another pair of lazy students?

What questions have you asked?

What was the main influence on the diet in Australia prior to WW2. Well, that would be the diet of the natives/immigrants (I guess, predominantly white and anglo-saxon) up to that point. What was the diet? Does the Australian Government have any food consumption statistics which you could access?

Influences on food derive from immigration. Have there been any major waves of immgration since WW2 - European eg., Greek and Italian or Pacific rim such as Korea or Vietnam? Did any immigration "waves" influence diet - first probably through the development of restaurants and fusion food which have filtered down to the domestic scene.

Other influences on food are social - household numbers change and affect food patterns. One person households where the individual works may differ significantly from one where there is a stay at home partner. Economics plays a role - you only have to see the posts on the BBC food messageboard to see how true this is! Technology - has this inflenced food in any way in Australia - is this different from the rest of the world? Etc., etc.

What are your thoughts?

All the best,
Archiduc

 

[Constance]

There was an Australian couple who lived here for several years, and we became friends with them. Alice made Australian Shepherds pie for us, although she had to use beef because lamb is not available in our small town. It was very good.

They told all sorts of stories about Australia, including Alice's journey through the outback, where there was no decent water to wash her hair (back then).

 

[Constance]

By the way, I would eat Kanga...I've eaten deer, wild rabbit, squirrel and lots of other unusual things, so why not?