Is Australia your next trip? If you’re planning to go there and wondering what are the most popular iconic Australian foods you should try, then this article is for you. Although locals eat fried rice, Mediterranean cuisine, Thai curries and the like, those dishes are not really “Aussie” foods. They’re just part of multicultural Australia but are normally claimed by other nations.
Are you ready to know them all? You’d be insane not to taste any of these while you’re here.
#1 EMU
This meat actually has a few times the iron content of beef. If you’re on a strict diet, this is fat-free and low in cholesterol. This Australian native animal works well when smoked and served cold or as a pizza topping. This is also used for the modern gourmet recipe, whether it’s pie made up of emu meat, smoked emu, feta cheese, red wine, sun-dried tomato, onion and Tasmanian black pepper.
#2 DAMPER
This cheap iconic Australian food was the staple of road workers and bushies before the days. Initially, it was the easiest of recipes. This soda bread is produced from wheat flour, water, and a pinch of salt, then baked in the charcoals and matched with billy tea or a nip of rum.
#LAMINGTON
This is called the “National Cake of Australia” because The National Trust of Queensland even named the Lamington as of Australia’s favourite icons. If you have a sweet tooth, this square-shaped sponge cake is coated in a layer of chocolate icing and dried out coconut. Most of the time, it comes in two halves with a layer of cream or jam in the middle. You can normally find it throughout the cafes in Australia as the perfect accompaniment to tea and coffee, plus this type of cake is always baked for fundraisers.
#4 LAMB LEG ROAST
In Australia, sons and daughters return home for Sunday lunch when mom’s cooking a lamb roast for dinner! What makes it appealing and tender is that it’s served with rich and plenty baked potatoes to avoid family fights. Although this dish has reached beyond Australian borders, Aussies are the only ones who really know how to make the best one.
#5 ICED VOVO
Did you know that former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated Iced VoVo in his 2007 election remarks and even single-handedly cemented the biscuit’s place in Australian folklore? Yes, he did.
This sweet dessert is made of wheat-flour biscuit with a thin layer of pink fondant on either side of raspberry jam and sprinkled with coconut. Just imagine eating the right amount of sweetness, soft and crunchy in one dessert! And its biscuit is made by the company Arnott’s, a subsidiary of U.S. based Campbell Soup Company.
#6 BALMAIN BUGS
Of course, we wouldn’t want to miss out the seafood in this list! These Balmain bugs are species that habitats in shallow waters around Australia. These flattened small-scale fishes have no claws and only comes with its tail that contains edible meat. And just like a lobster, it’s really worth the slippery fingers and dining dedication.
#7 PAVLOVA
New Zealand and Australia have been battling for years about the real origin of Pavlova. They both claim that they’ve invented the dish in honour of Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova when she visited Australasia in the 1920s.
Although this issue was finally proven once and for all to originate from New Zealand, Aussies you’ll ask will still call it Australian food. This yummy sweet delight is a popular meringue-based dessert that has a crisp crust and a soft, light inside. It’s topped off with whipped cream and fresh fruit and served at celebratory meals.
#8 TIM TAM
If you haven’t tasted Tim Tam yet, you should. They’re about 35 million packs sold each year and just imagine that an Australian consumes an average of 1.7 packs, so that’s 400 million biscuits!
There is just something about this much-loved chocolate biscuit, it’s made with two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, divided by a light chocolate filling and coated in melted chocolate. Australians will always have these biscuits in their homes. This is why you can always find them in supermarkets around the world.
