Australians' eating habits reflect their British heritage. A traditional breakfast may include fruit or juice, cold cereal or hot porridge, fried eggs and sausages, with hot tea or coffee. Toast may be spread with Vegemite, a concentrated yeast extract. For more leisurely breakfasts, some people enjoy baked beans, spaghetti or minced meat on toast. The noon meal is usually quite light. Most people eat sandwiches during the work week. Other lunch foods include Australian meat pies (a flaky pastry filled with ground beef mixed in spices) and sausage rolls with hot chips (French fries). Children enjoy milk flavoured with vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, peppermint or spearmint. An afternoon snack may feature lamingtons (small sponge cakes with chocolate frosting and coconut) or pikelets (small pancakes) and tea. |
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A typical dinner consists of meat, potatoes and vegetables. Most families have barbeques and often grill their meat. One specialty is steak stuffed with oysters. The array of available seafood includes lobsters, Sydney rock oysters, barramundi fish, mud crabs, crayfish, prawns and snapper. Because of Australia's many immigrant communities, Asian, Greek, Italian and Thai dishes are also popular. Dessert is often fresh fruit, such as bananas, mangoes, pawpaws (papayas), pineapples, pears, apples and citrus fruits. A well-known dessert is pavlova, made with meringue, cream and fruit. The name honours the ballerina Anna Pavlova, who visited Australia in the 1920s. Tea has always been a typical Australian drink, but recently coffee has gained in popularity. Beer is the favourite alcoholic beverage in the country. Wine is becoming more popular, and Australian wines have won international awards. |
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The Aborigines traditionally ground various seeds
to make flour for a type of bread. Early settlers learned the technique
and called the bread "damper." Kangaroo meat is another Aboriginal
delicacy.
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