For years, we’ve had a somewhat rugged and rustic reputation internationally for our food. You’d have been forgiven for thinking we had a national diet of meat pies, vegemite and sausage rolls, but recently we’ve been through something of a food revolution, and when you take someone out on a date, you can be confident of finding places to eat that are the envy of the world.
So how’d we manage it? Well, it comes down to two things. Once we started moving past the palettes we inherited from our English roots, we noticed that we live in a country with an amazing array of foodstuffs. From seafood and succulent fruits to our home-grown livestock and the more exotic meats like crocodile, we’ve built a larder that’s hard to beat for quality and variety.
The second boost has come from just how much of a glorious melting pot of influences have come and settled here. It started with Italian and other Mediterranean cooking back in the 70s, but more recently other European and Middle East settlers have brought their favourite foods with them. With the more recent influx of Asian styles to our shores, we’ve got a thriving range of cuisines now, and that’s what inspired Modern Australian cooking – which takes the best of everything and blends it together to make some truly awesome new creations.
The best chefs take new spices and flavours to add to more traditional dishes, or go the opposing route and take classic Asian recipes and substitute unusual Australian proteins or other flavours. If beer batter onion rings flavoured with coriander aren’t your thing, why not try Cantonese stir-fried kangaroo?
There’s really no excuse these days for not ranging out and trying something a little different when you’re choosing where to go on your date. The whole idea of dating is to try meeting new people and have new experiences, so why should your taste buds be left out of the adventure?