Jacket copy from 1982: [This] book brings together for the first time the story of Australia's agriculture, food business, cooking and restaurants. Why did Australians become world-record tea-drinkers? What was the secret of Granny Smith's apple? How nationalistic can we be about Foster's when it was introduced by Americans? Why have we hungered after the brewery waste, Vegemite? Who are the real beneficiaries of freezing living? After five years' research, Michael Symons writes vividly about Australian food, finding numerous forgotten pleasures. He restores the name of Edward Abbott, who wrote the country's first and still greatest cookery book. He introduces the Chinese who fed booming cities with fresh greens. He recreates the atmosphere of unsurpassed restaurants, where everyone drank French wine. He presents evidence that the pavlova 'was borrowed from New Zealand and shows why it became so popular. Until recently, historians have tended to overlook eating, and yet, through meat pies and lamingtons, the author tells the history of Australia in an engaging way, gastronomically. He links three stages of eating - basic bush rations, tinned and processed foods and modern convenience meals - witHh transport by ship, rail and motor vehicle. He challenges such myths as that we are "too young" for a national cuisine and that immigration caused the recent restaurant boom. Australia is unique because it has not developed a true contact with the land. It has not had a peasant society. Australians enjoyed plenty to eat, but it had to be portable. This is a book to read, to dip into and to think about. (120)
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