Australia is an island continent in the Southern hemisphere. The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginal peoples who lived there for many thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. It is believed that Dutch ships may have been the first European vessels to sight the Australian coast, but European colonization began with the arrival of the British in the late 18th century.
Australia thus developed with many links to the United Kingdom, first as a British colony, and later as a Dominion within the British Empire. After World War II, Australia began to develop deeper links with other parts of the world, and there was increased immigration from Mediterranean countries, and later from Southeast Asia. As a result, Australia is today a multi-cultural country, although many historic and cultural links with Britain also exist. This is very much reflected in the Australian cuisine too, which combines British-influenced dishes, with Asian and Mediterranean style dishes, and also some foods based on "bush tucker" (foraged food, traditionally eaten in the wilderness areas known as the "Outback", where are themselves often inspired by Aboriginal foods).
Some of the Most Common Australian Cuisine Includes
- Pie floater
A dish based around a British-style meat pie. The pie is turned upside down, covered with tomato sauce, and then served surrounded by a thick pea-green soup.
- Damper
It is traditional Australian bread, originally eaten by the travellers in the Outback area (because it was easy to prepare by the roadside). Damper is a wheat-based soda bread.
- Chiko roll
A version of spring rolls. Chiko rolls usually contain mutton and vegetables such as cabbage, and are deep-fried.
- Lamington
Sponge cake or butter cake, cut into cubes, covered with chocolate icing and desiccated coconut. Sometimes the cubes are cut in half, and a layer of cream or jam placed between the halves.
- Pavlova
A meringue cooked to be crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. Both Australia and New Zealand claim to be the original source of this Australian cuisine that you can find even in places such as Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Potts Point, Rushcutters Bay, and these competing ownership claims are a matter of friendly rivalry between the two countries.
