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Mediterranean Influences

Australia moves from damper to focaccia

by Tess Mallos

One often-quoted statistic which reveals just how many immigrants from the Mediterranean have made Australia their home is that Melbourne has the third biggest population of people of Greek origin anywhere in the world, including Greece.

The immigration of hundreds of thousands of Mediterraneans—primarily Italians, Greeks and Lebanese—has had a profound impact on the cuisine of Australia, yet the changes in mainstream eating patterns happened only relatively recently.

As far back as the 1880s, small numbers of immigrants from Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Malta and Spain began arriving. In 1947, acknowledging the country's severe manpower shortage, the government decided that more immigrants were needed if Australia was to reach its Ml potential. By this time, only 2 percent of the population of 7.5 million was of non-Anglo-Celtic origin and the government continued targeting the British so that Australia's Anglo culture could be maintained.

But it was necessary to also include continental Europeans if Australia's population was to grow quickly. Displaced persons of Northern Europe and other Europeans were allowed, with large intakes from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Holland, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece and Malta. By 1991, almost 18 percent of the population—which had more than doubled to 16.5 million since 1947—did not speak English in the home. Today, Italians are the largest immigrant group after those from the UK and Ireland.

A group of Italian Australians in Perth, Western Australia; Italians form the country's largest immigrant group after settlers from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

While Australia could provide the basic ingredients to allow these "New Australians" to maintain their dietary preferences, they were initially obliged to turn to their own gardens and to their own expertise in the kitchen. They made their own breads, yogurt, some cheeses, preserved meats and pasta, supplementing these with special foods imported by a few Italian, Greek and Lebanese stores.

Back in the 1940s, our "Greek" country garden provided us with the many vegetables and herbs not eaten by Australians of Anglo-Celtic background, as did the gardens of immigrant Italians and Lebanese, A number of Italians then set up market gardens to supply the many Italian-owned fruit and vegetable shops catering to the needs of the general public, as well as customers of Mediterranean background.

Because of the rapid increase in the numbers of immigrants arriving from the 1950s onwards, there was a greater opportunity to manufacture the foods they sought on a commercial scale, such as salamis, prosciutto, pepperoni and other preserved meats, Italian and Greek cheeses, yogurt, pasta and filo pastry. The ready availability of such products now made it possible for other Australians to become familiar with hitherto exotic foodstuffs.

Today, pizza and pasta are very much part of the Australian diet, as are Lebanese/Syrian tabouli and hommus, Greek tzatziki and taramosalata. There are olives galore, and sun-dried tomatoes became so popular in the mid 1980s that imports are now competing with Australian-made products, along with sun-dried peppers. Italian and Greek breads (including the immensely popular focaccia) are now readily available—a vast change from the colonial bush bread or damper—and Lebanese pocket or pita breads are also firmly entrenched.

The majority of Australians in the past had an aversion to oil of any kind and the oiliness of Greek and Italian food was often criticized. The acceptance of olive oil began only when National Heart Foundation began urging Australians in the 1970s to replace some of their traditional butter, lard and drippings with polyunsaturated oils. Recent research has indicated that the incidence of heart disease is lower among those following a "Mediterranean diet, with a high intake of complex carbohydrates (pasta, rice, bread and bulgur)_; vegetables and fruits, with more seafood than meat, plenty of legumes and olive oil, a monounsaturated oil.

The large influx of immigrants from Mediterranean countries after WWII provided the impetus for the manufacture of a wide range of cheeses, processed meats, pasta and other products. This typical delicatessen is in Melbourne's Lygon Street.

Australians in the 1990s are the largest per capita consumers of olive oil outside the Mediterranean countries. This is a far cry from the 1940s, when the only olive oil in easy reach was in tiny bottles at the pharmacy, its use confined to medicinal remedies and baby care.

That old British stalwart, roast lamb, is more likely to be enhanced with garlic and rosemary these days, thanks to the influence of Mediterranean cuisines.

Natural or "health food” stores catering principally to vegetarians were another factor in popularizing Mediterranean foods. Bulgur, the steamed crushed wheat of the Eastern Mediterranean, first became available to the general public through such outlets, as did yogurt, tahini, beans and, more recently, the couscous of Morocco.

In the early years of their culinary awakening, the first taste many Australians had of Mediterranean foods was during their "continental tours," when they had no option but to try salamis, pizzas, olives, strong cheeses, pasta or moussaka. Back home, with taste buds primed, they were more willing to accept the new foods gradually appearing in the market place. Food columnists were also responsible in the process of education, and when Australian-produced cookbooks began specializing in the cuisines of various countries because the basic foods were finally readily available and had gained acceptance, Australians could experiment with alacrity.

Finally, restaurants have always played a part. Australia was not a total culinary wilderness in the early days. There were Italian restaurants in Melbourne from the early 1920s, and in other areas there were many other restaurants featuring cuisines described as "Continental" and "French." These days, Italian restaurants abound, together with Greek and Lebanese/Syrian restaurants, while Spanish restaurants are increasing in popularity. Many restaurateurs, recognizing the suitability of Mediterranean food to Australia's climate and lifestyle, take the best of these foods which Australia now produces, combining them with skill and imagination and presenting their bill of fare as "Mediterranean-style.“

The embarrassments of my youth—admitting to using olive oil on salads and vegetables, and eating "soured" milk (yogurt)—are unknown to my children and grandchildren; they can and do enjoy openly whatever they like in our culinarily enlightened society.