Aussies Are Debating What Australia's National Dish Is And The Responses Have Me Scratching My Head

    "Breakfast: Vegemite on toast. Lunch: meat pie. Dinner: a succulent Chinese meal."

    Nick Arnold
    by Nick Arnold

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    There's a debate going on online. A serious debate about Australia and our food.

    Big Brother Australia / Via giphy.com

    Before we get into it, I'd like you to shut your eyes, think of a country — any country — and ask yourself what dish you'd say would be THE national dish of that country.

    Spirited Away / Via giphy.com

    If you thought of the UK, maybe a proper English roast (which is never complete without a good old Yorkshire pudding and I won't hear otherwise) came to mind.

    Sky Italia / Via giphy.com

    Perhaps you imagined the US and how one of the dishes it does oh-so-very-well is the classic hamburger.

    SpongeBob SquarePants / Via giphy.com

    If you thought of Italy, it'd be totally understandable if lasagna was the first thing that came to mind.

    Garfield / Via giphy.com

    But if I was to ask you to think about Australia, what would you say then? Would you draw a blank? Or is there, hands down, one specific dish that's a totally obvious choice?

    Sky / Via giphy.com

    Here's the thing, someone took to Reddit to ask what food or meal people think is THE national dish of Australia — and no one can seem to agree. Now, Aussies and non-Aussies alike are all chiming in with what they think should be recognised as our nation's staple food.

    WWE / Via giphy.com

    So, what's been thrown out there so far?

    1. Sausage sizzle

    Flickr: avlxyz

    "Sausage sizzle — Bunnings, democracy, family BBQ... Aussie as!"

    —u/Pink-glitter1

    And a lot of people seem to agree with them.

    The thread is full of comments with any and all of the different names for a good old sausage sizzle. 

    "Bunnings snag", "Bunnings sausage sanga", "Bunnings sausage and white bread". Call it what you want, but if Australia was really going to be known for just one dish, would this childhood staple actually be it? 

    2. Meat pie

    Flickr: avlxyz

    "Meat pies have to be in 1st place."

    —u/STLFleur.

    "Hand held meat pie with tomato sauce. Yes, the Brits invented them, but they really aren't too common there." 

    —u/wonderful_schooner

    3. A succulent Chinese

    Flickr: avlxyz

    "My family's [Invasion Day] tradition is a day at the beach and we pick up a Chinese meal (our local is particularly succulent) on the way home."

    —u/samhammitch

    There's no denying that one thing Australia knows how to do very well is a good Chinese meal. But is it THE DISH that other nations would know us for?

    4. Chicken parmi

    Flickr: avlxyz

    "Defs gotta be a Parma from the pub!"

    —u/batzie91

    And it is true that you can almost certainly guarantee that most Aussie pubs will have one on their menu.

    "They're so expensive now though unless you go on a certain day where they have their daily specials."

    Could the hike in price be down to the fact that you just gotta pay more if you want to get your chops around THE national dish of Australia?

    5. Lamingtons

    Flickr: jamieanne

    As someone with an almost uncontrollable sweet tooth, I shall try to contain my bias on this one...

    "Lamingtons for dessert. Snot block if no lammy." 

    —u/MaxCactus243

    And here's a question for you: have you ever tried to eat a lamington off a piece of string? Because we have.

    6. Fairy bread

    Flickr: downunderberlin

    Sticking with the sweets, another suggestion that's getting a lot of love is the ever-so-weird-but-ever-so-perfect fairy bread.

    "Introduced a Swedish friend to this recently and she was utterly disgusted." 

    —u/nevaehenimatek

    Is that what national dishes are supposed to be? Disgusting?

    Redditors aren't just getting riled up about whether fairy bread deserves the crown as Australia's national dish, they're also piping up with their thoughts on what actually even quantifies as fairy bread in the first place. 

    "This is a hill I'm willing to die on, fairy bread is round 100s & 1000s, anything else is sprinkles on bread." 

    —u/ButIwannabeAzazel

    7. Vegemite on toast

    Flickr: noodle

    Now, don't come for me when I say that I've lived in Australia for over five years and I still have never tried Vegemite.

    I know, I know. It's supposed to be a rite of passage, an Aussie staple, and there's a massive debate about the Vegemite to butter ratio. I KNOW. 

    My eating habits aside, u/aliceinpearlgarden presents their case for why this dish should be top of the list. "You won't find Vegemite in any other country," they say, while u/CrystalLogik opts for the alternative of a "Vegemite and cheese toastie".

    8. Chicken salt

    BuzzFeed

    In particular:

    "Charcoal chook and chips covered in chicken salt."

    —u/skipthedamned.

    Others went as far as to suggest that the obvious choice was:

    "Vegemite with a sprinkling of chicken salt."

    —u/Dull_News2761

    Whether it comes out on top or not, we think it's about time the rest of the world caught up with Australia's obsession with chicken salt.

    9. Roast lamb

    Flickr: cit_thmc

    "According to older generations of my family, Australia's national dish is, and always was roast lamb, because according to my grandfather, 'Australia rode to fame on the sheep's back." 

    —u/trunks176

    And how can you argue with that?

    10. And finally, Woolies mud cake

    Aussies, we need to resolve this. If you could only pick one dish to be THE national dish of Australia, what would you pick? Let us know below.

    Note: Some Reddit responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.