Sinopsis

"An ambitious new book from Phaidon chronicles three periods of Australian cuisine, from the ancient past to the Anglo era after colonization to the multicultural present" - New York Times

A celebration of Australian cuisine like never before — 350 recipes showcasing the rich diversity of its landscapes and its people.

Australia is a true melting pot of cultures and this is reflected in its cooking. As an island of indigenous peoples alongside a global panoply of immigrants with different culinary influences and traditions, its foodways are ripe for exploration. As well as the regional flora and fauna that make up bush tucker, there are dishes from all over the world that have been adopted and adapted to become Australia's own — making this recipe collection relevant to home cooks everywhere.

A few days ago The Embassy of Australia, The Australian Consulate-Generals of the United States, and Tourism Australia all hosted a virtual launch of Australia: The Cookbook.

It was a fascinating, engaging event, during which the book’s author Ross Dobson spoke with Travel + Leisure Senior Editor Sarah Bruning and O Tama Carey, the patron chef of Sydney’s Lankan Filling Station and contributor to Australia: The Cookbook, about the ways in which culinary culture has developed down under.

Dobson, a professional chef and cafe proprietor, is also an amateur historian, and described how Australian cookery developed, first as an aboriginal culture, then via the foods that British and Irish colonial convicts and military personnel liked and tried to recreate, and later through the numerous waves of immigration from Vietnam, China, Greece, Italy and Lebanon.

Dobson was keen to include recipes as they were cooked in domestic kitchens, and traced fads for recipes through archive newspaper cuttings.

Travel + Leisure Senior Editor Sarah Bruning, Australia: The Cookbook author Ross Dobson and chef O Tama Carey, from the online launch event

“In the 20s and 30s Australians were mad about sharing recipes,” he explained. “If a recipe for a cake in Geelong, Southern Victoria, proved popular it would get picked up elsewhere; it would be the equivalent of going viral today."

Dobson describes the way in which Greek immigrants visited America, bringing back soda fountains and milk bars to Australia; he also detailed the ‘delicious sense’ pioneering Aussie cooks found in adding local passion fruit to traditional panna cotta, or fresh crab meat to French quiches.