Why is East and South East Asian food so prevalent in Australia? (chapel, cinema)
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It’s hard not to notice that a huge proportion of restaurants and food outlets here serve Asian cuisine. Why is it so popular? Is it simply a reflection of the origins of the latest waves of immigrants? Is it due to the influx of Chinese during the gold-rush years of the 19th century? Are we all trying to relive every day our last holiday in Bali, Thailand, Malaysia or Hong Kong? Is it due to the numbers of South East Asian students enrolled in our universities? Or is Asian food just part of the Aussie psyche?
Asian food is certainly part of the Oz psyche.
Every tin pot country town has a Chinese restaurant, or it is at the RSL, Bowling Club or Golf Club etc.
This may have some roots in the Goldrush era, but most Chinese immigrants are more recent.
Having a Chinese takeaway once a week is also a popular , past time.
Thai starting to become popular in the 90's too, and more recently Vietnamese.
I think Aussies just enjoy the taste of Oriental Asian food, how easy it is as a takeaway, and it is usually not overly expensive.
I think it is all of those things,plus we obviously like it, If you ever watched MKR they couldn't cook anything unless it had chilli, garlic, ginger and coriander. Gone are the meat and two veg. days. Going back to Gold rush days i think was where it started and most towns even the small ones always have had a Chinese restaurant.
It's just become firmly ingrained in Australian culture now for people to regularly eat Asian food, with a large proportion of eateries in cities being owned by Asian immigrants and with many travelling to Asia people here are now very familiar and enjoy the cuisine of the region.
Where I work the nearest eateries are a sushi bar, two Korean restaurants, a couple of bakeries, a south East Asian type restaurant, Kurdish gozleme store, kebab shop, an Italian focaccia/pizza place and there are a couple of cafes that sell 'standard' Australian food as well a Subway. The East Asian places are usually offer better value with their meals so I usually interchange between eating Asian food for lunch and getting a roll from Subway or one of the bakeries (which are Vietnamese owned and serve Asian meals as well lol).
It’s hard not to notice that a huge proportion of restaurants and food outlets here serve Asian cuisine. Why is it so popular? Is it simply a reflection of the origins of the latest waves of immigrants? Is it due to the influx of Chinese during the gold-rush years of the 19th century? Are we all trying to relive every day our last holiday in Bali, Thailand, Malaysia or Hong Kong? Is it due to the numbers of South East Asian students enrolled in our universities? Or is Asian food just part of the Aussie psyche?
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure the very large influx of Asians into Australia might have something to do with it
A few reasons. The first were the Chinese restaurants opened up from the early days, and now found in many country towns as well. I think the western style Chinese is actually falling out of favour a bit, as people become more aware of food, and the new Chinese places you see opening are more 'authentic' or regional, like Sichuan, dumplings, Hot-pop, yum cha seafood.
Vietnamese came after the Vietnamese immigration after 1975, it's healthy, tasty, and generally fresh. Thai has been popular for awhile, helped by the fact more Australians visit Thailand than any other country. Japanese has been popular for awhile, sushi is more common than meat pies in inner city areas. The latest thing is probably Korean, with all the Koreans coming here. Malaysian and Indonesian are also popular.
I think it's because we're close to Asia, get a lot of Asian migrants, and Asian food is just tasty. There is a lack of continental European cuisine aside from Italian. Even French food is really lacking here.
Japanese has been popular for awhile, sushi is more common than meat pies in inner city areas. The latest thing is probably Korean, with all the Koreans coming here. Malaysian and Indonesian are also popular.
I think it's because we're close to Asia, get a lot of Asian migrants, and Asian food is just tasty. There is a lack of continental European cuisine aside from Italian. Even French food is really lacking here.
Yep, that's the thing that I really notice. It's not so much the abundance of Asian cuisine, it's the lack of European influences, whether it be Greek, French or something else. I really love traditional central/eastern European food like Polish style ribs and cabbage (zeberka wieprzowe w kapuscie), but have to drive close to 200km to find it .
And yes, sushi has displaced the meat pie in a lot of areas....
Noticed heaps of Thai places nowadays, asians seem to be dominating the food industry in most areas, the lack of euro is very noticeable, even in Melbourne i find it difficult to find a souvlaki place.
Yep, that's the thing that I really notice. It's not so much the abundance of Asian cuisine, it's the lack of European influences, whether it be Greek, French or something else. I really love traditional central/eastern European food like Polish style ribs and cabbage (zeberka wieprzowe w kapuscie), but have to drive close to 200km to find it .
And yes, sushi has displaced the meat pie in a lot of areas....
Richmond in Melbourne was was mostly Greek food 30 years ago but now mostly Vietnamese.
Carlton was always Italian, not sure about that now.There was only a couple of Indian restaurants but now they are everywhere, as are Thai. Love the variety. Strange there are no Polish restaurants as Melbourne had a large population of Polish immigrants after the war.
Richmond in Melbourne was was mostly Greek food 30 years ago but now mostly Vietnamese.
Carlton was always Italian, not sure about that now.There was only a couple of Indian restaurants but now they are everywhere, as are Thai. Love the variety. Strange there are no Polish restaurants as Melbourne had a large population of Polish immigrants after the war.
Lonsdale street also has some Greek still. Stalactites or Lamb in Chapel are two best spots for late night souvlaki..
Italian can be found anywhere, but the better spots are still in Carlton (not Lygon St!)
I use to go to to Borsch,Vodka & Tears in Windsor for Polish. There are also a few in Elsternwick. There was a great Hungarian restaurant there too. Glenhuntly Rd, near the classic cinema has some good restaurants--- Greek tavern, Thai etc
I found Sydney has an abundance of Thai, but I've found other types of food. Middle Eastern etc plus this Mexican wave that both Melb &Syd are having.
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