What to eat in Australia.

[rugbypopsie]

Hi Again,

Learning to speak aussie well here is the guide to ordering...

 

1. The first course is the entree.

2. The second course is the main course and salad is not usually served as course on its own unless its the entree.

3. Dessert comes next..or cheese etc.

 

The evening meal is "dinner". Cookies are biscuits commonly called "bikkies". What you call biscuits..is more like what we call a scone which can be sweet or savoury. Ketchup is tomato sauce. We like our bacon soft not crisp. Soda is soft drink like coke etc. We like pizza too but it will be different...more toppings and less cheese.

 

Australians don't usually eat croc, camel or kangaroo...the beef, lamb and seafood is way too good.

 

In Sydney and Melbourne you can probably find restaurants from almost any cuisine Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek, Italian, Turkish are all common.

[bazzaw]

We like our bacon soft not crisp.

 

 

"We"???? - I hate my bacon soft - crispy for me.

 

There is far too much generalisation in this Forum. Australians are this - Americans are that -- etc.

 

 

Barry

[Aussie Gal]

We too like our bacon crisp. I agree there are too many generalisations. We are a varied race of people and we all have different tastes in everything including food.

 

Enjoy our country and our wonderful food which is the best in the world due to our incredible fresh ingredients.

 

Jennie

[rugbypopsie]

"wonderful food...best in the world" not a sweeping generalisation then.:)

 

I don't think international relations will be damaged by the soft/crisp bacon question. Just trying to be helpful.

[sparky-elpaso]

We too like our bacon crisp. I agree there are too many generalisations. We are a varied race of people and we all have different tastes in everything including food.

 

Enjoy our country and our wonderful food which is the best in the world due to our incredible fresh ingredients.

 

Jennie

 

I know what you mean. Regional foods can be really interesting. I'm sure that what's "popular" in Sydney is different than Perth or Brisbane or somewhere in the outback. Just like the states. I'm from Michigan and now live in Texas - learned to love Mexican food when we got here.

 

I'm sure we're going to have a great time down under.

[4774Papa]

I know what you mean. Regional foods can be really interesting. I'm sure that what's "popular" in Sydney is different than Perth or Brisbane or somewhere in the outback. Just like the states. I'm from Michigan and now live in Texas - learned to love Mexican food when we got here.

 

I'm sure we're going to have a great time down under.

As an American largely unfamiliar with Australia's regional differences, can some give me a short version of regions and differences.

In the USA, we generally have New England; NY, PA and North East; South, Mid-west; Mountain West; Coastal West as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

We have regional accents that originated from regions in the UK.

[Aussie Gal]

"wonderful food...best in the world" not a sweeping generalisation then.:)

 

 

I don't think I am generalising when I say we have great food. We have eaten around the world in well over 100 countries and we have found that even our ethnic food is so much better here than in the original countries from whence it came and it is all due to our wonderful ingredients. :)

 

Jennie

[Aus Traveller]

As an American largely unfamiliar with Australia's regional differences, can some give me a short version of regions and differences.

In the USA, we generally have New England; NY, PA and North East; South, Mid-west; Mountain West; Coastal West as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

We have regional accents that originated from regions in the UK.

Probably because we are a younger country we don't have big regional differences in either accents or food.

 

The main differences in food relate to availability - more barramundi in the north, more crayfish in the south. The other difference I can think of would be more 'ethic' restaurants in the capital cities, and these vary somewhat - great Italian restaurants in Lygon Street in Melbourne.

[room010]

For such a vast country/continent we have remarkably few obvious regional differences in accents, culture, etc. There are certain regional variations in the words people use, eg, swimwear is "bathers" in Victoria and "cozzies" or "togs" in Queensland but even then these terms are not used by everyone. Any accent variations are usually quite subtle and hard to distinguish. Any differences in accent is more likely to be based on socio-economic factors than where people live. But with our increasingly multicultural society even those distinctions are becoming more blurred. The good news is that provided you understand the basic Aussie accent you won't have any problems communicating wherever you go.

[sparky-elpaso]

For such a vast country/continent we have remarkably few obvious regional differences in accents, culture, etc. There are certain regional variations in the words people use, eg, swimwear is "bathers" in Victoria and "cozzies" or "togs" in Queensland but even then these terms are not used by everyone. Any accent variations are usually quite subtle and hard to distinguish. Any differences in accent is more likely to be based on socio-economic factors than where people live. But with our increasingly multicultural society even those distinctions are becoming more blurred. The good news is that provided you understand the basic Aussie accent you won't have any problems communicating wherever you go.

 

I'm going to have to be careful. For some reason I tend to "pick up" an accent if I'm around it for a while - and I definitely don't want anyone thinking I'm making fun of them. :)

[Aus Traveller]

I'm going to have to be careful. For some reason I tend to "pick up" an accent if I'm around it for a while - and I definitely don't want anyone thinking I'm making fun of them. :)

We wouldn't notice.:) Only your family and friends would notice when you get home.

[room010]

Now let's talk about the Kiwi accent...... [runs and hides] ;)

[sparky-elpaso]

We wouldn't notice.:) Only your family and friends would notice when you get home.

 

You're probably right about that. :)

[rugbypopsie]

Picking up accents usually means you have a good "ear" for languages...luckily we speak english with a slight twist or two:D

 

You can sometimes pick Queenslanders because in the north they often end sentences with "eh" as in "its a good day eh?" however as others have said we tend to move around a lot so the differences are very subtle. We can have lots of words for the same thing depending on where you live or where you grew up, i.e. devon, fitz, windsor, strassburg are all a similar prepared meat that you have on sandwiches. Thongs as in rubber shoes are flip flops, thongs or jandals. Even suitcases can have different names.

 

Without making any mass generalisations just observations, people from Melbourne are very urbane, dress well and have great restaurants and entertainment. Sydneysiders are social, ocean centric and outdoorsy, Brisbane is the laid back outdoor lifestyle, far north queensland very casual and laid back more country, Darwin varied mix of cultures, very laid back and country, Perth home of the renegades (joking) beautiful city, lots of wide open spaces, people quite affluent beautiful homes along Swan River. Adelaide to me seems very english as does Hobart all of our major cities are quite different both in architecture and culture.

 

I hope you find us friendly and outgoing that is how we like to perceive ourselves anyway. I think "people watching" is one of the really interesting things about cruising.

 

I hope you write a review of your experience cruising in Australia we would like to encourage others to make the long trek here and hope you find it worth it.

[Debsta]

Generalisations :confused:

I'm laughing so loud I'm sure you can hear me! :D

Why are we picking on each other??????? ;)

 

Ohhh BTW, I've eaten some really CRAP food in Australia :p

[happyaussies]

What an interesting topic.............PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG

 

I believe there are some suttle differences in regions of Oz and particually the ethnic populations.....

In SA we have a large British population!

In Victoria they have large Greek populations?

In NSW they have a large lebonese population?

not sure about the other states

 

In SA we call luncheon meat - Fritz while the easterners call it devon?

Generally Queenslanders, Sydneysiders and Melbournites do have a slightly different accent than us South Aussies. For example we say carsle (castle) while the easterners say cassel (castle) Just one example

 

B&B

[ceejay3377]

I reckon croc is great (yum yum). I just wish it was more readily available and I could buy it here where I live. :D. (Camel is pretty good too, but I've only ever seen this on the menu in the NT). Previous posters are correct when they say they are not mainstream foods, but they are worth trying if you see them on the menu.

 

Regarding the number of people of Greek background in Victoria - Melbourne used to have the largest per capita greek population outside of Greece for many years, but I doubt that is still the case. Anyway, you could only make this claim about Melbourne, not Victoria.

 

Cheers,

[The_Big_M]

For example we say carsle (castle) while the easterners say cassel (castle) Just one example

 

Haven't heard anyone say cassel, but some do have different words for the same thing.

[Aus Traveller]

Haven't heard anyone say cassel, but some do have different words for the same thing.

A lot of Queenslanders pronounce it as "cassel". I keep trying to get my husband to pronounce Newcastle as "New Carstle" not "New Cassel".

 

It looks funny spelling it like this but it seems to be the clearest way to express the different pronounciations.

 

But then in Queensland we have Mackay "Mac eye" not "Mac kay".

[sparky-elpaso]

Living in a city where about 2/3's of the population is Hispanic I can appreciate different accents. I'm finally to the point where I can pronounce most Hispanic names without totally messing them up and I've absorbed enough Spanish so I can sort of understand what someone is saying if they're not talking too fast. I'm to the point where I can sometimes tell if the person is from Mexico - the accent is different.

[moyaroo]

A lot of Queenslanders pronounce it as "cassel". I keep trying to get my husband to pronounce Newcastle as "New Carstle" not "New Cassel".

 

It looks funny spelling it like this but it seems to be the clearest way to express the different pronounciations.

 

But then in Queensland we have Mackay "Mac eye" not "Mac kay".

 

Accents are funny especially when we try to describe them to folks with a different one. I get a kick out of Aussie descriptions of Kiwi accents esp. the "Fush and chups" thing which I, as an American, cannot for the life of me hear when in NZ. Sex for the number following 5 on the other hand, is still amusing and oh so obvious to my ear. (or for a cruising component when a Kiwi goes up on D_ck. Would be naughtier I suppose if they went down :eek:

[Aus Traveller]

Accents are funny especially when we try to describe them to folks with a different one. I get a kick out of Aussie descriptions of Kiwi accents esp. the "Fush and chups" thing which I, as an American, cannot for the life of me hear when in NZ. Sex for the number following 5 on the other hand, is still amusing and oh so obvious to my ear. (or for a cruising component when a Kiwi goes up on D_ck. Would be naughtier I suppose if they went down :eek:

We often smile when the NZ Cruise Staff refer to the D_ck Party. :D (For anyone who hasn't heard too many NZ'ers, the 'e' in Deck is pronounced as a quick 'i'.

[rugbypopsie]

We often smile when the NZ Cruise Staff refer to the D_ck Party. :D (For anyone who hasn't heard too many NZ'ers' date=' the 'e' in Deck is pronounced as a quick 'i'.[/quote']

 

Now that made me smile :)

[bobhsv]

What an interesting topic.............PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG

 

 

 

In SA we call luncheon meat - Fritz while the easterners call it devon?

Generally Queenslanders, Sydneysiders and Melbournites do have a slightly different accent than us South Aussies. For example we say carsle (castle) while the easterners say cassel (castle) Just one example

 

B&B

 

 

Hi there,

Just had to add my bit to your remarks. I was born, bred and raised in Glenelg SA, now living in NSW for a few decades.....and believe me the devon over here is nothing like the Fritz in SA. Bung fritz is just the best, and I cannot eat the devon here. They think it is the same stuff, but it's not. Also the German cakes are the best in oz. Love the German/English heritage in SA. I still get 'picked on' for my SA accent, with people thinking I am perhaps either a kiwi or a snob. Have never understood the kiwi bit, as I speak nothing like a NZer, and certainly not a snob. I think it is our (SA) English background ie speaking the correct Queens English, and being from a non convict state. That remark is not meant to sound racy at all, just a fact of origin.

Funny how your original accent stays with you forever.

Jen

[rekkie]

In SA we call luncheon meat - Fritz while the easterners call it devon?

Generally Queenslanders, Sydneysiders and Melbournites do have a slightly different accent than us South Aussies. For example we say carsle (castle) while the easterners say cassel (castle) Just one example

 

B&B

 

I first discovered it was called Fritz in 1977 when aged 10... it was weird. In Western Australia it is called Polony.

 

One other thing about accents. People in NSW think I have a slightly "posh" accent. The one real thing that I notice is "here". As a West Aussie we say it like "Hee-are" but in NSW its more "Heee r" with the "r" barely pronounced if at all.