Everyone’s favourite topic: FOOD! Melbourne has actually been cited by some as the food capital of Australia. Meals in Australia and the local cuisine is fairly similar to the U.S. There is a large variety of Asian food that is not quite seen in Boston, but there is a much smaller variety of Mexican food and it is of poorer quality. Just as in the U.S., people typically eat three meals a day at normal times: breakfast in the morning, lunch at midday, and dinner in the evening. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that brunch is definitely a part of the food culture here today. Portion sizes are approximately the same, if not slightly smaller. At bars and restaurants, it is not customary to tip and tax is included in the listed menu price. This is actually true for most services, goods, etc. in Australia. In addition, Australia is actually well known for its huge coffee culture, which may be attributed to the fact that Melbourne has the largest population of Italians outside of Italy.
I personally eat most of my meals at home. I have a stove top and a microwave in my room and I take full advantage of that. It is much cheaper to prepare my own meals than eat out. I do frequently grab a small meal in the campus centre, however. The Mexican place on campus was offering a free burrito for downloading their app and then $5 burritos for a few days after that. They have recently put in a Malaysian food place that is quite good. I splurge and grab coffee almost every day from a coffee shop on campus. Flat whites, a type of coffee unique to New Zealand and Australia, are my new personal favourite espresso drink. On occasion, my friends and I will go out for dinner in the city, and we usually aim for somewhere cheap. ☺
Though Australian food is not so different from American food, I have had a couple of different meals here. Firstly, a couple weeks ago, I tried a kangaroo sausage. It took a lot for me to get over that I was eating a cute little roo. Once I got beyond that to try a bite, I nibbled a little and then took a larger bite. I was really not a fan. The taste was very game-y and the texture was rough and chewy. Overall it was entirely unappetizing and I have no desire to try any other type of kangaroo meat. If I had to name a true Australian delicacy, it would be chips, or fries as we commonly know them. Everyone here eats chips as if they are a meal. In fact, chicken parmesan here is served with chips and a salad as opposed to a side of pasta as is known back home. When my boyfriend recently visited, he asked to substitute a side of pasta for the chips, and while the waitress happily obliged, she was thoroughly puzzled at the request.
