Australia

Food Culture:  Cultural influences from waves of immigrants creates a diverse cuisine. The food culture was originally based on traditional British cooking brought to the country by the first settlers, although today’s food reflects strong influences from Asian, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese cultures—resulting in the current melting pot known as Australia’s cuisine. That 85 percent of products in an average supermarket are imported or produced by foreign-owned companies also influences the cuisine of Australia. (One of the most commonly imported and consumed products is Vegemite, owned by American Kraft Foods.)

Australians are becoming more health conscious. This change in lifestyle is supported by long-term governmental health initiatives pushing toward a diet consisting of low-salt, low-fat, healthy cooking incorporating lean meat and lightly cooked, colourful, steamed or stir-fried vegetables. Fresh produce is readily available and is used extensively. Taste the Culture of Australia!

An island continent located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Australia combines a wide variety of landscapes. The highest mountains are part of the Great Dividing Range that line the east coast from Cape York Peninsula south to the state of Victoria. Most people reside along the southeast coast, in cities like Melbourne or Sydney, because winds from the southeast release rain there—leaving the interior beyond the mountains arid or semiarid. West of the Great Dividing Range the landscape consists mostly of plains and plateaus; the Macdonnell Ranges near the country’s center are an exception. The Great Artesian Basin provides underground water for a region that would otherwise be desert. Vegetation ranges from rain forests in the far north to steppes and deserts in the vast interior (which Australians call the outback). There are more than 130 species of marsupials, such as kangaroos, koalas, and wombats. The Murray-Darling River Basin, covering about 14 percent of the continent, helps sustain wheat and wool industries.

Founded in 1788 as a British convict colony, Australia was a place of banishment until gold strikes in 1851 opened floodgates of immigration. Independence came in 1901, with a constitution adapted in part from that of the United States. Immigration has been key to Australia’s development since 1788; from 1945 through 2000 almost six million immigrants arrived. Aborigines number 410,000, and the government is making efforts to settle aboriginal land rights. Australia has one of the world’s highest living standards with 85 percent living in urban areas.