« Raksha Bandhan II |
Main
| Interview Virus »
August 14, 2003
Australian Food
This is the next in an on-going series on Australia. What, exactly, do Australians eat?
If you believe (*1) the guide books this can be eaten raw or cooked and it tastes
nutty,
eggs, or a cross between
chicken & prawn.
Australia has many such interesting forms of bush tucker but personally, I think Crocodile Dundee had the right attitude. When his friend the reporter asks about bush tucker: "Can you really eat that?" He responds instantly: "You can live on it, but it tastes like sh*t.". (She later uses the same line when serving him a New York hotdog).
Generally, we have all the same sorts of fast-food restaurants that exist in the States. We have MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King (usually called Hungry Jacks), Eagle Boys (Pizza), KFC, and Oporto. We also have a wide variety of quality restaurants, in Sydney the specialties are Thai, Chinese and Italian. Unlike Europe, there is an abundance of fresh vegies and fruit all year round (trying to get fruit in England at Christmas time was a nightmare) and relatively cheap compared to other places I have been. We grow and export wheat and rice. We farm (and export) lamb, beef and pork. In addition we now have farm-bred emu, deer (venison), crocodile and kangaroo (and yes I have tried all of them). The climate in Tasmania allows us to produce salmon and other cold water fish. Basically, the average diet is probably the same as any other developed western nation (except for the cheap fruit and vegies).
(*1) If you believe the guidebooks, then I recommend not reading any more guide books. Actually, I can tell you from experience that it tastes like sawdust and dirt and it should be avoided at all costs. Really if you want to be adventuresome, try Haggis.
Posted by Ozguru at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
Don't forget Dominoes...
Hungry Jacks was started by an Australian who liked Burger King food in the US. He made such a bucket load of money out of it that Burger King came out from the US and opened in competition.
I mean... come on! Its the same bleeding thing!
Posted by: Peskie at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
Anything that eats sawdust and dirt, would probably taste like sawdust and dirt. I've always wondered what it is to eat game and how it tastes. The furthest I have gone is quail and seahorses. Quail is sweetish like chicken and seahorse I wouldnt recommend to anyone unless they like fishy tasting rawhide.
Posted by: Anvita at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
Oy! The link to "Haggis", whatever it is, is down. Looks like Tripod's anti-3rd-party uplinking policy.
And ewwww....you ate grub??? Were you drunk? Was it a bet? Was it stuffed in a bun or a pie???
And I wanna taste quail :-)
Have you folks eaten squid?
Posted by: Jivha at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
The most interesting thing I can remember trying was haggis (I knew what it was) but the rest of the group had no idea.
The witchetty grub was a major mistake - it was on a bush camp and we found the right sort of tree and fried them. About 20 people tried them (out of 50 or so). Probably 15 of the 20 were violently sick afterwards (not me - I have a cast iron stomach - or at least I did when I was young). No it was not a bet. It was a survival camp and one of the activities was to identify and prepare native tucker. The real question was if the illness was physical or psychological.
As for the squid - yes. It is included in some Chinese dishes, usually prepared with a cross hatch pattern and it then curls up.
Here are the sound links:
Crocodile Dundee on witchetty grubs :-) and
Sean Connery (Highlander) commenting on Haggis. Actually being a true Scot, he does eat it but not in this movie :-)
Posted by: ozguru at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
Translation of the second tape for those lacking a 'Scottish' ear. The two characters are Ramirez (supposed to be Eqyptian) played by Sean Connery and Conner (Scottish) played by Christopher Lambert. Conner has just mentioned a haggis:
R: "Haggis? what is haggis?"
C: "Sheep's stomach stuffed with meat and barley."
R: "And what do you do with it?"
C: "Huh? You eat it."
R: "How revolting!"
Actually I think the word 'meat' is used in this dialogue in a liberal fashion. Technically 'offal' might be more correct?
Posted by: ozguru at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
That's why 'meat curry' should always be avoided on the menu.
Posted by: Kirsty at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
Ewwwww!!! Sheep stomach stuffed with offal and barley - did they forget the grubs?
Posted by: Jivha at August 14, 2003 07:08 AM
