ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Multiculturalism is a concept that gets some people into heated debate. There's one thing that no-one can dispute, I reckon, multiculturalism has provided Australians with some wonderful experiences in that most important of cultural activities....EATING.

I suspect that it would be hard for people born since, say, 1970 to appreciate a time when we didn't have pizza, real spaghetti bolognaise, home wok cooking, Turkish and Indian bread, Hunter Valley fine wines , endless varieties of cheese, Asian vegetables, coconut cream, home coffee brewers,Thai curry sauce.

I remember with nauseating clarity, some of the awful indigestable things we had to choke down in my younger days;

Coffee\chicory essence,"cooking " magarine spread, pluto pups dipped in tomato sauce, chico rolls, baked parsnips. 100s and 1000s sandwiches, fish paste on toast, sarsparilla soft drink, railway wine bars' muscat and dry sherry, all things made from condensed milk, baked apples ( skin on ) stuffed with dates, lambs fry, crumpets with golden syrup, maccaroni/tuna/cheese casserole, stewed rhubarb, fried bread, smoked haddock.
and the worst of all..."processed packaged cheese, tinned spaghetti.


A bag of greasy chips with a piece of slimy battered mullet was a luxury in those days.


Long live multicultural FOOD.

Goddam Neville, some of my favorite foods are mentioned here. But what about tripe!!!!!! there are a lot of things I can choke down, but tripe ain't one of them.

Maybe we were too well fed.......NOT

Please Sue, tell me you never enjoyed coffee/chicory essence or pluto pups or parsnips .

I've never eaten tripe..AND I NEVER WILL.

Actually, talking about choke down, reminds me, I omitted another culiary horror of the baby boomers...chokos. ..I always thought how aptly named they were. gaaaaack !

I still love parsnips, baked apples with dates and thick creamy custard...always hated pluto pups and tripe, but love kidney and lambs fry and bacon so long as I don't have to cook it...although I do cook it for the girls. But never touch it with my hands.

Tuna casserole - yum

Yes Neville, I loved coffee & chicory. We had a house cow so milk was plentiful, what better way to warm up than a big pot of milk on the fire with coffee and chicory added. Loved chokos too, and lambs fry and bacon, YUMMO. Their was a time when every good cafe served mixed grills with lambs fry, that was a testament to a good cafe.I loved parsnips, especially baked, but I never liked steak & kidney pie. Never had pluto pups with sauce. Just good basic foods served at our place, mostly what Dad grew or slaughtered himself, rabbit was very popular, the poor man's mutton.

You are right Neville. We have some great food available to us now and we think nothing of having it.

When I was a kid (just yesterday really), the only take away I remember was Chinese - and we took our own pots to put it in! Maybe fish and chips, but that is all there was I think.

My mum used to make a nice rabbit stew. Occasionally we were forced to eat lambs fry and tripe or steak and kidney pie. DISGUSTING! I have never imposed it on my kids and they don't even know what they are. Why would you do that to a kid?

Personally, I just like a meal I don't have to cook! Can I come live with you Maureen?

What - do you want to share the girls tucker Heather? You are very welcome they have a varied diet, don't know if you would go for the Saschas blend that gets sprinkled over it - very fishy - but the door is always open Mate.

Maureen I wouldn't dream of taking food from the girls. I was thinking more of the parsnip and baked apples and custard really.

Heather

Neville what about: a set of brains in breadcrumbs; lambs tongue; pig's trotters and hocks; devon, pork fritz and garlic sausage; fried bread with an egg in a hole in the middle; bread and milk; corn flour and milk; veal chops with kidneys attached; curried sausages; Nestle's tinned cream; tapioca; jelly made on milk; saveloys and mushy peas; sweet breads; boiled mutton;
ox tail soup; mock turtle soup; smoked haddock; Pecks Paste; camp pie (once worked in an abattoir and never ate camp pie again) swede, turnips and squash, deviled kidneys; black pudding and who could resist tripe with white sauce and onions? Washed down with Cold Duck; Sparkling Burgundy; Sparkling Rhinegold; Porphry Pearl or that good old standby, Ben Ean Moselle?

Talk about variety... these newcomers have absolutely no taste whatsoever!
Have you seen what Woolworths and Coles are selling chokoes for?

Vic Jefferies

Ohh Vic, my churning stomach You reminded me of a couple of more horrors, Camp Pie..vile, Devon and tomato sauce sandwiches .. chew and spew, and black pudding..no way would I touch the stuff. One of my mates used to have that Scottish horror on New Years Eve..haggis.
Yes the chokos are pricey. But I wouldn't buy them at any price. Woolies also sells silver beet at exhorbitant prices and I have a heap of that almost growing wild in the back yard.