One continuous picnic : a gastronomic history of Australia

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Machine derived contents note: Part i HISTORY WITHOUT PEASANTS. 11

The sailing-ship era (from the 1780s to the 1860s)

1 The English heritage 13

The rations of an ocean-going empire-salt meat, flour, sugar

and tea-influenced our assumptions about food. Meals had

to be convenient and transportable, and were rarely fresh

The taste for homrne 24

2 Meat three tirnes a day 8s

Wit.h the success of grazing, bush workers ate meat, damper

and billy tea at every meal. The small 'Dungaree'settlers on the

lHawkesbury, attempting the peasant alternative, were harassed

and ridiculed,

Eating and drinking in 1839 42

3 The Aristologist 46

Australia's first cookery book, published in 1864, showed

the wonderful variety offoods possible, but emphasised the

isolation of the gourmet

The next cookery books 57

Part u FEEDING THE CITY 61

The ag of the railways (from the i85os to the 1930s)

How we entertained a prinfce 63

4 Mietropolitan paradise 67

After toasting the gold rush in champagne, our expanding

cities adopted ine ntions Such as stoves and ice- chests, and

revelleCi n the worid's cheapest llving

The city markets 78

5 The Chinese exception 83

The gold-rush Chinese stayed on as markniet gardeners, an early

immigrant group destined to grow and serve the fresh fruit and

vegetables th at i. actos could not ofer

The te and scones of Quong Tart 93

6 The tyranny of transport 97

Some Australian arms miight have been the havens of childdren's

storybooks, but most were producers of durable foods to be

rushed by train to the cities and the world

Granny Snmih o110

7 The first food factories 113

The packaging and adve tisingofprocessedfoods- epitomised

by the refined white flour of giant roller -mils- created

household names such as Arnott 's, Rosellay and Foster n

Mr MacRobert son 22

8 Bohemian restaurants 127

Rapid innovation in fo od processing in the late nineteenth

century also brought interesting times for the gourmet. Some

restaurants woold stand up well against todav's best

Let's o to Faso i's 138

9 Family goodness 142

The austerities of the Great War killed off restaurant society,

leaving the workers of tomorrow to be sustained byftdsfor

orange juice, milk, cornflakes and processed cheese

Vegemite 151

to Dainty cooks and sudden drinkers 155

Between the world wars, men took rations to work and drank

quickly till six o'clock closing, while women were encouraged to

crivilise society with sweet fantasies

The pavlova 169

Part iiii FRESH FROM THE FREEZER 177

The automobile ascendancy (from the 1940s to the 1970s)

Sliced white 179

11 The first munition 187

With the Second World War, American agricultural and

processing experts arrived to show us how to mass produce more

varied but still portable rations

Coca-colonisation 200

12 Car park shopping 205

Obsessed with cheapness, and discovering a new love of

cars and refrigerators, Australians embraced the nationally

distributed and standardised foods ofthe supermarket

Golden Circle pineapple 217

13 The industrial kitchen 225

Identifying gaps on the supermarket shelves, large food

corporations shaped, coloured, flavoured and marketed

food tof it

Frozen food 240

Part iv THE COMING OF THE QUICHE 249

How far we thought we'd come (from the 1970s to the 1980s)

The great wine dinner 251

14 Oh, for a French wife! 25s

Explanations fir ue gourmet boom that began in the 15960s

have included immigration, increased overseas travel and

bulging household budgets-but the most credible explanation

is thefood industiy's shake- up of cooking

Chefs to the court of Whitlam 272

15 Hard tomatoes for hard times 283

The sacrifice offamily farms to agribusiness left us with

hard tomatoes, pale eggs and stale apples cosmetically coated

with wax

A fresh start 294

16 The art of eating in Australia 298

Not left to establish agrarian roots Australians have suffered

the world's worst cuisine. The hope is a consumer revolt

towards fresh, local produce

Part v THE WIDENING GAP in 309

Another quarter-century of industrial picnic

(from the 1980s to the 20oo00)

Return ofthejersey cows 311

17 Free the market! 315

Eatinggot much better over the quarter-century, and much

worse. Markets were assailed by 'marketing