Chicko Roll Imagine a wrapper of stodgy dough covered in breadcrumbs, filled with a neutered mess of chicken, cabbage, thickeners and flavourings, and then deep fried. You could only get away with it in Australia.Damper Sounding positively wholesome in this company, “damper” is the swagman’s staple - soda bread baked in a pot buried in the ashes of a fire. It’s not hard to make after a few attempts - the secret is in the heat of the coals and a splash of beer.
Lamington
A chocolate-coated sponge cube rolled in shredded coconut.Pavlova (pav) A dessert concoction of meringue with layers of cream and fruit; named after the eminent Russian ballerina. Made properly with fresh fruit and minimum quantities of cream and sugar, it’s not bad at all.
Pie floater The apotheosis of the meat pie; a “pie floater” is an inverted meat pie swamped in mashed green peas and tomato sauce; found especially in South Australia.
Vegemite Regarded by the English as an inferior form of Marmite and by almost every other nationality with total disgust, Vegemite is an Australian institution - a strong, dark, yeast spread for bread and toast.
Witchetty grubs (witjuti) About the size of your little finger, witchetty grubs are dug from the roots of mulga trees and are a well-known Australian bush delicacy. Eating the plump, fawn-coloured caterpillars live (as is traditional) takes some nerve, so try giving them a brief roasting in embers. They’re very tasty either way - reminiscent of peanut butter.
Esky Eskies are insulated food containers varying from handy “six-pack” sizes to cavernous sixty-litre trunks capable of refrigerating a weekend’s worth of food or beer. No barbie or camping trip is complete without a couple of eskies. The brand name “Esky” has been adopted to describe all similar products.