Australian Cuisine

Australian cuisine was historically based on the food culture brought here by English immigrants. Moreover, it gained the tremendous contribution made by other cultures such as the German, Italian, Greek, Asian and South African immigrant communities, bringing both recipes and plant stock to their new home.

Nevertheless, the oldest food culture seemed to be indigenous Australian food or native food. For centuries the indigenous people of this country have used the fruits and plants growing widely on the land. It may have taken a long time, but it is satisfying to realize that Indigenous foods are becoming more widely known and available, being grown very successfully by a group of visionary farmers in South Australia, and enabling the creation of dishes.

Lemon myrtle: fresh leaf, or ground dried leaf of the Lemon Myrtle tree
Mountain Pepper: ground leaf or berries of the mountain pepper tree
Native spinach: warrugul greens, a native spinach growing in coastal areas
Bush tomatoes: small tomato-like fruits, also called desert raising

Macadamia nuts: a nut, native of Australia, now grown in other places


Wattle seed: A small, oval, black variety of the Acacia seed. Wattle seed is used in myriad foods including rice, soups, meat rubs and baked goods.


The infinite variety of foods in Australia reflects the diversity of its land and provides for a rich cuisine. World class wines grow in the slightly cooler climate of the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. Sharing the lower slopes of the hills are apple and cherry orchards, berry farms and almond orchards, whilst the west coast has a wealth of seafood such as whiting, oysters and tuna.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cuisine