This food timeline is mainly about the revolution in Australian food that has occurred during the baby-boomers’ lifetime, although I’m working on adding more about the previous decades as well. Also included are overseas events and trends that had an impact here. The entries are brief, but there are lots of links if you want more information.
Entries are by decade, scroll down (it’s long) and add posts decade by decade, or use the menu at right to jump to a decade.
Jan O’Connell.
According to ‘Australian Food Statistics’, a report produced by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) in 2013, with data extracted from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the value of food and liquor retailing in Australia grew by 4.2 per cent in 2011-12, to $135.8 billion. Of that spending, supermarkets and grocery outlets accounted for 62%, cafes and restaurants 14%, take-away outlets 11%, liquor retailing 7% and other food outlets 6%.
Australian industry research group BIS Shrapnel has reported a 34% decrease in the number of corner stores between 2010 and 2012. They attribute this to the rise in the number of petrol stations incorporating convenience stores with expanded food and beverage offerings. Many of these are owned by Coles or Woolworths. An estimated 2725 corner stores remain, with the average annual takings decreasing from $985,000 to $750,000 in the past two years.
Inghams Chicken, a family business founded in south-west Sydney in 1918, has been sold to US-based private equity firm TPG Capital. Inghams and competitor, Baiada (whose brands include Lilydale and Steggles) control more than 70% of the Australian chicken business. TPG’s global investments span many industries including financial services, travel, technology, retail, media, consumer products and healthcare. Inghams operations will continue under the new owners.
In March 2013 the remaining factory of iconic Australian brand Rosella was closed down after the receivers failed to find a buyer for the business. The brand itself has been offered for sale, so may yet continue. Much was made of the return of Rosella to Australian hands when Unilever unloaded it to Stuart Alexander & Co Pty Ltd in 1963. The business was sold again in 2006 to Gourmet Food Holdings, but receivers were appointed in December 2012. By then Rosella was reduced to one Sydney factory with 70 employees. >>See Rosella Preserving Company founded, 1895.
A New Zealand coroner found that the consumption of up to 10 litres of Coca Cola a day was likely to have contributed to the cardiac arrhythmia that caused the death of Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old mother of eight, in 2010. He called for health warnings about caffeine and sugar content to be displayed on soft drink bottles. Harris also smoked 30 cigarettes a day and ate very little. All her teeth had been extracted.
For a few weeks leading up to Australia Day, McDonald’s in Australia became ‘Macca’s', on the website, in advertising, on menus and even on signs on selected stores. McDonald’s research found that 55 per cent of Australians called the company Macca’s and they have submitted the word to the Macquarie Dictionary for consideration.
In June 2012, international food company Nestlé sold Peters Ice Cream to the Australian private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners. The sale sees this famous Australian brand back in local hands. Peters was founded in Sydney in 1907, and was successively owned by Petersville Sleigh, Adsteam and Pacific Dunlop. It became foreign owned in 1995 when Pacific Dunlop sold its food assets and Nestlé bought the ice cream division.
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide again named Quay as its restaurant of the year. In Melbourne, The Age’s Guide chose Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde. The best Victorian country restaurant was Provenance in Beechworth, with its chef, Michael Ryan, winning the chef of the year award.
The Australian Year of the Farmer was launched by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, in October 2011 on the site of Australia’s first farm, Farm Cove, now the site of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The aims of the year were to celebrate the continuing importance of farming to Australia and to strengthen the connections between rural and urban Australia.
Two people died from liver damage after a New Year’s eve dinner where they ate Amanita phalloides, or Death Cap Mushrooms. A third person later died in hospital. Death caps have been involved in the majority of deaths around the world from mushroom poisoning, including that of Roman emperor Claudius.
It took 123 years for the world’s population to go from one billion to two billion but only 12 to grow from six billion to seven billion. There are expected to be ten billion people on earth by 2083. October 31 was named by the United Nations as Seven Billion Day.
The Danish government introduced a tax surcharge on foods containing more than 2.3% saturated fats. This initiative to combat heart disease and obesity came despite the fact that only 10% of Danes are obese, compared to more than 33% in the USA.
Australian supermarket Product of the Year was Organic Bubs Baby Food Pouches. This product ticked all the right boxes by being carbon neutral, organic, no preservatives, no artificial flavours and made in Australia. And it’s mess-free (until they start eating it, presumably).
On July 14, Greenpeace activists in full biohazard gear, broke into a CSIRO research facility in Canberra and destroyed a genetically modified wheat crop. They claimed it was to be used in “the world’s first human feeding trials of GM wheat, without adequate safety testing.” The CSIRO and the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator said there was no significant risk to human health.
Big lamington – artist’s impression
On June 11, 2011, Toowoomba broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest lamington at the Newtown Rugby League Club. The record-beater weighed 2361 kilograms, equilivent to 45000 normal lamingtons, and eclipsed the previous record held by Ipswich. Both cities claim to be the birthplace of this Australian classic and Toowoomba is contemplating erecting a “big lamington” as a tourist attraction.
Australia has more than 1250 Subways, 845 Domino’s, 780 McDonald’s and 300 Hungry Jack’s, with 600 KFCs across Australia and New Zealand. It was estimated that Australians would spend $37 billion on takeaway food in 2011.
The consumer organisation, Choice, named Hungry Jack’s Ultimate Double Whopper as the worst fast food, with a single burger delivering almost 60 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily kilojoule intake.
Someone who has seen (and done) it all posted this amusing summary of restaurants’ food presentation styles since the 1950s. Eras include the Miniscule Era, the Gigantic Era, the Stacking Era, the Sprinkling Era and the Drizzle Era. The writer is clearly of the ‘old school’ and more than a little scornful about molecular gastronomy.
According to Restaurant magazine, six of the top ten best restaurants in the world were still European restaurants. Spain appeared three times, the USA twice, Brazil, Italy, the UK, France and Denmark once. Denmark’s noma was again named the best restaurant in the world.
Bananas suddenly became a luxury item when Cyclone Yasi ripped through Queensland banana plantations in early February.
Coles and Woolworths saw their online grocery sales double in 2010, suggesting that a trend that got off to a slow start in the early 1990s was finally gaining momentum.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2010, there were an estimated 134,000 agricultural businesses across Australia operating on 400 million hectares (or 52% of the nation’s landmass), including 26 million hectares under crop (Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2009–10, 7121.0). Around 60% of Australia’s agricultural production is exported (ABARES, 2011b).
The lastest “in” cuisines were Korean, Mexican, South American (BBQ) and Scandinavian. Or, if you believe Matt Preston, Spanish, Latin American and Japanese.
noma (Denmark) displaced El Bulli as Restaurant magazine’s best in the world. The Danish restaurant introduced foraging as a fundamental part of the menu and local ingredients include Icelandic skyr curd, halibut, Greenland musk ox, berries and water.
The culinary contest/reality show Masterchef proved so popular in Australia that the pre-election television debate between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, had to be moved to a different time slot because it would clash with Masterchef Series Two final. And no prizes for guessing which program rated better.
After skipping a scheduled appearance in 2009, Tasting Australia moved from spring to Autumn, and was held 29 April to 6 May. It continued to include the Food Media Awards and the talk series Word of Mouth.
Pizza Hut Australia launched an iPhone app taking ordering pizza to a new level of geekdom. The App, with a range of features including augmented reality, reached 70,000 downloads within the first 30 days of launch.
House brands reach 24.5 per cent of sales in Coles, with more than 3800 own-brand lines.
Macarons became “the new cupcakes”. Consisting of two almond meal and egg white biscuits, sandwiched together with ganache, macarons in their current form were invented in Paris in the early 20th century by Pierre Desfontaines Ladurée. Flavours can be wild (violet blackcurrant, rosewater and raspberry) and one bakery even concocted a Lamington version for Australia Day. Macarons caused a stir on Masterchef and macaron towers have become the new croquembouche as a wedding cake.