Food and Cooking

The foods eaten by the early convicts and colonists in Australia were very different from the diet enjoyed by the Aboriginal people. Find out why this was, and then travel forward to discover what the ANZACS at Gallipoli ate, and how the Great Depression affected food all across the country. Food is a basic need for everyone, but its history in Australia shows us how much human beings use food and its preparation for much more than just staying alive. Food is at the centre of social gatherings, it drives large parts of the economy, and it reveals a lot about the Australian character. The style of living we take for granted in Australia today was very different in the past. Many everyday tasks involved using tools and implements that are unrecognisable in our modern world. The Australian Aboriginal history of daily life, as well as that of the first colonists, all provide intriguing stories of how we all used to live and how we gradually moved on to depending on gadgets, fast food and other modern ways of life that our ancestors from the past would find amazing.