Australian food is simple and delicious! It can easily be called a combination of different world cuisines so it’s hard to define what is Australian food. British, Irish, Kiwi, Italian, Greek, German, Vietnamese and Chinese traditions have helped to create a unique culinary diversity and originality.

Under the influence of globalization, Australian cuisine has become even more international. You can find restaurants and shops offering popular Australian food and products from all over the world. Restaurants that combine culinary traditions from around the world and adapt traditional Australian recipes often have the category of “Modern Australian”.

However, British cuisine, brought to Australia by the first settlers, still has the greatest influence on Australian food culture and among others is most likely to be called a typical Australian cuisine. Okay, let’s find out what do they eat in Australia?

Start your day right with Australian breakfast

Typical Australian breakfast

A typical Australian breakfast is similar to the European one. Usually, it is quite light and includes cornflakes, juices, sandwiches, and fruits. Also, for breakfast, Australians often eat various types of bread with Vegemite, sometimes adding avocado.

English Breakfast

In winter, especially in places where it gets cold, such as Canberra, an English breakfast is often prepared with oatmeal, scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages, tomatoes, and mushrooms. For drinks, they usually have tea, coffee, milk, juice. Overall, British culinary traditions are still observed, especially in families of Anglo-Celtic origin.

Vegemite

Vegemite is the most Australian of all Australian dishes. In 1922, the Australian Fred Walker “invented” a special “yeast extract” that was equally nutritious and tasty. The extract was mixed with celery, onion and salt.

It turned out a thick dark paste that could be spread on bread or consumed as an actual dish. Now it is the most recognizable and popular Australian food!

Popular Australian dishes

Bush tucker and “Anaboroo, Mango and Burrawong Soup”

Bush food (cooked on charcoal) is what Australian Aborigines have been eating before the arrival of immigrants in 1788. This cooking style has been widely used by Aborigines for cooking local products: native Australian fruit and meats.

Today, you can try Bush food in some restaurants but it’s not very popular among locals.

You can also try one of the most interesting dishes of traditional Australian cuisine called “Anaboroo, Mango and Burrawong Soup”, which consists of three ingredients: roasted bull, tropical mango, and local nut Burrawong. This is definitely unique Australian food!

Meat Pie

The dish is a pie of puff pastry no larger than a palm with a filling of processed minced meat or minced meat, seasoned with tomato sauce; other ingredients of the dish include onions, mushrooms and cheese.

The meat pie is among popular Australian snacks for football fans. It is believed that the average Australian eats 12 meat pies per year.

Pie Floater

Meat pies are very much loved in Australian food culture. In addition to classic pies, there are also floating ones. For example, a pie that floats in young mashed peas. Locals joke that this weird Australian recipe was born because of a clumsy cook who dropped a meat pie into pea soup.

Sausage roll

The sausage roll first appeared in Germany in the 18th century and the dish was called Würstchen im Schlafrock - literally “sausage in a nightgown”. It was literally a sausage wrapped in dough.

As for food in Australia, the sausage roll is more like a puff pastry pie stuffed with sausage forcemeat or sausage-like forcemeat, sometimes it is not clear what is inside.

There are many varieties of Sausage roll, both in size and shape, as well as in the composition of the dough and toppings.

Popular Aussie Fast food

Sausage sizzles

This Australian street food is sold sometimes on weekends near shopping centers, and at sports events.

Sausage sizzle (Fried sausages with bread) is a typical Australian snack sold as a rule to raise funds for an organization or community.

Barbecue sausages are served on a slice of white bread or on a bun, with tomato sauce, mustard, and sometimes grilled onions. All ingredients are usually as cheap as possible in order to maximize the profit, but it can still be delicious.

Pickled Beet Burgers

In amazing and mysterious Australia there can be no ordinary burgers. The feature of local street food is burgers with pickled beets. Locals claim that they are tastier than ordinary ones.

Fish and chips

This is the classics of world fast food: fried fish with french fries. Large, hot portions of fish and chips are sold at almost every corner and are inexpensive. Despite the simplicity of this dish, Australians still prefer to buy fish and potatoes in a cafe than to cook at home.

Iconic Australian Meat dishes

BBQ

Australians make amazing BBQ and can’t imagine their diet without it. In fact, it’s not just cooking and eating – it’s a part of their lifestyle. Most people keep braziers at the back of the houses and have BBQ in public parks. The most popular meat is lamb chops and beef.

Kangaroo meat

For thousands of years, local aborigines have consumed kangaroo meat. It has a delicate taste, low in fat and contains a high percentage of linoleic acid, it’s also high in protein and iron.

Australians use it to make filling for pies, dumplings, stew, bake, or fry it, or make delicious steaks. From the most delicious part - the tail, you get a rich, fragrant soup.

The taste of kangaroo is very similar to lean beef. Kangaroo meat is not considered exotic in Australia and can easily be bought at the supermarket. In restaurants, you can often find a variety of kangaroo meat dishes.

Australia is suffering from a sharp increase in the kangaroo population. Therefore, the use of kangaroo meat, not only does not threaten the ecological balance but also helps to solve this problem.

By the way, 70% of all kangaroo meat is exported to other countries.

Australian Seafood Treats

Australia is surrounded by seas and oceans, therefore it is very rich in seafood - all kinds of fish, oysters, mussels, scallops, octopuses, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, lobsters, shark meat are found here. Barracuda, trout, salmon are among the most popular seafood.

Barramundi

It’s an Australian perch which is a delicacy and at the same time, one of the symbols of the country. Stuffed with vegetables, sprinkled with lemon juice, and seasoned with fragrant herbs, baked barramundi will make you jump with happiness.

In some restaurants, barramundi is cooked in a non-standard way - “sous vide” (“in a vacuum”). The fish is placed in a special plastic sealed bag and the water is heated without bringing it to a boil. Then the fish has to sit in this water for about an hour. This method preserves a juicy delicate taste, a rich aroma, and, most importantly, absolutely all useful properties.

Popular Australian desserts

Pavlova

Pavlova is a traditional Australian dessert with meringue cake and fresh berries. It is made from meringue, whipped cream, and the top layer is made from berries or pieces of tropical fruit: strawberries combined with passion fruit pulp.

This Australian dessert has been named in honor of the ballerina Anna Matveevna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926.

The exact time and place of invention of the dessert has not been established and is the subject of a dispute between New Zealanders and Australians. According to the Kiwi, the chef of a restaurant in one of Wellington's hotels created this dessert in 1926 to treat the ballerina during her world tour.

In Australia, they are sure that the recipe for the dessert was first invented by chef Bert Sachet in 1935, at the Esplanade Hotel. The cake was made on the occasion of her birthday and when the chef was presenting a new dessert, he exclaimed: "As airy as Pavlova."

This famous Australian food is loved by millions inside and outside of the country which makes it one of the best Australian dishes!

ANZAC Biscuits

ANZAC biscuits are sweet oatmeal cookies made from oatmeal, flour, coconut, sugar, butter, molasses, soda and boiled water. The cookie is named after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

Some believe that cookies were invented by ANZAC soldiers from the provisions that were available at hand to brighten up their meager rations. But most are still convinced that the cookies were invented by Australian and New Zealand women, wives and girlfriends of soldiers, for their loved ones. Cookies were prepared so that they could survive a long road to the front. There is also a theory that ANZAC cookies are a variation of Scotch oatmeal cookies.

traditional australian food anzac biscuits

Lamington

Lamington is a sponge cake dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut crumbs.

This Australian candy was first made from biscuit dough stuffed with strawberries or raspberries. Today it is usually made without jam, only occasionally they use whipped cream as a filling. The delicacy got its name in honor of the Governor of Queensland, Charles Wallis Alexander Napier Cochrane-Bailey, who, among other things, was the Baron of Lamington.

Fairy bead

It’s a favorite treat for children. This dessert is a smoothly sliced white bread, buttered and sprinkled with hundreds & thousands (small colored sugar beads).

Frog cake

Another Australian candy is named after the amphibians - the frog cake. Do not be surprised, the frog was not honored because it was a governor or a ballerina, just a cupcake’s shape resembles a frog's head. The “head” is made from sponge cake, filled with cream and covered with fudge. The recipe for this dessert has been borrowed from French confectioners.

These cupcakes have become a real symbol of South Australia: the images are placed on T-shirts, bags, phone cases. By the way, “Frog cake” is an officially registered trademark that protects the cake from fakes.

Fairy Floss Hot Chocolate

In Melbourne, you can find a dessert that certainly will not leave anyone indifferent! Check out Hash Specialty Coffee – just pour cocoa over cotton candy and enjoy a delicious sweet drink.

Cheese buns with Vegemite paste

Traditional Australian cheese buns are very similar to the well-known Cinnabon buns. Only here the filling is very specific: they use Vegemite which is rich in B vitamins and folic acid, and it is also an excellent product for those who want to lose weight.

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