Food History

I visited the Royal Canberra Show a little while ago. I know I’ve told you that already and I know I’ve promised you photos, but I want to talk about bush food first. Again.

Bush food doesn’t entirely occupy my attention – also in my line of sight today is a brand new second hand chafing dish. That was from Gorman House Market, though, and I don’t get to give you a pretty photo of the food stalls at the Show if I tell you about the chafing dish. Also, last post I did about the Show, I forgot a bunch of useful information without which your life would be incomplete. For instance (useful bit of information #1) the Royal Canberra Show is the second-biggest agricultural show in New South Wales. I love this piece of data, because Canberra isn’t actually part of NSW.

I found a whole variety of bush food on sale. Many stalls stocked macadamia nuts and oil, or sold lemon myrtle or even seasoned their produce with lemon myrtle. Lemon myrtle was so popular, in fact, that one showbag contained a bottle of Outback Spirit’s Lemon Myrtle Dressing.

Showbags are bags (plastic or totes or backpacks, depending on the target market – my bit of the target market is obviously superior, because I ended up with hardy totes that currently hold teaching notes just perfectly) containing discounted products. Most of the children’s ones are for candy or popular TV shows or film characters and are very little discounted indeed. The adult showbags, on the other hand, are bigger and better and more heavily discounted. They are selling samples, basically, to encourage you to buy their product. Whether it’s candy or face cream, you will find a sample in a showbag if the manufacturers want it to be seen across Australia.

To find lemon myrtle dressing in a showbag means that bush foods are beginning to come of age. It comes alongside finding them on supermarket shelves. It’s also a sign that Australian food is still changing. We may still eat our roast meats and our seafood, but finally we have locally-produced sauces based on native plants to dress them with.

Did I remember to say that my other current obsession is identifying what shifts in food habits add up to? History in the making. Now for that Show picture I promised: admire the Aussie food!