A Taste of Home in Sydney

Sydney is a young city by most travelers’ standards, and then, hardly a building remains from the first colonial settlements. One could spend less than a day to see the major architectural attractions that might take weeks in Italy or Cambodia.

One doesn’t come to Australia primarily for hard-to-find culinary adventures either. Ask an Australian for authentic Australian cuisine and they’ll serve you British relics like afternoon tea and hot-cross buns on Easter. If you’re unlucky, they’ll hand you a jar of Vegemite.

Traveling in Australia is really about getting to the ancient outdoors – it’s some of the oldest land on the planet – and some people like living deep within its interior.

With only 22 million people in this vast space, it’s the “outdoors” itself that makes dietary options differ dramatically across the country. To get food to outback communities, eighteen-wheelers tow several trailer containers in massive “road trains” that reportedly blow cars off the highway. In the Outback, this makes the variety of food sparse and the cost high. I saw a recent news report on one town’s market – the only market – where mushrooms were being sold for $25 a bag. Most people called it extortion. There was certainly lack of competition.

City cuisine, by contrast, is a product of a relatively new, immigrant nation, not unlike the US – with such polyglot cultures and tastes, I keep expecting to turn a corner to find a Chinese Food-cum-Donut Shop like the one around the corner from my house in Oakland.

Sydney’s particular affluence allows for a focus on organic, fresh and local. It’s all pretty-salads-with-light-vinaigrettes and pan-roasted-seasonal-veggies-with-baked-ricotta-and-mint-parsley-dressing kind of food. You can always find a poached-eggs-with-asparagus for breakfast, as well as tons of raw foodie options, like goji-cacao Bliss Balls on Bondi Road. It makes the Californian in me swoon.