Food, Glorious Food!!!! :)

Australia and New Zealand’s “eating pattern” is very similar to the United States.  Dinner is the main meal where families gather to eat together.  They sometimes go out to restaurants or get “takeaways” which is like our version of take-out.  Families have barbecues in the summer time like we do.  The host family invites people over and they bring drinks and other snacks.  The man usually cooks the meat while the woman the other jobs.

Whereas we get our food or spices from around the world (but sometimes from here), New Zealanders get all there ingredients that are strictly from New Zealand.  Australians are the same way when it comes to getting there food.  The influence on food usually comes from British-based food.

Dinner is the main meal in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States but the way we cook dinner is different.  Where Americans usually prefer an oven or grill, some families in New Zealand/ Australia prefer to eat “hangi” style.  Hangi refers to the Maori style of cooking.  The men will dig a hole, construct a fire in it, and then cook the food right there! One of their main courses is fish and chips.  Here it would probably be a hamburger and fries. That’s almost the same!

I am really excited to try a bunch of new foods that I would never think twice about eating on a normal day.  I am also very interested in the different foods they eat and how they prepare certain things.  Knowing about where they got/get their ideas for their food would also be pretty cool to learn about.  If I find some foods that I really enjoy, I am definitely going to try to get the recipes and then try to cook that on my own!  I will ask my pen pal if there are any foods that she thinks I would never try but should try while I’m there.  J