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Australian food traditions have been shaped by the people who settled in Australia. Throughout the majority of Australian history, Australian cuisine was based on traditional Anglo-Celtic British and Irish food, brought to the country by early settlers from the British Isles. Later, in the 19th and especially 20th century, food began to reflect the influences of Mediterranean and Asian cultures, introduced by many immigrants who arrived in Australia during this period.

Nowadays, food consumed by Australians bears the influences of globalisation. Organic and biodynamic, Kosher and Halal food, for example, is widely available in Australia. Restaurants whose cuisine tends to demonstrate contemporary adaptations, interpretations or fusions of these multicultural culinary influences are frequently labelled with the umbrella term "Modern Australian". Fast food chains can also be found all over the country. British traditions still persist to varying degrees both in domestic cooking as well as the takeaway food sector, with pies and fish and chips remaining popular among Australians.

A native Australian cuisine movement has also emerged, evolving out of the Australian themed restaurants of the mid-1980s. The discovery of the spice-like qualities of many native Australian plant ingredients formed the basis of a gourmet cuisine. This is in contrast with the Bush tucker or foraged food as in native Aboriginal traditions unfamiliar to gourmets.

Background

The many waves of immigration to Australia from various nations across the world have historically played an important role in shaping the direction of Modern Australian cuisine, and which is still evolving today due to changing migration patterns as these immigrants brought and introduced their culinary traditions to the general Australian public, as well as influence from international culinary trends. Australia's Asian neighbours, particularly China and Japan from East Asia, as well as Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam from Southeast Asia are major cultural influences. Similarly, Mediterranean influences from Greek, Italian, and Lebanese cuisine are very common, with many members of their communities having arrived in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s. More recently, the cuisines of France, India, Spain, and Turkey are emerging as important contemporary influences.

Fresh produce is readily available and thus used extensively, and the trend (urged by long-term government health initiatives) is towards low-salt, low-fat healthy cookery incorporating lean meat and lightly cooked, colourful, steamed or stir-fried vegetables. With most of the Australian population residing in coastal areas, fish and seafood is popular. Australia's favourable climate has also made barbecues a commonplace event at gatherings of friends and families. Barbecues are also common in fund raising for schools and local communities, where sausages and cooked onion are served on white bread with tomato sauce or Barbecue sauce. These are most often referred to as "Sausage Sizzles".

Some English trends are still evident in the domestic cooking of many Australians of Anglo-Celtic descent. Among these is the widespread tradition of having roast turkey, chicken, and ham with trimmings followed by a plum pudding for Christmas lunch or dinner, despite the fact that Christmas is at the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Breakfast

The typical breakfast of Australians strongly resembles breakfast in many Western countries. Owing to the warm weather in some parts of Australia breakfast is generally light but in the colder regions porridge or meals similar to the full English breakfast may be consumed. The light breakfast commonly consists of cereals, toast (with a spread) and fruit. A heavier cooked breakfast will frequently include fried bacon, egg, mushroom, baked beans, sausages, tomatoes, toast with spread. Beverages taken at breakfast include tea, coffee, flavoured milk or juice.

A popular breakfast food in Australia is Vegemite, a black, salty spread similar to Marmite, applied to toast or bread.

Dinner

The evening meal is the main meal of the day for most Australians. Most of the time it is consumed at home, and often eaten with members of the immediate family or household. The dishes served will vary widely according to the tastes and/or background of the family. Common choices would be roast meat and vegetables, pasta, pizza, casseroles, barbecue meat, vegetables, salad, soup and stir-fries.

A standard cafe or restaurant in Australia not adhering to any particular ethnic cuisine might offer sandwiches and focaccias, a range of pasta, risotto, salad or curry dishes, steak, chicken or other meat-based dishes, cakes or other desserts, and juices, red and white wine, soft drink, beer, and coffee.

Take-away food in Australia

Similar to any other Western nation, in Australia there is a wide variety of takeaway food available from other cultures. The meat pie and sausage rolls are examples of traditional take-away foods. These come in varying grades, ranging from the mass-produced factory outputs of Four-and-Twenty , Mrs Macs , Balfours , Villis , J. R. Pinders and Big Ben , through to gourmet pies sold by specialist pie shops. There is an annual competition to find the 'Great Australian Meat Pie'.

American-style chain stores are common; including, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Hungry Jack's (the local Burger King franchise name), Domino's Pizza, and McDonald's. An alternative to the US imports is offered by the Australian chicken fast food chains Red Rooster and Chicken Treat, pizza chains Eagle Boys and Pizza Haven, the Portuguese chicken franchises Nando's and Oporto, and by the corner pizza shops, charcoal or fried chicken stores, stores selling items such as kebabs and gyros, and fish and chip shops.

Many of these sell high-quality food for reasonable prices. Typically found in many takeaway shops is the 'Australian Hamburger'. This is mainly distinguished from other hamburgers by the range of fillings available. An order with all fillings is known as "The Lot". The fillings include lettuce, tomato, cheese, beetroot, grilled onion, bacon, a fried egg and pineapple.

A very wide variety of Chinese, Indian, and various Asian restaurants provide eat-in and take-away services, and are very popular in the cities. With the high levels of immigration from the Middle East, South and South East Asia, Korea, China and other countries from all over the world to Australia, many authentic and high-quality restaurants are run by first and second generation immigrants from these areas.

Chinese cuisine ranges from a long established Australian-Chinese style based on the cooking of the Chinese community established during the gold rushes of the late 1800s, to quite different cuisine more recently imported from different regions of China. Asian bakery stores are also a source of fast food, for example savoury rolls. Examples of these include cheese and bacon, cheese and pineapple, which are toppings over a thick piece of bread, and the pork/chicken roll (Banh Mi Thit), which is a crusty baguette, cut with sliced pork or chicken, carrot, spring onion, soy sauce, pâté, coriander, cucumber and often chilli.

Iconic Australian foods

An iconic Australian foodstuff is Vegemite (owned by the American Kraft Foods). Other unique or iconic national foods include Macadamia nuts; Violet Crumble, a honeycomb chocolate bar; Cherry Ripe; Jaffas, chocolate with an orange-flavoured confectionery shell; the Chiko Roll, a deep-fried savoury roll akin to a spring roll; and the Dim sim, a Chinese-inspired dumpling. Other popular Australian foods include Tim Tams, a chocolate biscuit; Musk sticks; Fairy bread; Lamingtons; the Boston bun; the Vanilla slice; and the commercial breakfast cereal Weet-Bix.

ANZAC biscuits and the pavlova are considered by some as Australian national foods, however the oldest recipes for these items are from New Zealand .

Small, hand sized meat pies generally made with meat and gravy are well-known a takeaway snack. In South Australia these are sometimes served inverted on a bed of pea soup, covered in tomato sauce, and called a Pie floater. Kangaroo meat is readily available in Australia although it is not a commonly eaten meat. It is available in various cuts, and sausages.

Damper is a simple and traditional type of bread, traditionally made by placing bread dough in the ashes of an open fire. It is not commonly consumed in modern times.

Seafood

Southern bluefin tuna
King George whiting
Barramundi
Moreton Bay bug

Low Fat Casserole