The great outdoors, pristine beaches and bustling metropolitan cities, Australia has a lot to offer, but nothing quite compares to its mouthwatering munchies and culinary curiosities.
With copious chews to choose from, you’d think it would be impossible to go wrong when deciding what to eat in Australia. However, there are a few misconceptions about which foods are truly Aussie classics and which should be avoided.
Never fear: we’ve put together a list of food faux pas and gastronomic gaffes to look out for and what we recommend as alternative true blue bites.
1. Bloomin’ onion
If you ask any Australian where to get a bloomin’ onion or what one even looks like, nine out of ten would have no clue. Invented by the Australian-themed American chain restaurant Outback Steakhouse, the bloomin’ onion is a large battered onion, served as one whole piece. As delicious as it may sound, you won’t find it in Australia.
What we recommend instead: Chips with chicken salt and a potato scallop
If you are in the market for some fried fancies, we would recommend heading down to your local fish and chip shop and getting yourself a potato scallop (also known as a potato cake in Victoria and Tasmania) and some hot chips with chicken salt – the yellower the salt, the better!
2. Shrimp on the barbie
Everyone knows Aussies love a BBQ. Get your mates together, have some drinks and grill up some sausages, burgers and seafood. But what you won’t find people doing is putting a ‘shrimp on the barbie’.
This iconic phrase was part of a tourism ad campaign for Australia in the 1980s. In the ad, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) delivered the line to cater to Americans, despite shrimp not being an Australian term or part of our cuisine.
Instead, we recommend: Prawns over shrimp
Grilled or fresh, at the beach or at Christmas, Aussies love a prawn, so we recommend seeking out prawns over shrimp any day.
3. Emu and kangaroo
While Australia is one of the only countries in the world that eat their national animals, the emu and the kangaroo, that doesn’t mean they are part of an everyday diet. Most places you visit that boast serving native meats such as emu, kangaroo, crocodile or snake will most likely be doing so for the novelty of tourists.
Instead, we recommend: Australian steak or a Bunnings snag
Australia is world-renowned for its incredibly high-quality beef. Whether you prefer Angus or Wagyu, well-done or rare, there are few things quite as delicious as an Australian steak. Or, try cooking kangaroo yourself! Unlike emu, kangaroo is readily available in supermarkets, sometimes pre-prepared as burgers or sausages. It’s an incredibly lean meat, and has a lower environmental impact than other forms of red meat.
However, if a steak is out of your budget, we recommend swinging by any Bunnings Warehouse on a weekend to pick up another true Aussie classic, the Bunnings snag (sausage sandwich).
4. Spoonful of Vegemite
We have seen it time and time again, YouTubers and influencers from around the world trying Australian snacks only to come to a jar of Vegemite, indulging in a heaped spoonful and – to their dismay – experiencing a sinister salty surprise. Whether you love it or hate it, everyone agrees there is a right way and a wrong way to enjoy Vegemite, and by the spoonful is undoubtedly the wrong way.
Instead, we recommend: Vegemite on toast
Freshly toasted bread (our preference is sourdough), a generous layer of butter and then just one to two pea-sized scoops of Vegemite spread thinly. If you follow our advice, you’ll be rewarded with the perfect breakfast, snack or hangover cure.
5. Toowoomba pasta
Our final dish, Toowoomba Pasta, was also introduced by Outback Steakhouse, but popularised in South Korea. Despite it being affectionately named after Australia’s second-largest regional town, if you were to travel to Toowoomba and order this pasta, you’d most likely be met with some very confused looks.
Instead, we recommend: Meat pie or sausage roll from a local bakery
Where regional, rural, and country towns really shine is at their local bakeries. We recommend seeking out a true cornerstone of Australian fare, the humble bakery meat pie or sausage roll.
