BACK

Key flavors and regional variations By Nancy Ross Ryan

Australia is either the world's smallest continent or the world's largest island (surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans). Although Australia's ties with England have weakened since it was claimed for Britain in 1770 by Captain James Cook, Australia remains a member of the British Commonwealth. This prosperous continent (almost three million square miles) in the Southern Hemisphere has only 18 million inhabitants (six people per square mile). But its climates range from Alpine to tropical, and its geography includes deserts, pastures, plains, mountains, rivers and one continuous coast. Add sunshine (it is dubbed the "sunburnt country"), and the result is a mind-boggling abundance and variety of food and wine. Add an increasingly multicultural population and you have the final ingredient for world-class, cutting-edge cuisine. Meat pies and shrimps on the barbie Three decades ago Australian "cuisine" was still identified with meat pies, shrimps on the barbie, bland English-style cookery and such Australian culinary icons as Vegamite, a strong yeast extract that is most often spread on sandwiches. Then Australia underwent a culinary revolution fueled by immigration. As American chefs of the same period pioneered contemporary and fusion cuisine and also rediscovered regional American food, so Australian chefs, food writers and scientists have reintroduced indigenous Aboriginal "bush foods" to the dining-out public. These include warrigal greens (a strong-flavored spinach-like plant), macadamia nuts (originally known as the Queensland bush nut), bunya nuts (starchy like chestnuts, but from the cone of the native bunya pine), bush tomatoes (intensely flavored berries from a native tomato-like shrub), Illawarra plums (dark red berries from the native brown pine), yabby (freshwater crustaceans), witchetty grubs (yes, plump, juicy insect larvae), kangaroo, emu and kakadu plums, to name just a few. From Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, bearing gifts Immigration came late to Australia. Until the 1960s, the country's unofficial policy was to exclude nonwhite immigrants, which had a predictably detrimental effect on its cuisine. As that policy was dismantled, immigrants from northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia came bringing spices, flavors and recipes. Today, Australia consumes more olive oil than any other non-Mediterranean country. And the traditional turn-of-the-century Australian spice shelf, according to Sydney chef and cookbook author Christine Manfield who owns Paramount Restaurant, has exploded from "only about 12 spices, to a dazzling array we can now access and utilize." Given its immigrant population and its geographical proximity to Asia, Australian chefs such as Adelaide's Cheong Liew might legitimately claim to have invented East-West fusion cuisine. Liew, however, says fusion is nothing new. "It existed some 600 years ago in Kuala Lumpur with the Portuguese-Malaysian and Dutch-Malaysian mix." Still, Malaysian-born Liew (named one of the 10 hottest chefs alive by Food & Winemagazine) was creating East-West dishes using Asian and Australian ingredients and classical French cooking techniques as early as 1975. Today, Australian chefs (a high percentage are women), wine makers and food writers are busier than ever creating and re-creating contemporary Australian cuisine. The ingredients are international -- from all over the world -- but distinctly Australian as well. The cooking style is global in flavor, but East-West fusion is a dominant note. But Australians have a passion for outdoor eating that dates from 19th-century "bush tucker" cooking, when shearers and drovers learned to cook kangaroo around a "billy can" or open fire, bake damper (bread) in the coals, and wash it down with pints of tea. Today, most Australian homes and apartments boast barbecues, and alfresco dining at restaurants is part of the lifestyle. So along with Eurasian cuisine, you can still eat shrimp on the barbie.

	A clockwise culinary walkabout of Australia's states Northern Territory. Main city: Darwin Specialties include barramundi fish, kangaroo, crocodile, buffalo, steak. Queensland. Main city: Brisbane Specialties include barramundi, mud crabs, Moreton Bay bugs (flathead lobsters), red emperor, coral trout, pearl perch, mangoes, macadamia nuts, coconuts, pineapples, bananas and peanuts. New South Wales. Main city: Sydney Specialties include oysters, John Dory, yellowfin tuna, cheese, Asian vegetables and the white wines of the Hunter Valley. Victoria. Main City: Melbourne Specialties include walnuts, cheese, sausages, honey, berries, chestnuts, walnuts, venison, milk-fed veal and lamb. Victoria has many famous wine regions, including the Yarra Valley and Geelong region. Tasmania. Main City: Hobart This is the seafood capital of Australia, known for deepwater fish, rock lobster, giant deep-sea crabs, scallops, sea urchins, abalone, oysters; as well as for farmed salmon, apples, cheese, mushrooms, excellent grain-fed beef and cold climate wines like rieslings and sparkling wine. South Australia. Main city: Adelaide Specialties include wines from Barossa Valley, Clare, Mc Laren Vale, Port Lincoln, Adelaide Hills, Riverland and Kangaroo Island; olives and olive oil, cheese, King George whiting, yabbies, oysters, milk-fed veal, farmed venison, and produce including pears, strawberries, artichokes, asparagus, apples and Adelaide Hills cherries. Western Australia. Main city: Perth Specialties include lamb, kangaroo, emu, camel, farmed rabbits, goats' milk cheese, olive oil, sardines and many other species of seafood, as well an abundance of produce. ACT (Australia's Capitol Territory), Main city: Canberra

	Sample Australian Recipes Kangaroo Escalopes with Spinach and Anchovy Butter Shrimp on the Barbie Red Snapper with Shaved Cuttlefish and Leek Fondue Damper Passion Fruit Ice Cream with Barossa Raspberries