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An Endless Feast

A continent full of superb fresh produce

by Tony Baker

From diamonds and gold to oil, Australia is exceptionally well endowed with natural resources. But for food lovers the greatest blessing is a range of climates, ranging from alpine to tropical. Add rich, ancient soils, some of the purest waters on the planet and guaranteed sunshine and the result is an endless feast of produce.

Visit any big city market and this national feast will be temptingly arrayed before you. Visit the various states and territories and you will be offered particularly local ways of preparing the regional specialities, from the mangoes and mud crabs of Queensland to the apples and farmed salmon of Tasmania.

Nowhere is this abundance more apparent than with Australian seafood, thanks to seas varying from warm to challengingly bracing, while the inland waterways contribute some unique crustaceans. To visit Queensland without tasting mud crabs and Moreton Bay bugs (similar to slipper or flathead lobsters) is to deprive yourself of two of life's intense pleasures. While you're there, you must also try such reef fish as red emperor, coral trout and pearl perch. In the Northern Territory as well as Queensland, barramundi fish, either large or small, is a must. Mention the Territory and you are reminded that Australian gourmets are increasingly partial to kangaroo, crocodile and buffalo. Traditional Territorians tuck into steaks that would embarrass folks in Argentina by their size. A popular local T-shirt has emblazoned on it the slogan "Eat beef, you bastards," a typically Australian approach to export promotion.

The cold waters of Tasmania, the island-state off the south of the Australian continent, are renowned for magnificent seafood, including succulent oysters.

No visit to Sydney is complete without oysters and what Australians call "a feed of fish, such as John Dory or yellowfin tuna. Tasmania has a better than fair claim to being the seafood capital. The cool seas around this island state have long been prized for tasty deep-water fish, such as trevally and blue grenadier, not to mention rock lobster, giant deep-sea crabs and scallops. Without doubt, though, Tasmania's gift to the world's gourmets has been the salmon produced in recent years from its fish farms, avidly sought whether fresh, smoked or sugar-cured. Move around Australia pausing only for plates of fish such as snapper and the King George whiting (a South Australian delicacy, entirely unlike the northern hemisphere whiting), or the magnificent abalone, yabbies (freshwater crayfish) and a cascade of shrimp and you see why sushi bars have become so popular.

The same is true of fruit and nuts, as well as obvious joys such as mangoes, pineapples, pears and apples. The whole range of citrus—limes and mandarins and countless acres of oranges—are arrayed across the southeast Australian heartland. Berry fruits, grapes eaten fresh or dried into raisins and sultanas, apricots and peaches likewise fresh or dried, giant watermelons and nuts such as Australia's own buttery, crunchy macadamias abound. Think of a fruit and you can be sure that if it does not already exist in commercial quantities, an enthusiast is pioneering its production somewhere between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

In southern Australia, olive groves and the pressings from wild olives now yield oils as distinctive as those of Italy and Spain. Mention of those two countries is an instant reminder that the contribution of immigrants, mainly European and Asian, to the national feast has not been confined to restaurants and market gardens. Australian salamis and other processed meats are of exceptional quality because the meat is good and because Italian, German, Polish and other producers brought ancient skills to their new homes. Italian pasta makers showed the way. Today's pasta makers are likely to be fifth generation Australians, and one must not forget the first generation Chinese noodle makers.

Nuts range from walnuts grown on farms like this one in Milawa, northern Victoria, to macadamias, originally known as Queensland bush nuts and indigenous to Australia.

When it comes to meat, Australians take quality and quantity for granted. The Sunday roast leg of lamb would be an Australian food cliche it not so gorgeously juicy and intensely flavored, thanks to the lush well-watered pastures of southeast and southwestern Australia. Kangaroo meat has rapidly moved from pet food to an exotic delicacy to almost a staple. Close to a slightly gamey beef in taste, nutritionists like it for its low fat content. Emu meat seems to be catching on the way kangaroo did; farmed venison is frequently found on menus and camel steaks have begun to make an appearance.

South Australia's Barossa Valley, settled initially by Germans, produces more than half of Australia's wine.

President Charles de Gaulle once said of his people: "The French will only be united under the threat of danger. Nobody can simply bring together a country that has 365 kinds of cheese." It won't be long before an Australian Prime Minister can make a similar remark.

Thanks to its sunshine and rainfall, Australia is perfect for dairying. Since the 1970s, when the missing element—the input of dedicated expert cheese-makers—was applied, the country began producing cheeses of international quality. Today, Australian gourmets avidly seek out the local products and cheese's share of the annual 500,000 tons of dairy exports is worth $1 billion in Australian currency.

Southern Australia has led the charge in producing superb cheese, particularly the offshore islands of Tasmania, King Island in Bass Strait and Kangaroo Island off South Australia. On the mainland, the main cheese states are New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Although generic names such as cheddar, brie and camembert are rife, there is an increasing trend to coin names which reflect their origin, like the splendidly Australian True Blue, or embrace the place of origin, such as Mersey Valley and Milawa Blue.

Whatever your cheese preference, it is made in Australia. And yes, there is at least one cheese flavored with gum leaves. Nor are Australia's cheeses confined to those from cow's and sheep's milk; there is a thriving goat's cheese industry making a range of products, including those hand-crafted by Kervella in Western Australia.

The lush pastures of southern Australia produce an excellent array of cheese.

From sugar to salt, if it crosses the taste buds, it will be made in Australia. I have spent some time trying to think of something essential to a first-class chefs output that Australia does not produce. The only product which came to mind is the truffle and, as you read this, some earnest prospector is doubtless hunting through loamy Australian undergrowth in the hope of striking it fungus rich.