Australian Food

Outback steakhouse.

Koala stew.

Roasted kangaroo.

Barbecue is very Australian.

As is Vegemite, which is the Australian version of Marmite.

Pavlova.

Ahem, R4?

Vegemite on toast:/

Wallaby burgoo!

Jaffles

Kandied angarooe kunt

Dingo Dipping Strips with the traditional three dipping sauces: (1) Platy Pus (2) Kangaroo Kum or (3) the spicy Red Back Spider Sap

Tim Tams and mushy peas.

What is going on in OP's picture?

That's a meat pie with tomato sauce, R12. Rather tasty, if I'm honest.

Here ya go!

Pudding made from the blood of aborigines!

The crushed tiny balls of New Zealanders. AKA Anglican dingleberries

Vegemite sandwiches

Meatpies, vegemite, aboriginal tears.

Australian food sucks

Meat pies, sausage rolls, vegemite , smokes, footy and beer.

There are several Australian coffeeshops in Manhattan.

Is that ketchup or strawberry jelly in the OP's pic?

Says an American, R19!

The national dish is alcohol.

^^Tis nuttin wrong wit dat, Lad.

That photo of ketchup poured on top of the meat pie was actually rather disgusting. Isn't this the country known for serving hamburgers with sliced beets (beetroot)? Before you all accuse me of being some jingoistic nasty American, I actually like Australian people a lot.

Crackers and barbequed garbage.

R26 Only in modern times do we have to deny being racist just because we don't like another culture's cuisine. I hate Indian food so sue me.

The short answer is no.

So is the long answer.

Crocodile sausage braised in Victoria Bitter.

Speedo wrapped penis. No you don't eat the penis, you pull the Speedo out, suck the penis and the nutritious content comes out.

Vegemite is the worst thing I have ever tasted. I know peopke either love or hate it, but holy cow, it doesn’t even resemble food.

What about me????

I mean, who can resist MARGARINE, white bread and sprinkles?

I had a type of oblong muffin called a friand down there. Made with lots of egg white and almond flour. It’s of French origin but Australia seems to be the main place where people know what they are (every recipe I find is from Oz). I ordered a friand pan and make them here in the US on occasion.

Dick cheese.

Bikkies. Anzac or Tim Tam, usually.

From what I see here it seems Australian food is often a version of English food. Upthread someone mentioned Pavlova which is, I think (correct me if I'm wrong Australians), a type of whipped cream cake or some kind of cake layered with whipped cream. I think fruit of some kind is added. I read about it years ago and it sounded vaguely like English trifle. It became popular in Australia when Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina, came to Australia to give a series of performances. Australians were so appreciative that she came to perform for them that the dessert was created in her honor.

I had 2 friends from Australia visit me and one morning one complained that there was nothing to eat, and offered to cook an "Australian breakfast" for us. It was just like a standard American breakfast but very greasy. I ate it, just to be polite, but it was gross. They are also snobby about their coffee and think all American coffee is inferior, and think adding any flavorings is sacreligious. One of the 2 guys (the one who cooked) was quite rude in public and a few times I was embarrassed to be with them in public. I understand that not all Australians are like that, though.

Beets on hamburgers.

Stupid.

The head tastes best

I wouldn’t describe meat pies as typically Australian, they’re made the world over. The Australians would’ve brought the recipe from Britain. I’d say the fairy bread at r33 is a purely Australian invention.

Based on what I know (which is everything), Australian food is similar to American food in that it is a mish-mash of various styles, nationalities and influences that come together to make a national cuisine.

Well, I really do like Vegemite (and Marmite) on toast.

Went over a few years ago and they were touting Melbourne as one of the food trendsetters along with Barcelona and London. I wasn't that impressed but I understand there's an odd chip on the shoulder abut being culturally ignored .Ditto about the coffee snobbery, though flat white did catch on.

It's basically an island, so fish Fish FISH.

How did we reach 46 posts with no-one mentioning lamingtons.

You're terrible Muriel.

What are lamingtons, R46?

barbie roo

Dingo's stuffed with babies.

So what is a typical Australian bbq like?

shrimp on the barbie

R52?

R37 nearly every aspect of your post isn’t correct.

R37 Keith Money, a biographer of Anna Pavlova, wrote that a hotel chef in Wellington, New Zealand, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour. As a ballerina she didn’t eat much but loved desserts but couldn’t eat cakes and pies. A Pavlova (created by a chef who wanted to give her something light) is a meringue (egg whites and sugar) topped with fruit and a bit of whipped cream. (I find it awful and too sweet but to each his own). Now the controversy comes with Australia because Australians claim this meringue dessert was already an Australian traditional dessert that the NZ chef used for Ms. Pavlova and thus became the name Pavlova. Etc etc

Say what you want r23, but for better or worse, the whole world is clamoring to get obese on American food.

R13 that sounds delish actually.

I find the lesser known strawberry lamingtons are tastier than the choc ones.

Aussie here. And admittedly not a very refined one at that. I grew up eating Vegemite on toast for breakfast, Vegemite sandwich at school for lunch, some kind of meat and either vegetables or salad for dinner depending on the weather. Pavlova was a Christmas or Very Special Occasion dessert, topped with strawberries and a Peppermint Crisp chocolate bar. I started drinking VB at age 14. Older high schoolers would get it for us or my parents who didn't care that I was drinking anyway. Buying lamingtons for school fundraising was an annual event. Bbq in summer was standard - sausages, lamb chops and sliced potatoes served with salad containing beetroot and sliced boiled egg. Beverage options were water or Cottees cordial, Coke was for special occasions.

When I reached about 16 and started going out with my boyfriend's older sister and her husband, my world exploded with colour and flavour and I tried cuisines I'd never heard of. Amazing! The most exotic it got growing up was ordering Beef and Black bean with special fried rice and prawn crackers from the Chinese shop, or an Aussie pizza (which is just ham, cheese and an egg cracked on top but my Dad hated "snotty egg" so we just had a ham and cheese). Old habits die hard though, and I still love a piece of Vegemite on toast or an ice cold VB.

Along with the lamingtons, anzac cookies, and kiwi pav, Aussies love their baked custard flans and have their own version of the mille-feuille, the ubiquitous vanilla slice.

Pancakes with ice cream

I find it hilarious to hear Americans whine that Australian food looks unappealing - cunts, have you seen the state of your fucking casseroles? You're the nation that gave us all obesity!

Lamingtons are great fun to make. It's literally two squares of sponge cake stuck together with jam, coated in chocolate icing and then dusted with coconut.

The Aussies do their own version of trifle, which is traditionally more haphazardly layered with tropical fruit than the more refined English cousin, sometimes they are laced with Midori or Triple Sec.

Golden Gaytime

Because it's hard to have a Gaytime on your own.

"The dingo ate your baby."

So I guess baby is a hot menu item in Australia.

Dingo?? Kangaroo ??? Vegemite????

Australian food sounds dreadful.

Breakfast: Vegemite on toast

Lunch: Meat Pie & tomato sauce(we don't call it ketchup)

Dinner: Chicko Roll,& chips, a Lamington & washed down with a can of VB

Delicious!

I watch My Kitchen Rules and they always use a lot of beetroot...and some seafood called 'bugs' ( Moreton Bay Bugs)

White Christmas — Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies), powdered milk, sugar, coconut, coconut oil, candied cherries, dried cranberries, and sometimes nuts and additional dried/candied fruit

Some of the traditional food is kitsch and/or bland but Australians are really lucky to have such a diverse environment, a good economy and low population. Their food is some of the best in the world and cheapest. Some of the meats are incredible, especially at restaurant level but really just as good in many country pubs. Tasmanian produce is second to none their seafood, dairy and orchid produce rivals anything from New Zealand. And of course the wines! No wonder when the Italian and Greek immigrants hopped from their fishing boats they felt right at home.

Do you guys eat Tasmanian devils?

"You're the nation that gave us all obesity!"

Dumbass, if our food didn't taste good you wouldn't eat it & become obese. You're stupid AND a lardass.

"You're the nation that gave us all obesity!"

Dumbass, if our food didn't taste good you wouldn't eat it & become obese. You're stupid AND a lardass.

One needs to look no further than the current ongoing thread about chocolate chip bacon cookies to understand the American obesity epidemic.

R75 what's the rest of the world's excuse? Besides eating delicious American junk food.

Laksa really represents the newer blended style of Aussie-Asian cuisine which the country has taken to its hearts post-year 2000.

They thrive on hate and stupidity and foulness and are trashy assholes.

R74 - go fuck yourself with a twinkie, you suppurating lardy cunt. Go on, waddle off and chase that twinkie, have a heart attack and good luck paying your medical bills, you fat, ugly, pasty, KKK-licking *cunt*.

R71: "Their food is some of the best in the world and cheapest".

No, sorry but that is nonsense. Australia is fine for 'informal' eating out, but home-cooked food and top-end restaurants are both fairly dreadful. And it's an expensive country for just about everything, including food. Even locally grown produce is really expensive by international standards - a trip round a Coles supermarket can really hurt the wallet. You'll find some really good Chinese food, some badly-cooked pizza, and good but vastly overpriced coffee.

Awww, r79's racist indigenous murdering, shit tasting food eating, melanoma skinned, lardass fewwings is hurt!

Fuck off with that honk you call your accent!

Only on Datalounge can an innocent thread about food end up with posters throwing out insults about being lardy cunts and indigenous murderers..

R82 The descendants of British criminals, crazies and murderers are awfully sensitive about their food.

R80 I would never shop at Coles. Coles is just an expensive tourist trap to lure in expat Brits who miss their Sainburys and Mark and Spencers and who need everything wrapped in 4 layers of plastic for it to be edible. Locals shop at the local Italian green grocer, everything fresh and seasonal, and much more economical. And I say this as someone who spent many hours at Harrods and Selfridges food halls cooking the produce they sell, I've seen the equivalent or much better quality for a hundred times cheaper at local green food markets in Oz.

koala bear

The cockatoo is delicious.

Love Pavlova!

It's a merengue base topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits like kiwi, blueberries, passion fruit and mango.

Ladies, ladies... you're both originally British colonial nightmares with no real original cuisine of your own!

So it seems Australian food is basically White Trash Cooking Done Right?

You're not grillin' me, mate.

Pavlova is fantastic, but since nobody really knows who invented it, I don’t know if it really belongs on this thread.

For Aussies on DL, I keep reading that (delicious) Thai food is super popular in Australia. Is it the most popular foreign cuisine?

I'd say Thai is top 5 popular, but was more popular during the 90s. Singaporean and Malay hawkers food is now extremely popular and very common in the cities, given the proximity and trade between the two countries it fits within the culture well. Indonesian cuisine is also much more popular now, which is just delightful.

Vegemite is people!

Aussiebum Bikinis filled with sizemeat.

Kangaroo steak is quite tasty.

Dim sims - an Oz snackfood classic!! Three "steamed dimmies" and soy sauce are the bees knees.

Think bsstardized gyoza dumplings. Miss my Friday night fix after a week of work when I travel.

*ps lots of misinformation on this thread but it's a riot all the same.

Hybrid British food standards and much SE Asian cuisine and Japanese food.

Big Catholic population too via census stats. So, in a sense, the 'fish on Fridays' can sometimes inadvertently apply: definiteky on Good Friday for Easter seafood is common and also via the Friday night takeaway or and beachside visit standard of fish and chips / visit to the fish and chip shop for a weekend night supper.

There's a bit if a rural urban divide in terms of culinary offerings and exposure and gastronomic preference or pseudo sophistication obviously too.

The Summertime Christmas food traditions are tweaked for a local climate include prawns, oysters, crayfish, lobster and such among British traditions here too as hams, Roast turkey and plum pudding etc.

Coffee snobbery is a definite thing.

Much else probably, but that's some basics.

A meat pie and tomato sauce (which isn't exactly ketchup but is similar) is what you would eat at the ball park instead of a hot dog. I'm not sure you'd call hot dogs "cuisine", though they're as popular as pies. Lamingtons and all that stuff fall into a similar category - it's like saying British cuisine is about Devonshire tea.

R77 is right. Unless you count Heston Blumenthal, England hasn't been an influence on Australian food since the 1950s. The big waves of immigration in Australia since WWII were, in chronological order, Greeks and Italians, Vietnamese, Lebanese and Chinese. At fine dining establishments - and even good bistros - the signature Australian food makes a big deal of all the seasonal fresh produce available, particularly fish and seafood, and "Asian fusion" [fusion with the earlier European influences] is a real characteristic: eg creamy desserts flavoured with matcha instead of vanilla or chocolate; pan-seared fish or seafood in subtle broths with lemongrass or ginger in them. Chefs are also interested in using "bush tucker" such as finger-limes or lemon myrtle.

If you're really interested, look up the menus at Attica, Sepia, Tetsuyas, The Bridge Room or Quay, which are top Aussie restaurants. It is a quite distinctive cuisine at this point, and has influenced the general population via TV shows like Masterchef. Even in ordinary cafes, food tends to be lighter, and rely on fresh vegetables and fruits more, than in similar places in the States.

One big difference between Australia and the US is that, although we do eat plenty of beef, we value lamb more and (I think) eat more of it. Every Australian comes home from the US wanting lamb chops for dinner.

R84, your comments about Coles are just not connected to reality. Far from being a tourist trap, they are one of the two giant Australuan food retailers, with hubdreds of stores and sales last year of A$39.2 Billion. Their customers are Mr & Mrs Average Australian. They have 33.5% of the grocery market. Comparing them to single-store very upmarket retailers like Harrods and Selfridges is simply ridiculous. If you've spent time in Australia frequently, and worked and shopped there, and are able to compare them to, say, Tesco and Asda in the UK, as I have, you'll know that what you wrote was bullshit.

R98 are finger limes supposed to taste good? I bought some at the store and was excited to try them. Thought they tasted like a perfumed bathroom candle and had to spit them out. Very disappointing.

Pawns on the barbie

"The number of new fathers who are no longer circumcised is increasing and therefore if they haven't been circumcised, collectively between the two parents then they're making a decision that they don't feel it will confer any benefit to their son..."

It's interesting there almost zero recipes posted here. Probably because there is nothing worth making.

Are White Australians as shy with seasoning as most other people of Anglo/ Northern European provenance? I'm asking because colonialism in Australia didn't involve Africans, so I'm wondering if the palate is as "watery" as it is for the typical white Brit?

In Australia, salt and pepper are their secret spices.

Still waitin' for an answer to my question about finger limes, R103 .

Pretty sure a pavlova is a cake made with layers of meringue.

Thai food was really, really popular in Australia at one point. Is that still a thing?

Entree.

I have read that aboriginal people have eaten grubs for centuries before the British came, but that even the British tried some of the aboriginal food for themselves. I don't know the extent to which white Australians eat aboriginal food today though. So, from what I gather, Australians seem to prefer coffee over tea? I would have thought the tea drinking habit might have stuck with them from England, particularly since they are located relatively closer to the source in India and China.

So Outback Steakhouse has no Aussie basis of reality? They don’t really eat that coconut shrimp? Disappointing!

Bloomin' onion washed down with Fosters.

Yum Cha

I was in Australia 5 yers ago , and I thought the food was OK but not at all distinctive. Very, very expensive - a cup of coffee was $8.00.

Fosters is just an American Adjacent Lager.

Can't believe we've gotten to #115 and no one's mentioned Darrell Lea's licorice. Or "liquorice" as they spell it.

They also claim it's tasty. It must be if you like the gasoline flavor, the dirty bathwater flavor, the cherry cough syrup flavor, the storm-drain runoff flavor, the Simple Green flavor...

Vegemite looks and tastes like axle grease, btw.

If you fly out on Qantas and sit in the front, you may have eaten the best meal of the trip on the plane.

I have watched the 2000-episode-a-season version of Masterchef Australia for several seasons. This qualifies me as an expert on Aussie cookery (or what passes for one in America).

I nominate Lamingtons, Maggie Beer's Verjuice, Barramundi and Shannon Bennett's cock.

R111 lets put t this way Papa Johns is more authentic Italian than outback is Australian.

R110 No love, real 'Australians' do not ever eat Aboriginal food, they are all shoved on reservations and totally repressed, Aussies are as racist as Southern Americans, total cunts

Good accurate overview post R98.

Coffee is in caffeine ascendancy R110, but tea drinking is definitely the home 'cuppa' of significant % choice too, although perhaps not as standard when dining or eating out or even, in cubicle workworld as is the case in Britain.

Was that a double or triple shot coffee R114? $Aus 4-6 is closer to 2018 price depending on style of place.

Funnily enough, some regional and diner style American food has been a definite dining trend here in recent-times.

Sliders, ribs, jazzed up burgers, fried chicken chilli dogs.

Mexican food was a very popular niche cuisine for many decades, but is widely accepted now, other South American styles are catching up too. USA Southern food is reasonably well catered for as it is distinctive enough to to be marketed as exotic food over here, definitely gaining popularity.

I have at least 250 "exotic" restaurants within 10 minutes of where I live, enough to eat at a different one almost every day of the year.

Strangely, Curry restaurants have not gained that much of a foothold considering there are many Indians living here, and so many Brits (who love their curry). Curry has always been well regarded but It has been slightly suppressed as an option given there are so many international choices to compete with. Curry houses open, some struggle they are are more traditional dry lentil type Madras style, not the "wet" style curry the Brits love. There have been several new English Style Curry houses open recently where I live and they seem to be doing well.

Tuck shops (meat pies)

"shrimp on the barbie"

R100, I've never had finger lime myself, but the way they use it in fine dining establishments is usually either among a lot of ingredients in a sauce or broth or, perhaps more commonly, sprinkled over the top of whatever holds the main flavour, in much the way Jamie Oliver likes to sprinkle pomegranate seed over things. I'm linking to some example recipes, which also might shut up the person who keeps whining that they're not seeing recipes for Australian food.

You will note that the article says these recipes "hero" the finger lime, but in fact they all use it as a subsidiary flavour. It would never be the central one.