While the rest of the world may think Australians eat meat pies, Vegemite toast and beer seven days a week (no judgement if you do, they're all delicious), there's a lot more to our national cuisine.
Wanting to learn more, u/Cool-Economy-9059 asked the Reddit community to share their quintessential Australian recipes for them to try. Here are some of the best responses that sum up Australia's most loved national foods!
1. "The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. I'll fight anyone who disagrees with me."
—u/RvrTam
"My peak parenting moment was when I made the train for my daughter's third birthday. I’m never going to top that."
2. "Bread, butter and hundreds and thousands. Butter the bread, pour hundreds and thousands on it, cut into little triangles, eat and confuse and scare the rest of the world."
3. "Toast bread, spread butter, spread Vegemite and eat."
—u/J-Sully_Cali
4. "ANZAC bikkies [short for biscuits]."
—u/Verum_Violet
5. "Any burger + beetroot = Aussie burger."
"Dont forget a fried egg for an extra layer of Australiana!"
6. "Chocolate crackles, but be warned — it’s almost impossible to get Copha [a vegan vegetable shortening] outside of Australia."
7. "Rissoles! Mince meat, egg, onion and Worcestershire sauce. Mix together, form into balls, roll in flour and fry. Great with gravy and mashed potatoes."
—u/Littlelizey
8. "Damper. Self-raising flour, enough water to make a dough and a touch of salt (can do sugar if you want it sweet). Bake in one way or another. Favourite ways include: Camp oven, on the BBQ, hot coals with no wrapping, hot coals in foil and hot coals in wet banana leaf."
"It can be used as a pizza base, a dessert (add dried fruit, glaze with honey or chocolate topping) and as bread."
9. "Chocolate ripple cake. Get some Arnott's choc ripple biscuits, stack them lengthways with cream in the middle, cover in more cream so it's the shape of a log and put in fridge overnight. Easiest cake in the world and everyone loves it."
—u/bignella74
10. "White bread + snag + onion + sauce...down out the front of Australia's favourite store [Bunnings Warehouse] every Saturday and Sunday morning. You fuckin' beauty."
—u/_LadyBoy
11. "Sausage placed diagonally on white bread (must be the cheapest bread possible). Sausage must exceed the diagonal cross section of the bread by a factor of at least 1.2 and must be lathered in an unreasonable amount of sauce of your choosing."
—u/alex46943
12. "I think chicken parma is Australian national food. You probably don't want my fancy recipe though (it is awesome). Instead, go down to the butchers, buy the pre-breaded schnitzels, fry them up, throw on some jar spaghetti sauce, grate cheese of your choice over and put under the broiler. Cured pig meat is optional. Serve with chips. But most people just go to the pub."
—u/temmoku
13. "I reckon spaghetti bolognese has to get a run. Sure, it's Italian at its roots, but there's also a bastardised Australian version. Bit of Dolmio [pasta sauce] and a chunk of home brand garlic bread on the side. Everyone's mum makes the best version — except mine, mine is an awful cook."
—u/Kristyyyyyyy
"Italian migration to Australia kicked this beauty into existence."
—u/Cultural-Insect
14. "Bundy [short for Bundaberg Rum] and coke."
15. "Gingernut biscuits! This is an actual family recipe from my mum! These are really great, but you have to have them with a cuppa as dipping is essential. They're very crunchy."
"Ingredients: 125g butter, 3/4 cup golden syrup, 1 dessert spoon of ground ginger, a pinch of salt, 2 cups self-raising flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg and extra sugar for finishing.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Melt the butter and syrup. Sift together dry ingredients, stirring into the butter mixture. Blend well, refrigerate for 10 minutes. Roll into balls and dip into the extra sugar. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees."
16. "Apricot chicken. 500g chicken, a large tin of apricots and garlic. Sauté chicken, add garlic, apricots and juice. Reduce so it's super tasty and serve with rice."
—u/Octonaughty
17. "Tim Tam slam."
—u/Lunarite
18. "Vanilla slice. I have no idea how to make it as I just get it from my in-laws bakery, but it feels like it’s a staple."
19. "Pavlova is mankind's greatest culinary accomplishment. Go super light on the sugar and it's a great breakfast."
—u/MarvinLazer
20. "Cob loaf."
21. "My dude, allow me to introduce you to the Halal Snack Pack (also known as the HSP). It’s a very large bed of fries, covered in kebab meat (shawarma) and topped with lots of sauces, my favourites being a mix of chilli, garlic and BBQ sauce."
—u/froo
22. "Vegemite scrolls and a good sausage roll and/or meat pie recipe."
23. And finally, "Lamingtons (the jammy versions are even better)."
—u/goodie23
Reddit submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
International friends, what are your thoughts on these recipes? Would you be willing to give any of these a go?
And to the Aussies, what other national foods did we miss? Let us know in the comments!