An edible evolution

26 Mar 2016

Foodie and SBS TV host, Maeve O’Mara, reflects on the changing tastes of Australia over the past four decades.

Forty years ago, no-one could have predicted the delicious explosion of food we’re enjoying in Australia right now, a wonderful smorgasbord of cuisines that’s unique to our beautiful country. Back in 1975, we were already well under way, learning about premium good coffee and bread, and keen to explore more.

I believe Australia is the food paradise it is because we’ve learnt from the many people who have come and settled here. We’ve made them feel welcome in our country and in turn, we’ve happily learnt about their food and customs.

In 40 years, we’ve gone from leg of lamb being the top Australian family meal to spaghetti bolognaise, pad thai and curry taking over. Walk through a produce market and you’ll smell delicious Turkish gozleme cooking on a hotplate or You’ll inhale the aromas of good coffee, cheese and fresh crusty bread, mingling with satay cooked over charcoal or even a whole pig marinated in lemongrass slowly turning over a fire.

How incredibly lucky we are. Often you only realise how rich we are as a food nation when you go overseas – France and Italy both have amazing food – great French and Italian food – but after two weeks, your Australian tastebuds start yearning for the incredible choice we have here – where you can have a fragrant Vietnamese pho for lunch and go on to dinner of Argentinian beef and chimichurri, perhaps followed by a luscious Italian gelato or cannoli.

Over some of the past few decades, I’ve been lucky enough to surf the food wave, starting as a tastebud refugee from the white-bread suburbs, ready to taste everything new and different.

In 1990, I started working at
SBS and, as luck would have it, became friends with people from
over 60 nationalities who were all food-obsessed. I was invited to Korean August Moon family dinners, Lebanese Ramadan feasts and Indian Diwali banquets. I was in heaven.
It’s such an honour to be in people’s homes and back gardens, learning how delicious traditional dishes
come together.

One of the other big changes in the past 40 years is the way we view food as a valid pastime. As our kitchens have grown bigger and are now truly the centre of our homes, so has our appetite to enjoy delicious adventures, whether exploring a new cuisine through a restaurant or shopping experience, or simply soaking in new food shows that are now a fabulous part of prime time viewing.

I often think to myself, “thank God they came!”, imagining what we’d
be eating without our multicultural mosaic and the migrants who have settled here. I can’t wait to see what the next 40 years will bring.

Maeve O’Mara is the host of Food Safari Fire on SBS 1 on Thursday night at 8pm. She is also director of food adventure company Gourmet Safaris.