From Snags to Souvlakis – The Changing Voice of Australian Culinary Language

When your child asks for sushi in their lunchbox instead of a white bread vegemite sandwich, you know times have changed.

Elise Hearst | 25 Mar 2019

A stroll to your local shopping strip, or a scroll down your preferred food delivery app, reveals a lot about our nation’s culinary tastes, culinary language, and trends.

Fish and chips, charcoal chicken, burgers, and beer – once synonymous with Aussie culture, no longer dominate the restaurant and takeaway market.

They have been superseded by souvlakis, pizzas, and sushi; and more recently by curries, banh mi, and of course, the burrito (extra sour cream, extra guac – thanks). According to the data, Australians’ taste in food and culinary language has evolved beyond meat pies to something far more representative of our status as a prosperous, food-loving multicultural nation.

Market research analysts NPD declared in 2018 that ethnic fast food is the most popular cuisine among Australian millennials. It begs the question:

Key Takeaways: 

• Traditional Australian food like meat pies and fish and chips have been surpassed by a diverse range of international cuisines such as souvlakis, pizzas, sushi, curries, banh mi, and burritos. This reflects Australia’s status as a multicultural nation with evolving tastes.
• Australian food has been heavily influenced by global trends and waves of migration. Dishes like pavlova, chicken parma, Dim Sim, and the Chiko Roll have roots in various cultural backgrounds but have been adopted and embraced by Australians.

You may as well ask “What does an Australian look like?” There’s no straightforward answer to either. Our palate is as diverse as the attendants at an Australian citizenship ceremony, or an AFL match (sorry, Rugby League if you’re from up north).

As the song goes: “We are one, but we are many, and from all the lands on earth we come.” Global trends and waves of migration have largely shaped our interest in food since colonial times.

We (Australians) named a beloved Australian summer dessert, the pavlova, after a visiting Russian dancer in the 1920s (sorry New Zealand, we know you contest its origin, but we’re still claiming it as our dessert).

An Italian eggplant dish inspired Australian pub classic the chicken parma. The Dim Sim (or “dimmie” as it’s often nicknamed) is a creation of a Chinese restaurateur in Melbourne in the 1940s. It has become as ubiquitous as Smiths Chips.

The Chiko Roll was born from a Bendigo boilermaker’s mind and debuted in Wagga Wagga, a far cry from the land of the spring roll. But surely, Australian food has to be more complex than a bit of meringue or a deep-fried dumpling?!

What does seem to be clear, is that since Australia began welcoming migrants from all backgrounds – regardless of race or religion – so too, have Australians embraced ethnic cuisines, and adapted them in our unique ways.

Local takeaways changing, and cooking shows booming – both show our love for global flavors.

We can’t get enough of celebrity chefs – from Chinese-Australian Kylie Kwong to Greek-Australian George Calombaris, Malaysian-born Poh Ling Yeow to Vietnamese-Australian Luke Nguyen – and we are certainly happy to patronise their restaurants too.

Calombaris, of Masterchef fame, is now the owner of 20 restaurants offering his signature Greek cuisine. In fact, over the last four years, ethnic cuisines such as Mexican, Turkish, Indian, Greek, and Italian, have been the fastest growing foodservice categories, with sales increasing by 63%.

NPD attributes the rise in popularity to the active participation of millennials in food and restaurant culture. This comfort with multiculturalism defines millennials, likely more than past generations.

Key Takeaways: 

• Australian culinary language has embraced ethnic cuisines, leading to the rise of restaurants owned by culturally diverse chefs and an increase in the popularity of cooking shows featuring diverse culinary talents.
• Urban areas like Melbourne reflect multiculturalism through distinct cultural enclaves known for their cuisines. This has led to a willingness among locals and tourists to explore different neighborhoods for authentic tastes. 

Let’s explore Melbourne’s cosmopolitan character as a microcosm of multicultural Australia. We can actively observe how different geographical areas are defined by their unique cultural identities by doing this.

The Victorian capital city, once solely known for its Chinatown, now boasts many distinct areas. Each area thrives on its migrant communities and the unique cuisines they bring.

Locals and tourists alike are willing to travel far and wide in search of the next taste sensation. They’ll venture to Richmond just for a Vietnamese Pho, Footscray for Ethiopian injera, Oakleigh for a Greek Moussaka, Balaclava for a bagel, and Box Hill for Yum Cha.

Embracing immigrant foods reshapes language, identity, and fosters cultural appreciation and understanding. This results in immigrant languages and foods appearing in our day-to-day discourse and slang.

Think how quickly Australian culinary language can turn a food phrase into a colloquialism: sanger, barbie, smashed avo, barra, snag.

And think again about more recent incarnations of popular items on menus: sliders (mini burgers), bowls (rice, noodles), and wraps of any and every kind (falafel, burrito, souvlaki, – wrap it in gluten and we’ll eat it).

No need to take an expensive trip to Southeast Asia. Restaurants flagrantly use the terms “hawker food” or “street food” to intimate the authenticity of their offerings.

Key Takeaways: 

• Immigrant foods have reshaped the Australian language and national identity, with immigrant languages and foods becoming part of daily discourse and slang.
• Food fosters conversation and understanding between cultures, prompting Australians to ask questions and learn about unfamiliar ingredients and traditions.
• The rapid embrace of immigrant foods over the last decade demonstrates Australia’s capacity for tolerance and integration of a diverse multicultural landscape.

If anything, Australians’ relationship with food signals and culinary language is a shift in attitudes towards diverse cultures, races, and religions. Food encourages conversation and understanding.

Nick Temple, from Indigenous restaurant Charcoal Lane in Melbourne, says, “People talk about Australia not having a cuisine…

When you’re in a space where you don’t recognise half of the ingredients on your plate, you boldly ask questions. And that opens it up to more questions. It makes people recognise how much they don’t know about the country they live in.

“Food choices shape how we think, talk about it, and interact.“

The feel-good takeaway (excuse the pun) from all this?

Surging immigrant cuisine shows our nation’s welcoming spirit as cultures blend.

We could hypothesise about the next food trend till the cows (or vegan-friendly beef substitutes) come home. Ethnic foods, along with ethnic culture, now undoubtedly intertwine with our personal identity.

It reflects the core idea of Australia as a nation of battlers more than ever.  Each of us seeks a chance to flourish and succeed in a sometimes harsh and unforgiving physical and political climate.

The influx of migrants from various countries (South Sudan, etc.) promises exciting food trends.

Before long you’ll probably be wrapping your mouth around some new taste sensations. Then, the Australianisation of those new tastes, with accompanying slang drifting into common parlance.

So, pass the dead horse, and let’s go get some lunch.

References

• https://qsrmedia.com.au/research/news/aussies-spending-more-ethnic-restaurants-study-says
• https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2017/11/12/are-we-any-closer-knowing-what-australian-f ood
• https://mattersjournal.com/stories/swallowingourhistory
• https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/05/south-sudan-somalia-and-iran-excluded-from-one-of-australias-refugee-programs