Australians - what foods from your childhood do you miss?

Rice cookies, OP?

They went off the market a few years ago.

Kangaroo baby tongue 🦘

Hmmm…think those were a bit different, R1. These has a kind of ridgy top and flat underside. The hole in the middle was smaller too.

Jello 1-2-3, it tasted horrible, but looked glorious

Ha, R4 - don’t know that one but I’ve always avoided gelatine - ugh!

Was that Australian though? We call it jelly, not jello, so just wondering.

I used to live on Arnott's morning coffees.

Just looked those up, R6 - was mixing them up with the Milk Coffees which I loved as a kid. And Nice, when they still had plenty of sugar on them.

Another question - does anyone else remember Delta Creams having a mint filling? I swear as a kid the white centre has a mint flavour. No one else remembers this. It’s why I liked them.

I tried switching to Milk Coffees, but they're too sweet for me. As are Nice. Although I loved them as a kid. My current preferred not-too-sweet dunking biscuit is a Turkish brand, Eti Tea Biscuits.

I remember the biscuits you're talking about OP and yes, they did have coconut in them, but I can't recall their name and Google was no help. But the search did turn up the news, to me at least, that Arnotts have also discontinued the variety pack, the one where the Monte Carlos and the chocolate ones got eaten first and the orange ones were left to go soft. Little love for them, kind of like the strawberry in Neapolitan ice cream.

I miss the Kellogg's variety packs of breakfast cereals, with the ten little packets of different things like corn flakes, coco pops etc. Maybe they still make them for motels and places like that but I haven't seen them on the shelf for a long time.

R10 - they’re getting rid of the assorted cream biscuits? Fuck that’s sad - like an institution ending haha!

I didn’t like Monte Carlos though - don’t hit me! I loved the Delta Cream and Shortbread Cream best.

Good news! Those cereals still exist, we get them occasionally for the nephews when they stay over and a friend still picks them up when we go away for a weekend.

Oh and speaking of Neapolitan, anyone remember the special version they did in yellow (pineapple), white and green (lime)? I was pretty little then so it may have been for the bicentenary in 1988? Revolting! Haha!

Fags. I would love pretending I was smoking and being all sophisticated and adult-like.

Ha! I did that too R13. Were they musk flavour, I can’t quite remember.

Clearly loved a fag in my mouth from a young age!

Oh and what about Vice Versa? Chocolate buttons, larger than a Smartie or M&M and a bit thicker. Dark and white, white ones had dark centre, dark ones had white centre.

And Quattro biscuits? Expensive and a rare treat at the time.

OP, those were Coconut Rings. The Wikipedia page on Arnott's biscuits lists all the biscuits they've ever made, with descriptions. Those ones were stopped after the Campell's takeover.

The food I miss was the Almond and Honey chocolate bar. Each square contained a whole almond in liquid honey. I remember it wasn't Cadbury, but can't remember whether it was Nestle or Fry's. It wasn't a fancy brand.

A box of Red Tulip dark chocolates was also a fine thing. Must have been dark deeds of capitalism that they died out while the very inferior Cadbury Roses triumphed.

My true favourite childhood food was lamb cutlets with the outside fried crisp and golden in Cornflake crumbs, with mashed potato and peas. The ultimate comfort food. You can still make it, of course, and I do, but much more occasionally now that lamb cutlets cost the price of a small car and I understand its fat content!

Norco Coconut Ice Cream, I could only get in the summer holidays when we visited the grandparents in Ballina.

Spicy Plum Sauce - Always homemade and a staple at fetes and charity street stalls anywhere on the Southern Tablelands, where my family lived. We always had a bottle on the table. (looks like someone has decided to make it commercially, so I'll have to order some)

Choo Choo bars, of course.

[quote]Those ones were stopped after the Campell's takeover.

Ahhh! That makes sense. I remember the adults being disgusted when they heard we were being bought out by the Yanks.

Red Tulip used to be great. I love their Elegant Rabbits. Nowadays they taste awful.

Choo Choo bars still exist, at least where I live! I hate licorice unfortunately.

Lamb cutlets! That takes me back!

[quote]I remember the adults being disgusted when they heard we were being bought out by the Yanks.

And rightly so, if they'd ever tasted American chocolate. Bleah.

Red Tulip after dinner mints were my favourite. The Nestle After Eights have been a good substitute, but the last few packs I had were awful (and the price has gone up).

Red Tulip easter chocolate was great...very sneaky of Cadbury to put out inferior chocolate under the Red Tulip brand..

Sunnyboys

R19, we once got a Whitman’s Sampler in the 90s and I remember we were all shocked to discover how bad American chocolate is!

Feast icecreams...according to google, still available in some countries.

I loved Crazy Critter and Ojay iceblocks from the milk bar.

Ah yes Sunnyboys. They, along with those packets of sherbet with the little plastic spoon, remind me of summer arvos at the local Olympic pool.

One of my favourite childhood meals was crumbed steak - because it was sliced thin and crumbed you got a lot of pieces. I was a skinny kid and a picky eater but I loved that.

I wonder if they still make Passiona any more? Pasito seems to have taken its place in the drinks fridge.

Diprotodon.

The Hazelnut Roll. Hazelnut vanilla ice with a choc coating, wrapped in foil so they don't melt everywhere.

I really wish I had kept some in the freezer when they were discontinued in 2009. There has not been a limited re-release of the Hazelnut Roll, despite some pressure to do so.

But even better were Fiddler ice creams (coconut ice cream, crispy choc coating) discontinued the mid-'80s.

That’s a point - where is Passiona these days. If anything makes me think 1980s Australia, it’s that.

What about Yello Mello? I used to drink that occasionally, like out on the water with family fishing, but it disappeared pretty quickly. They tried to bring it back about 5 years ago but it tasted no different to Lift so I guess it didn’t sell. I think it originally had something in it they wouldn’t put in now.

Just another thought - with a childhood consuming Fags and Golden Gaytimes, what chance did I have?! Haha!

Speaking of ice creams, does anyone remember the two Streets ones that came in a cup - Vienna Chocolate and a coffee one called, IIRC, Cappuccino. They seemed quite sophisticated to me but they were also up the higher end of the price range with the Cornettos and the Hearts so I rarely got to have one.

One thing I don't miss is junket, made with those little coloured and flavoured pills, though I did think it was quite 'magical' how my grandmother would dissolve them in warm milk and the mixture would (somewhat) solidify.

Don’t remember those ice creams R29, but I have a similar horror of junket, especially as I begged for it as those tablets did look fun.

I think junket was exclusively the province of women who were already grandmas in the 1960s/early 70s. Surely it has died out now?

To Passiona, add Tango (a tangerine coloured soft drink) and Mirinda ("Mirinda makes me proud to be an orange"). And of course Snowcap Champagne, which we now know as Creaming Soda, and Sunset Sip, a bright red sparkling concoction that terrified me even then. I now realise than in the 60s soft drinks had names that could have been cocktails.

[quote] Surely it has died out now?

My dad was excited to eat some junket recently, but he was a child of the 60s/70s so I guess it was nostalgic for him. Blergh!

Ahh Tango! Yes, I've heard dad mention that too. He also raves all the time about some Chocolate Marshmallow thing and how amazing it was, but I'm not sure what that was (ice cream?).

I recently saw someone post an old advert for Arnott's biscuits from the 60s/70s and they had a few different choices there, including a cherry one. They seem to have changed a bit over the years. They have Kingston's in them now, don't they, but I don't remember them being in the packet as a kid.

Incidentally, Arnott's apparently opened their recipe vault during the pandemic, and here is their recipe, adapted for home cooking, for the Monte Carlo. Would be interesting to try. I find Arnott's biscuits pretty uninteresting now compared to how they used to be, but this could work:

I'd guess that your dad was talking about a Triple Treat - vanilla ice cream coated in chocolate (like a Heart) but rectangular in shape and with a layer of pink/strawberry marshmallow down the middle. I am with him in wishing they'd bring them back, but not to the point of joining the Bring Back the Triple Treat Facebook page, the existence of which I just found out about. However, if they discontinue Weiss Mango Bars ...

There's a lot of those "Bring back..." Facebook pages, huh? It's interesting which ones work. The desire to bring back Caramilk worked very well - everything now has Caramilk version, I even saw hot cross buns with Caramilk in them the other day. The Marble chocolate campaign worked too, but that really doesn't taste like it used to (Cadbury's really doesn't now).

I wish they'd bring back the old white chocolate, the one they had before Dream, which I don't like. White Freddo Frogs used to be my favourite. Or what about all those life savers they used to have. Now it's just Musk and Fruit Tingle, it seems.

Ahh, well, I'm just waxing nostalgic. But I live near the Cadbury's factory, and growing up you could go there and buy all the imperfect chocolate for really cheap, now they won't even do a tour, I don't think, or even sell the imperfect chocolate in their store. Ch-ch-ch-changes, I guess.

That recipe is a lie. Butter?

^Yeah, it doesn't sound like it would make the biscuit we get in the shops. But maybe that's a positive thing, hehe.

My aunt would make Tim Tam Tiramisu when we went to visit. Her husband was Italian and being Australian she put Tim Tams n one of her favorite desserts. Always served with espresso and black tea. What memories they were.

For all of those complaining about American chocolate, may I return the complement and say that Australian ice cream is truly fucking awful. Gritty, nasty shit.

UK ice cream is also inedible.

Fish/chips/chiko rolls/flake fried in lamb dripping circa 1970s Melbourne Nick the Greek corner fish/chips shop. Ambrosia.

Cherry Ripe (before Cadbury) and Violet Crumble (before Nestle).

You ain’t wrong, R39

Chiko rolls are absolutely vile. Another disgusting food I don’t miss is the ham steak.

R41, the cheapest American ice cream is better than any Australian or UK ice cream.

Not sure why,

Ooh, that sounds pretty damn good, R39!

R40 - Aussie fish n chips are fantastic. Fried flake is so good. I hate saying this, but I found the British equivalent a bit disappointing when I was over there, and they invented it. But the Mediterranean influence on our fish n chips here really works, I find.

And then, I live in Tasmania, so the seafood is always up-to-the-minute fresh and delicious. So I'm spoiled there.

Redskins.

^My fave were the Sherbies. Redskins always got stuck in my teeth. They're called something else now, aren't they?

My family being South Australian,I loved the pie floater. It is a cool bit of nostalgia for sure. It was the only way I could eat pea soup in any form?! My cousin made his own version which is more of a foodie version with sea salt and olive oil...it was quite tasty.

Licorice Icecream when it used to be a deep black/grey colour.

I suppose these days they find that unpalatable as a colour to eat in a commercial brand..

Toffee apples.

Yes they are still available, but in the old days you had the guy come round the street with his van with red or green toffee apples.

Babies

So many things….. I used to love musk sticks. Sickly sweet but occasionally you still see them.

I always loved Clinkers as well. Are they still around?

Darrel Lea Rocky Road was a treat if we had a special event.

I also miss the sweets you could get at fetes. Loved chocolate crackles, toffees, and I can’t remember what we called them but basically cornflakes stuck together with a soft type of sugar/toffee concoction.

Honey joys

Lollie Gobble Bliss Bombs if only for their name.

Bushell's Instant Tea was the pits you have to admit.

Sunny Boys.

Yeah you can still get Clinkers R52 and they still taste as good. I was surprised to see Chokitos in a shop recently - I thought they'd disappeared years ago.

Gerard’s White House Dressing

[quote]and I can’t remember what we called them but basically cornflakes stuck together with a soft type of sugar/toffee concoction.

Honey jumbles? I remember them from kids birthday parties. With chocolate crackles, fairy bread, and of course sausage rolls.

Good news is that musk sticks, clinkers, Darrel Lea Rocky Road and Lollie Gobble Bliss Bombs are all still available from Woolies.

R42. Are Chiko rolls vegetarian these days? Or do they still keep the 5% of mutton anus for the filling?

God the thought of a chiko roll grosses me out. I've never actually eaten one, but they were a staple for many of my uni friends and acquaintances at about 3am after a big night of drinking. Ugh!

R60, the Chiko filling was hogget traditionally.

Chiko was a triumph of marketing with their poster girl campaign. They were in every shop in Australia. Something so bland made sexy. Well, they are about the size in girth of an average to slightly wider penis, of course they would become popular!

R57 Chokitos have always been around in limited quantities, and they are much the same as in the '70s. Nestle currently has 175g blocks of Chokitos on the shelves. That other 1970s snack Pollywaffles are due to make a much-heralded return later this year.

Ooh, I'll have to try one when they return, R63. I've never actually had one before, they kinda disappeared.

I love a Chokito, that's probably one of my favourite chocolate bars. I quite like a Boost too.

I love reading the various names of Aussie snacks and chocolates. It's a refreshing change from: Oreos, Hershey (the anti-chocolate, chocolate), Twinkies, Ding Dongs etc.

Do they sell White Knights any more? I haven't seen them around for ages.

Fantales had the wrapper with the movie trivia but the lollies got stuck in your teeth too.

Do you remember when milk bars and take away places had chocolate eclairs? They were long and the pastry was crunchy. So good.

Everything in this thread seems completely lacking in nutrition.

Hello R69, that's why it's kids eating this crap. Check the thread title.

I miss going to the Milk Bar and picking out 50 cents worth of Lillie’s from the display window… I’ll have 2 teeth, 3 raspberries, a musk stick, 3 Mates, 3 chocolate buds, 3 cars milk buds, a snake, 3 strawberries and cream, and the rest in milk bottles.

^lillies = lollies

Teeth were a bizarre kind of lolly.

R69 Sugar, Cream and more Sugar = 'The Health Food of a Nation'.

A short history of Australia’s milk bars

Toasted bread and dripping. What's not to love?

R71, while those milk bars had mostly vanished by the time I was a kid, I do remember going to the corner store for either a 20c or 50c bag of lollies (plain white bag). They would mix them themselves though, and there was always a fucking black cat in there (ugh). For some reason, every mixed lolly or chocolate situation always puts more of the ones I personally hate in the mix (ie, anything licorice, or those chocolate covered turkish delights).

Damn, the days when you could get a decent sized bag of lollies for 50c, huh? I used to really like the caramel buds.

R68 Breadtop bakeries make chocolate eclairs, and they are perfectly adequate. I usually avoid Breadtop like the plague, but they are okay on rare occasions and their cheese curd danishes are really good too.

[quote]Toasted bread and dripping.

Brown rice and kerosene?

I love Breadtop. Everything is freshly made and half the price of the crappy cakes you get in a cafe.

I'm not sure if Breadtop makes an old-fashioned version of Vanilla Slice, the kind with the streaky choc icing that was always so ubiquitous at birthday parties in the 80s, sold at Coles and Woolworths bakeries.

Also if still good, baked custard tarts with grated nutmeg. Always served cold with a "wobble".

R81, those are the "French" vanilla slices, yes? The ones with white icing and black streaks on top as you say? I really liked those, they had a nice custard and pastry too.

On the other hand, I couldn't stand the more yellow-y, standard vanilla slice you see most places.

I've never been to Breadtop. I just looked it up and we do have it here in Tas, will have to check it out.

[quote]Honey jumbles?

Sorry, I was wrong here. These are the biscuits. I always get them confused. As another poster mentioned, the cornflake things are "honey joys". I would've thought jumble was a better descriptor, to be honest.

A proper vanilla slice should have passion fruit icing. They are rare as all fuck these days, but I had a great vanilla slice at a random South Coast bakery a few Years ago.

I tried a Woolworths vanilla slice recently and it was dreadful, inedible. Most “custard” products in supermarkets these days have some non-dairy, non-egg abortion as the filling.

[quote]Most “custard” products in supermarkets these days have some non-dairy, non-egg abortion as the filling.

Blergh! Yeah, I steer clear from a lot of custard products.

We called the black and white ones “Napoleons”.

Sadly no vanilla slices at Bread top, but their custard horn is tasty.

Real Vanilla Slice is easy to make and well worth the hassle. weather the choc version, or more exotic passionfruit icing. It's a variation of French mille-feuille and should use real butter puff pastry and not the greasy vegetable variety.

[quote]We called the black and white ones “Napoleons”.

Interesting! You know, the difference in names for food across the country is interesting to me. Like what we call "potato cakes" others call "potato scallops" for example. "Juice box" vs" "Poppers" and so forth.

I remember Vienna chocolate ice creams! It was the one time a year we were allowed to have ice cream for breakfast- on Xmas day. They had a cinnamon dust topping, I think, and were great.

Also Sunnyboys in their triangle packaging and Moonie, so nostalgic. I met someone at work who didn’t know what coconut ice is, not sure how that’s even possible in Australia.

Did anyone ever make the cheats vanilla slice with instant pudding and Arnott’s lattice biscuits? It wasn’t bad, but lattice biscuits aren’t around anymore.

How do people not know coconut ice here, R89! That's crazy, haha!

I will say though, I don't think Sunnyboys were a thing in my state, unless they are from before I was born. They seem like a Mainland thing.

Ahhh, lattice biscuits, R90! Reminds me of Sunday afternoons spent at my grandparents. That and those wafers that were like Tina wafers, but rectangle, not square, you know?

R88 Melbourne and Sydney have Savoy and Jatz biscuits, which come in the same box but supposedly vary slightly in texture.

Makes me think of Kath & Kim, R92. "I've got my Jatz, my Ritz, my Clix..." "What about your Savoys, Mrs D?" "Oh, no, Sharon, that'd just confuse people!"

R90. Almost, with real custard and with Saos biscuits. Pretty rank as what I remember.

Anyone ever play "Soggy Sao"?

That was the big urban myth when I was at school. Or WAS it a myth? Haha.

I'll have $2.00 worth of chips, 5 fish cocktails, 3 battered savs, 4 potato scollops, 1 chicko roll, 2 pluto pups, and a 4 cans of TAB, thanks.

All I ask for is a Bex and a good lie down.

And I DO NOT want a Vincents. It's crap.

TALLy Ho but just chocolate flavoured.

SKum bars were good but made me shit my brains out. I was only 14.

R96, I used to do swim training on Thursday nights and afterwards our family would drop the local corner store for a fish n chips meal. I probably tried most things, but as a standard it was always chips, potato cakes and flake.

I put vinegar on mine, how about you? I was surprised to see others use tomato sauce later on, because it was always vinegar with us.

They were pretty damn good the next day too.

R95 the only time I heard about the soggy Sao game was from a bunch of hetro guys in the navy. Apparently they played it.

That's interesting, R100. I remember boys at school joking about it, but now you come to mention it, hearing it later on was also from a Navy guy.

You can't beat a Sao for a snack.

[quote] I'll have $2.00 worth of chips,

I'm old enough to remember when it was sixpence for a serve of chips. And flake was threepence.

Aussies are healthy.

I do remember the only savory snack around was just Chicken In A Biscuit beyond your bland Saos, vita-wheats, and the worse still yet, Rye Vita biscuits.

I do remember going to the Coles Cafeteria in George St in Sydney for lunch as a kid.

You got a baked chicken roast, a pot of coffee with evaporated milk and either lamingtons with cream or trifle cake.

You then went downstairs and went to the Darrell Lee store next door.

[quote] went to the Darrell Lee store

It's LeA.

No, he was Levy.

The last Levy was an absolute bitch. He was interviewed at his bed in St Vincents Hospital saying—

Sex means ten minutes of pleasure and then 18 years of expensive child-rearing.

R99 I prefer it dosed in real malt vinegar myself. Tomato sauce is more for dim sims and Chiko Rolls. Store-bought tartare sauce in the squeeze packets is vile, and so is the GM soy and palm oil blend now used for frying.

Real beer batter for the fish, and freshly rendered beef tallow for frying is best. Few do it like that anymore though they would get a crowd coming if they did.

R108 His name was Lael Levy (born 1948) .

Cold, avaricious, and hated his children.

R109 - yes! Real malt vinegar for me too!

R102, I don't even have to watch that to have the song in my head already: "When you reach for a pack of Arnott's Sao biscuits..."

Yeah, R91 - they were also vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. I think Adora cream wafers?

I remember Iced Vovos.

and dunking biscuits in a cup of tea. My parents were big tea drinkers.

R114 ooh yes! Or even better, a warm slice of bread with butter on it, a slow dunk in a cup of hot tea...heaven!

R113, Iced VoVos are Kylie Minouge's favorite Australian biscuits.

I once had an iced vovo cake for a birthday and it was so delicious.

just checked the Breadtop website and their eclairs. They don't look like the ones that were longer.

Iced Vovo cake recipe.

Grateful my childhood did not include anything from Darrel Lea's.

There was a Darrel Lea store across from the Westin on Collins Street in Melbourne. Their licorice was alleged to be the best.

I couldn't understand why anyone would like licorice that tasted like gasoline.

Pink Finger buns with mock cream.

Yuck!

I used to like those Darrel Lea Snows or whatever they were called, but think they'd be a bit cloying for me now.

The only Darrel Lea product I liked was Little Bo Peep boiled sweets which were in a little glass jar which is now plastic. My grandmother would get us a nougat Christmas pudding from there which I thought was too sweet.

[quote]Little Bo Peep boiled sweets

Ahh! We had them as kids too. I'm not a huge boiled sweet fan, but they were always fun.

[quote] My grandmother would get us a nougat Christmas pudding from there which I thought was too sweet.

I still get one every year and have no idea why, because it is way too sickly sweet. The only bit I really like is the hard mistletoe sugar on top.

I remember going to Darrell Lea but not what I got there. I do remember there was later a DL section at the pharmacy.

The site says: 1978 With over 500 Darrell Lea retail stores, across Australia, the company is going from strength to strength. A further retail opportunity is identified with the rollout of compact stores. The concept is a store within a store. The range of Darrell Lea treats could now be found in your local pharmacy, liquor store or petrol station.

Kraft Braised Steak & Onions. Saturday mornings on toast for breakfast or in a jaffle for a winter lunch.

(Yes, I know it was made from lips, assholes and other abattoir off cuts but so was most of the delicious meat based stuff mentioned so far in this thread.)

[Quote] Tomato sauce is more for dim sims and Chiko Rolls.

Really R109? I was brought up to put soy sauce on dimmies and Chiko Rolls. Dead horse was for chips or potato cakes only.

I learned this so I could get a free Coke.

Even before I watched the video you posted R128 I could rattle that description off. Whichever advertising executive created that advert needs more kudos because it embedded the ingredients of a Big Mac in the conscious of a generation of Aussies.

It’s also now cringeworthy hearing the voiceover guy telling us we could win a ‘cup’ of Coke.

So many of the biscuits I loved from childhood really don't taste great, or the same, at all now. I think Malt O' Milks are still fairly similar, but otherwise... This is probably good for my health, otherwise I'd be eating them a lot more, but it is a shame. The only biscuit I'm in danger of gorging on now are those Hundreds & Thousands ones. I don't know why this is, but I could eat a packet of them, no worries. So I avoid.

Even Tim Tams don't taste so great now. I feel like I can taste something in them like oil/margarine or something.

R128 - do you remember there was also an advert, would've been the early 90s, where a guy goes up to the McDonalds counter and orders everything off the menu, really quickly? A girl at school used to be able to recite that off by heart.

Not this one.

1978 was a big year for them.

I used to like the McFeast when I was younger, but it went the way of the Dodo.

I haven't had McDonalds since 2009. I don't think I could stomach it anymore.

Arnotts Adora Cream Wafers (thin and flaky vanilla cream wafers..), Deli Cups (Cherry Chocolate, Coffee Hazelnut, Chocolate Bavarian, Strawberries and Cream etc) , Salt and Vinegar Sam Boy chips (Coles have BBQ but I haven't seen S&V for many years. Matchsticks with mock cream (I see fresh cream ones occasionally but have to order the mock cream version if I crave them). 'Cobbers' lollies, cube with hard caramel centre and covered in chocolate. Another lover of 'fags' lollies and also the Double choc ice cream (hard choc centre, chocolate ice cream then a choc coating. We had many cool treats back in the 80's.

Double choc! I’d forgotten those.

I remember Homer Hudson ice cream as well, it was great but didn’t last long.

Not that I have much of a sweet tooth these days. I bet I couldn’t eat a pink honey jumble any more.

R126 my dad would put braised steak and onions into the pie maker, I quite liked it at the time too.

Vegemite. That's all I know.

Samboys! Oh, they were the better of the cheaper chips of the time. Now I think they only have the Barbecue ones? Oh and the Tomato ones too, thankfully. But there used to be a variety of them. I remember a special "Aussie BBQ" one that had "No MSG" in it, cause some girl at school was allergic to MSG apparently, and these were the only ones she could eat.

I know Bubble O'Bill's still exist, but they seem a hell of a lot smaller these days. As do Wagon Wheels - my god! They used to be quite big, I'm sure.

Dixie Cups with a wooden spoon? They used to taste better too.

Eskimo Pies (now called Polar Pies). We had a relative's family member who used to work at Peter's and we would get a lot of free icecream out of it.

[quote]As do Wagon Wheels - my god! They used to be quite big, I'm sure.

Lindsay Wagonwheel? She used to be Huge.

Oh yes matchsticks.

Haha, R140! Speaking of "that takes me back!"

Glugs, Fizz Wiz, Snot Blocks, Dairy Queen.

Vegemite is essential, I make sure I have a supply wherever I am.

I love you, R40.

Ick. Vegemite tastes like the devil's ass.

I adored those Stupidity sisters at R140—

Blatant, Sheer, Bloody and Unbelievable!

Monte Carlos.

Cate's Tim Tam commercial .

R146 - those Monte Carlos look good! I was never keen on the packet ones. The was something about that sticky red stuff around the cream that I didn’t like. But with real jam and cream, mmm!

Re Cate's ad, the "packet of Tim Tams that never runs out" was particularly clever marketing, because The Magic Pudding, a story embedded in the minds of most Australian children who had grown to be Cate's age then, is about a pudding that never runs out.

[quote] The Magic Pudding, a story embedded in the minds of most Australian children who had grown to be Cate's age then

'The Magic Pudding' was a good analogy for that generation of Aussies from the 1950s when they were in the ironically-named "Lucky Country"

Also a good analogy for the food. Someone above pointed out that none of the foods on this thread (including the Magic Pudding) has much nutrition. It is true that OP asked us to talk about what we liked as kids, and kids hate nutrition, but Australian food up to the 1980s was as dire as British food of the same era, except that on the whole we had better, cheaper fresh produce to put in it.

If you lived in the inner suburbs of a city you could benefit from the influence of the Greek and Italian immigrants, and everyone everywhere had a local Chinese restaurant, but it bore little resemblance to the Chinese food of today's Australia. Only the adventurous would have made authentic Greek or Chinese dishes at home, unless they came from that culture. Whereas today Australia has a large mix of immigrant cultures and celebrates their foods without adaptation. There is a reason Australian Masterchef was the model for other countries. Urban Australians, which is most of us, are nearly as interested in food as we are in real estate.

[quote] we had better, cheaper fresh produce to put in it.

Are you taking about fruit and vegetables?

Chiko beats the others single-handed.

Neenish tarts. I want to a Catholic school and when we had to bring in something for the nun's afternoon tea I brought these.

[quote] but Australian food up to the 1980s was as dire as British food of the same era,

The standard fare at "tea" was meat and three veg, usually potatoes, swedes and carrots. And that didn't change appreciably until the mid 1990s, when green vegetables such as broccoli, green beans and corn became popular. But you'll still find many Aussies who stick to the meat and three veg tea of their youth.

One of the most famous adverts on Oz TV circa 1990s. An unknown Naomi Watts giving away a day with Tom Cruise because "mum's doing a lamb roast". The standard Aussie Sunday tea is shown in the last scene.

R151, my dad was born in the 1950s and he often speaks of how terrible food in Australia was until we had a huge influx of immigrants who brought actual good food with them. It's funny to think, because I've only ever really know multicultural food. An older friend of mine, also born in the 50s of Italian background told me how when he was at school other kids were revolted by pasta. They said it looked like worms and there was a lot of serious bullying about the food he and his family ate. It's so hard to believe now because Italian food is so popular. It's funny how quickly we've changed here.

R154 - I've never seen them in pink before! Is that how they are meant to be, or is it just a variation. They are always black and white when I find them. I love them too. Even before I ever tried one, I knew I would love them just from pictures in recipe books.

[quote] he often speaks of how terrible food in Australia was until we had a huge influx of immigrants who brought actual good food with them.

What he meant was the influx of NON-UK immigrants. The Brits, Irish and Scots were the largest group of immigrants to Oz up until the 1990s (the "White Oz" policy officially ended in 1973. Unofficially, it continued until the 1990s), and they brought their horrible cuisine with them. It wasn't until the Greeks, Italians, Jews and East/Southeast Asians were allowed in greater numbers into Oz that the the meat and three veg standard began to change.

Yeah, that's what he meant - the Mediterranean and southeast Asian immigrants of the 50s/60s/70s slowly but surely changed the food landscape in Australia for the better. The food he described his family eating before this really took off sounded quite repulsive.

R157 - yes the black and white ones are the standard. But I have seen pineapple ones too. I remember thinking neenish tarts are wasted on nuns and I think I sneaked some back for myself.

speaking of pineapple I remember the old kind of pineapple donuts that I haven't seen in decades.

Speaking of pineapple, 161 posts and no one's mentioned the one, the only, the quintessential Aussie food, the best of bunch. One with the lot; fried egg, slice of pineapple (tinned), slice of beetroot (tinned), meat patty, squirt of tomato sauce. A few shops (non-Greek) added a slice of tomato. Lettuce and cheese came much later.

Pineapple on a burger is just not right.

And what a smart girl Naomi turned out to be, R156.

R157 One of my aunties said you could always tell the Italians from the Skippy kids because Italians had much bigger sandwiches!

Apple Charlotte.

R163 - “Pineapple on pizza, now that’s a crime!”

Please someone tell me they know what advert I’m talking about.

This one?

Haha, no not that one. It was a driving safety ad, some boys get killed in a car crash while talking about pineapple on pizza and a girl checking out their friend “Boof”. Maybe it was only in my state?

R144 Even adding butter to it or cheese in a sandwich never hid that awful taste. I've seen pasta recipes with vegemite and was repulsed. That is like using ketchup with pasta....possibly even worse.

I grew up in a Promite household rather than Vegemite because dad hated it. I don’t therefore have as much attachment to Vegemite as many Australians seem to.

Vegemite commercial .

The link to a Women's Weekly cookbook reminds me: there is one called Sweet Old-Fashioned Favourites. It has recipes for lots of your childhood sweet treats, including matchsticks and vanilla slices.

scotch finger biscuits.

ooh i remember this ad.

I remember looking forward to chicken pieces coated in French Onion Soup Mix and roasted in the oven. I’m sure it would taste horrible if I had it now.

Tang. The orange flavoured powder that our parents thought was actually a source of vitamin c back in the 80's, which of course it wasn't. But boy did it taste great in 30 plus degree heat when mixed with ice cold water. I actually went searching for some last summer and found a variety of flavours that seem to only be available from odd retailers online (orange,pineapple, mango). Am hoping to get my hands on some, one day.

The most widely distributed recipe in Oz. Flo Bjelke-Petersen's pumpkin scones.

[quote] there is one called Sweet Old-Fashioned Favourites.

Oh! My parents have that one, I’m pretty sure!

If anyone here is from Sydney and craving some good old fashioned bakery fare. Head to Mascot and try out Wilson's Pies. They do a great cream sponge cake, chocolate eclares, vanilla slices and pies, of course.

R158 Scots are Brits,they are from Britain. As are The Welsh and The English. Ulster Scots would include themselves in the Brit column.

Greeks and Italians were coming after WW II. You had Greek Australians like George Miller and Thaao Penghlis born in 1945.. They quickly come to mind because of a conversation I had with a cousin who is part Italian and part Skippy about the Australians and their various ethnicities .

They do lots of strange things down in Kangaroo-Land.

Any families out there grow up with the Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake book? I always wanted the train when I was a kid, but never had it. Had lots of boy cakes which I did love, but part of me also would’ve loved a Dolly Varden, haha.

R183 What is a "train"?

A cake in the shape of a train, R184.

I liked the one that incorporated a swimming pool made with green jelly. People used to put toy sharks in it.

vegemite on rice cakes in the morning with a cup of tea, SO good

R186 No butter??????????

the butter goes in the tea

R188 You must be from Tassie.

Flip flop flavored crisps, try 'em, you'll like them!

[quote]I liked the one that incorporated a swimming pool made with green jelly.

I made that one recently for my nephew, but he wanted blue jelly. Unfortunately, I am not very artistic, so it didn’t look more than just ok. Thankfully I didn’t have to see his face when he saw it!