Thepiggygirls:
I often see the British food slander and how they don't ever use spices, but it's so funny because I feel as though Australians are even worse offenders of this!
When im telling you "Australian" food is some of the blandest food you will have in your life I mean it. As an Australian I now yearn for leaving this place to discover other cuisines because I've realised, if something isn't from here that's where the flavour comes from! I guess maybe the Australian laid back attitude goes as far as to influence the food as most of it is pretty basic flavours with minimal effort or seasoning. I'm not saying people don't veer away from this but most people here only use salt, pepper and curry for pretty much everything. The most authentic experience of Australian food is probably when friends invite other friends over for a bbq. If it's lunch most dishes will usually be served cold such a pasta salads, potato salads, basic salad of lettuce, tomato & cucumber and meats from the bbq (generally unseasoned or just salt). The typical sauce options will be bbq or tomato and pretty much everywhere sauce options don't vary much from those, with the addition of gravy, which I like to be dark brown and thick. This trend of sticking to a limited flavour profile extends to the supermarkets too, pretty much everything stays within about 3-5 flavour profiles.There's not much of a range of really anything, for example, sodas pretty much stick to just being raspberry, orange, cola or lemon or some version of that. It's impossible to find things like a grape soda or anything even slightly adventurous. The same goes for candies anything more exciting like watermelon, grape & blue raspberry candies are sparse and the milks and ice creams pretty much everything sticks to being chocolate, vanilla or caramel.
The only exciting flavours come when things are limited edition or are internationally sourced. So I think I've quite literally out eaten this country, I've eaten it all so many times, I've eaten everything good in the supermarkets, and I just need a new world of food to try. There's so many countries I fantasise going to just for entire eating trips, I worry how I'd fit on the plane back but it sounds so exciting. Nothing makes me more excited than new flavours and textures of food, it will truly be a marvelous experience and would hopefully take a huge toll. I'd definitely document everything too so you could see how much I ate and gained. Idk about you but that sounds incredible and we've e got to make it happen this year!!
Munchies:
With love, but this is the whitest thing I have seen in a while. And I am in bed with my very white significant other.
Just ... use seasoning. And try foods from other cultures. Problem solved.
Newenglander:
"Whitest thing?"
Why must so many topics on which you comment be categorized in a racist context?
OP made references solely to a nation's culinary preferences, not a particular race.
It's an "Australian" thing, plain and simple.
People in and from Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain are largely considered "white" and happen to be some of the heaviest users of seasonings in their cuisine. Folks like Emeril Lagasse and Guy Fieri come to mind. Their recipes are the opposite of bland.
Readily available convenience foods are typically designed for the widest appeal and often lack flavors objectionable to some palates, often those of youths. By offering flavors appealing to impressionable consumers at a young age, these major corporations (fast food, processed food, snack food, cola and beverage, etc.) develop customers for life, and rightfully so. Their duty is a fiduciary one to their shareholders, not one of any sort to their customers, including those whom they classify as "Heavy users" or "Superfans".
I agree wholeheartedly the best solution to such bland "Australian" cuisine would be to expand the application of seasonings and/or try foods from other cultures.
Somebody triggered, triggered
Australia actually has a lot of flavorful foods from a lot of different cultures - including white ones. What made it "the whitest thing" was the thinking your typical Aussie fare is bland and not engaging with the complexity of the different tastes.
It has nothing to do with the lack of seasoning. I am well aware white people use seasonings. As I mentioned before, I am literally in a relationship with a white man. He likes food that tastes good.
Go outside. Touch some grass. If it's cold, go put on a coat.
