#65 Australia
- Jen
- Jan 21, 2024
- 4 min read
Despite only having spent 114 hours in Australia (Melbourne), I feel spiritually connected to our friends down under, something I attribute to daily doses of Neighbours, and sometimes also Home & Away, during my first quarter century. ‘Australian Soap Hour’ on Channel 5 in my student days was truly the best of times.
Most areas of this island continent were inhabited for over 50,000 years before Captain Cook and the First Fleet made land. Aboriginal people were hunter gatherers, living on ‘bush tucker’, including the infamous, witchetty grubs, which are the larvae of moths, and which are reported to taste like chicken when barbecued…
What are today considered to be traditional Australian eating habits and cuisine are very closely linked to our own. Aussies are tea drinking, fish & chips eating, meat pie loving, Sunday roasters – a British ritual that is the best weekly food custom in the world.
Australia saw huge population increase in the twentieth century, largely due to migration from Asia and Europe, with immigrants bringing their own food customs. This is why there’s so much Greek food in Melbourne, and why Japanese sushi rolls, Vietnamese bánh mì and Thai massaman curry are part of the everyday diet of many Australians. An influx of Italians and Greeks introduced coffee café culture, which evolved into the hipster brunch/flat white trend that has spread around the western world. The idea that millennials can’t afford to buy a house because they eat too much avocado toast was born out of Australia (and is totally relatable!).
Roast lamb and smashed avo aside, the pinnacle of Australian dining is of course “tossing some shrimp on the barbie”, or tossing any food on charcoal outdoors, and no Aussie BBQ would be complete without snags (sausages). A sausage sizzle refers to both a sandwich and an event, and has become synonymous with election day, where barbecued sausage sandwiches are handed out to voters at the polling stations. Amazing.
Chicken parmigiana
Chicken parmigiana is a piece of chicken that has been breaded and fried (or schnitzelled), and topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese. Affectionately referred to as a ‘parmi’, it is classic pub grub, served with chips, salad, and a cold beer.
The origins of this recipe might be the Italian baked cheesy, tomatoey aubergine dish, Parmigiana di melanzane…or Middlesborough’s famous parmo of fried chicken in bechamel sauce and cheese…or perhaps even Argentina’s milanesa a la Napolitana, like an Aussie parmi but also with ham.
My parmi consisted of chicken breast dredged in flour, dipped in egg with garlic, and crumbed in Parmesan, herbs and panko. I first fried it in hot oil to get it super-crispy, and finished off in the oven under a blanket of Italian-style tomato sauce with fresh basil, and topped with plenty of mozzarella and Parmesan.
Is there anything sexier than crispy, succulent chicken in rich tomato sauce and oozing with melted cheese?
Cakes & bakes
Australia has quite a sweet tooth, which is almost certainly inherited from its British past. Many of our favourite bakes, cakes and puddings are also Australian favourites, including England’s finest pudding: sticky toffee pudding, which goes under the alias of ‘sticky date pudding’ in Aus. Dates are indeed a key ingredient in STP, but to dwell on the fact that it’s full of fruit and therefore a health food is far less appealing a title.
Australia’s (and New Zealand’s) top dessert is pavlova. Crisp-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside meringue, topped with cream and fresh fruit: a summer classic. It was named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, and there is a lively debate between our antipodean friends over whether it was an Aussie or a Kiwi invention, but there appears to be no clear evidence to support one claim over the other.
Another excellent bake whose provenance may either be Australia or New Zealand is the Anzac biscuit. The history of this biscuit is tied to Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is therefore eaten on Anzac Day. Anzac biscuits are made with oats, golden syrup and coconut, in addition to the usual biscuit ingredients of butter, sugar and flour. They can be chewy like an oaty cookie, or crunchy like a Hobnob. I love them either way!
Lamingtons
Lamingtons are fluffy cube-shaped sponge cakes with a chocolate coating and sprinkled with coconut, sometimes with a layer of jam and/or cream in the middle, and about the size of a Mr Kipling French Fancy. These little cakes are quintessentially Australian, being found at kids’ parties, office bake sales and mass-produced for supermarket shelves. The chocolate icing is thin, allowing it to be partially absorbed into the cake exterior before setting, giving the lamingtons a distinctive texture.
Unlike many of the other Australian classic dishes, lamingtons were actually invented in Australia, and named after Lord Lamington (or Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, to give him his full title), who was the Governor of Queensland around 1900.
As you can imagine, making lamingtons makes a mess. Coconut everywhere! I had to vacuum twice.
These little cakes are delicious with a pot of tea.
Parmis and lammos were bonza, now off to…KIRIBATI.
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