What do you think when you hear Australian Food?

[kyles]

The powdered drink would be milo, I keep a tin of it in the cupboard for emergencies!

I'm Aussie but now live in England, and have done for five years.

To me Australian cuisine is an attitude. That pioneering spirit to try new ingredients, to adapt old and new methods, and to embrace all the cultures that Australia has embraced.

To contrast, in Manchester where I live, there is a large migrant population, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Polish, Greek and Italian, amongst others. Their cuisines have remained fairly seperate.

In Australia we tend to share from one another's cuisine and adapt them. We are, arguably, more experimental and open to new ideas. I certainly get a lot of positive comments from friends on my approach to cooking, which is the way I was taught by my mum.

Of course there are uniquely Australian dishes that have been mentioned. I long for an Aussie meat pie, which are so different from the English ones!

My favourite Australian cookery writer is Stephanie Alexander, I love the way she uses traditional French cookery in one recipe and then moves on to Vietnamese or Japanese etc. And represents the more traditional "Australian country cooking" as well.

 

[Caine]

Ostriches are indigenous to South Africa, not Australia. How did they end up on the Aussie menu?

 

[Green Lady]

Milo - I totally forgot that name. Thanks kyles! This thread is helping me to relive the months spent with our Aussie "daughter". It was a special time. She is now a mum with 3 of her own children.

 

[TATTRAT]

Lamb, quail, prawns, pizza with a cracked egg in the middle, Fosters, Roo, turtle.

 

[The Z]

I grew up in the US, then lived in Newcastle, NSW for about 11 years, so I have a few ideas. I think a lot of Australian food has been brought from other areas, primarily Great Britain, but there are also a lot of Greek and Asian influences.

When I moved there, I was welcomed with a nice pavlova. I had never had that before. Over the years I developed quite a fondness for Lamb with Mint Sauce and (especially) Aussie Meat Pies... man, what I would give for a nice little pie shop on the corner *sigh*. They also had great burger/fish n chips shops. Fast food didn't dominate as it does here. There were lots of yummy corner food shops. I know that Doner Kebabs aren't exactly 'Aussie', but they had some good ones there. And you have to say Vegemite. I believe that's pretty uniquely Aussie.

Perhaps my mostest favorite Aussie food... the one I miss most... is Coopers Premium Lager.

 

[SpiritWolf]

Green Lady, the choc. drink you are talking about is MILO, it is very unique and choclotety, yes we do tend to leave some lumps of it on top, to spoon out with our spoons, but if there is not enough , my son just adds another spoonful of milo to it, I forgot about that one, and as others have pointed out, our classic MEAT PIE with TOMATO SAUCE of coarse we have to have that as we watch the footy. We have some very DELISH meat pies here, esp. if they have MUSHY PEAS as well in them (YUMM).

 

[Lamb&Guinness]

Grilled cheese sandwiches with sliced tomato.
Cheeseburgers with a fried egg in them.

 

[Quadlex]

Awesome work everyone ^_^ It's good to see that I'm the only one without a clue what my national "Cuisine" is.

I think common Aussie resturant food (What is called Modern Australian) is mainly a Thai/Italian-French fusion, Malaysian as well, although Indian, Chinese and Japanese get a look in as well. It tends to incorporate some of our local products (Macadamia sticky date pudding, tropical fruit coulis), and has some nods to England occasionally, but on the whole it's Thai spices in French-Italian dishes... At least at the resturants I've been too.

 

[CasperImproved]

Australia is a fairly young country (As countries go), and we haven't had time to define a food identity for ourselves.

We're only now getting interested in our national produce for reasons other then flavouring (Eucalyptus has been in lollies for years), but we still can't really point to a style of cooking and say "That's ours, we invented that".

Putting together a 'typical' Australian meal can thus be difficult, because there really is no such thing, at least from my perspective as an Aussie cook and citizen.

I'm interested to know what others think Australian food is. What do you imagine a typical family eats for dinner? What do we do for take-out, or fast food? Can you point to a style of dish or cooking and say "That's Australian", or are there any ingredients you think are pure "Down Under"?

(To my fellow citizens: Let's see what the internationals think before we comment, makes it slightly more authentic that way ^_^)

Quadlex - I think you raised a very good topic, and it should not be limited to Austrailia. We all have pre-conceived ideas about food from other areas. It may be caultural in nature, and old thoughts, but maybe that should be updated on what is actually there.

For example, I think of the food from Austrailia as others have mentioned. Some have said "shrimp on the Barbie", which in the US is something you would here from many (in the US). I have heard many nice things about the infusion influence that is there now, and that your food in general is in a major change mode.

The only thing I have eaten from Austrailia is a "meat pie", so my opinion has limited input. I will say I did not like the beef that weas in it, but since this was the only "authentic" Austrailian food product I have tried, I woould consider my own opinion suspect.

I can only think that being surrounded by so many choices on what to eat (Austrailia has all kind of food sources), that your eats are extremely good in general from anyone's opinion. I am jealious in the aspect you have all the choices you have in souce a short range of area.

I live in Michigan, US, so I wil always have a great source of fresh water fish locally ( and it is THE BEST), but, if I want fresh shark, mussels, or other things that are available close to other areas, I am stuck with not having the freshious, and having to pay high dollar for it.

So feel good about how many things you have access to locally. I probably have "more" options then you. But I would trade that in a minute for having the freshest of the local items I can't get where I live.

Casper

 

[mudbug]

Lamingtons? 'splain, please.

 

[Quadlex]

Lamingtons are a small block of sponge cake, dipped in a cocoa icing and rolled in coconut. They're often served cut in half with cream and jam inbetween the halves.

 

[mudbug]

thanks, Quads. sounds lovely, except no coconut for me, please.

 

[Claire]

Not having been to Australia myself, I think of the "Shrimp on the Barbie" ad, and also (from people who have lived there), of all things, Indian food. Extra coconut for me!

 

[Green Lady]

Lamingtons are a small block of sponge cake, dipped in a cocoa icing and rolled in coconut. They're often served cut in half with cream and jam inbetween the halves.

This also brings back memories of my Australian exchange student, Sally. I had completely forgotten about lamingtons. Hmmmm.....I should dig out a recipe and try making them sometime.......but I think I will forgo the cream and jam in between the halves.

 

[letscook]

I always thought lamb was high on the list more then beef

 

[fireweaver]

well, check it out! while looking up to see what the heck "damper" is, i stumbled across the wiki's entire category of "australian cuisine". lots of interesting new stuff in there...

 

[torenium]

On reading this thread i think a good example of Australian cuisine would be Kangaroo Kransky.
We get fresh kangaroo meat sent to a local Polish butcher who then makes these spiced sausages. Sometimes also stuffed with cheese!

Local ingredients used to create dishes inspired by the many migrants who settle in Australia.

"The Kransky is a type of meat sausage, the Oceanic incarnation of an authentic North Slovenian dish - the kranjska klobasa. The name stems from the Slovene name for the Austro-Hungarian province of Carniola, a province that encompassed most of modern Slovenia .It was introduced to Oceania by the many post-war immigrants from Slovenia who arrived in Australia and New Zealand in the 1940's and 1950's. The Kransky is very popular in Australia and New Zealand." (Wikipedia)

Oh and Scallop Pies!

 

[Bilby]

One thing about Australian food is that it varies greatly depending on where you live, just like America. In Perth, where I live, Asian is a huge influence on our cuisine, especially Japanese and Thai. Chinese cuisine is really only served in Chinese restaurants and a lot of those are trapped in the '70's! Dim Sum/Yum Cha is big in Perth though. Every second restaurant is Italian and features on most menus (incl Asian restaurants). Crocodile and kangaroo also appears on "Australian" menus but are still pretty uncommon. Seafood is huge but the best seafood restaurants are located out of the city, in the burbs.

I live near the wine region, the Swan Valley, and all of their restaurants feature fusion dishes quite heavily, with most having quite interesting combinations. Don't get a lot of basic cooking in the restaurants and cafes any more but I guess would still feature on the home table. Stir fries, pasta, BBQ's, and fresh seafood and salad would be on most people's dinner tables over here.

As someone mentioned, we are blessed with an abundance of fresh produce and really quite a large range of fruit, vegetables and seafood. Getting something "different" over here can be a case for Sherlock but that is probably more to do with the duopoly of supermarkets than anything else.

As all the other Aussies have said you've got Milo, Tim Tams, Lamingtons, Anzac Biscuits, Meat Pies, Koola Cordial, Sausage Rolls, Snakes Alive, Pavlova, Prawn Kebabs, Chiko Rolls, Iced Vovos, Damper, and lots of lamb and crayfish! It is dinner time over here and I am now starving!!!

 

[stassie]

I think of Clinkers, Violet Crumbles, and Solo (the first two being candy, the third being a lemon drink). But I live just over the ditch in New Zealand, so a lot of our food is very similar (no kangaroo, however!)

Those three things, though, you can't buy here, and I stock up whenever I visit

 

[garlicbreadforever]

BBQ. Lots of steak on the grill. I have never really thought about it, but it has me thinking. Will think some more.

not as much steak on the barbie, Jikoni!