By Note: You may find yourself in need of the Guide to Aussie Slang during this post.
Australia is a country that loves a good long weekend, but isn’t particularly traditional when it comes to food during its holidays. In fact, for the most part, you could summarize the Aussie view of holidays as add alcohol and you’re getting pretty close to the mark.
What can I say? We’re a country that likes a good beer and a yarn.
That being said, we do have a few Australian holiday foods that are traditionally associated with our major holidays. In this post, I give you the skinny on what Aussies eat when they’re enjoying some time off with friends and family.
Australia Day – BBQ
To be honest, most Aussie holidays falling in the warmer months are likely to feature a few snags on the barbie, but the Australia Day BBQ is something of an institution across the country.
Whether you’re keeping things simple with some sausages, some onion, and a few slices of bread or you’re going gourmet with kangaroo steaks, corn on the cob, and salads; you can’t go wrong with a traditional Aussie BBQ.
The video below comes from XXXX Beer, and you can find a whole bunch of delicious BBQ ideas on the XXXX YouTube Channel and on their Facebook page.
Easter – A lamb roast
With Easter falling at around the same time as summer begins to turn towards the colder weather of autumn and winter, many families in Australia choose to take their celebrations indoors for a traditional Easter lunch.
Falling in line with our English roots, many families celebrate the holiday with a lamb roast with all of the trimmings.
ANZAC Day – Anzac biscuits
ANZAC Day commemorates the heroism of Australian and New Zealand soldiers during World War I and World War II, and is arguably Australia’s most unique and hallowed holiday.
People across the country rise early to attend dawn services and you’d be hard pressed to find a patriotic Aussie who doesn’t get goosebumps when listening to the last post. In fact, one of the greatest honours I’ve ever had bestowed upon me was being chosen to read the Ode to Remembrance at Anzac Day and Remembrance Day ceremonies in China.
Anzac Day also sees Anzac biscuits appearing on shelves and in ovens across the country. Made with golden syrup, dessicated coconut, brown sugar, and oats, these chewy Aussie biscuits were sent as gifts for wives to send their husbands serving abroad during the war and have since become a popular snack year round.
Christmas – Cold meat and seafood
While Australia’s close association with British and American traditions means that many Aussies will still have a roast dinner, a Christmas pudding, and various other ‘cold weather’ foods as part of their Christmas spread, there are a few more uniquely Aussie elements to Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner.
With Christmas falling during the summer, many Australians choose to fill their table with cold meats (such as chicken or ham) as well as seafood. Prawns are an especially popular Christmas treat, but many families also integrate fish into their Christmas meals as well.
This post was brought to you by Unruly Media and XXXX. All opinions within the post are my own.
Your Say
What are your favourite holiday foods from your own country?
Do you have any unique family traditions you’d like to share?