Thank you

We have more than 200 nationalities living on our shores, and I would like to say thank you to all the migrants who have made Australian food great. Bringing with you not just your colourful culture and tradition, but for blessing and inspiring us with your unique foods, ingredients and recipes.

Through food I have learned to embrace and celebrate our cultural differences. I remember feeling embarrassed on my eighth birthday because I had the Chilean version of Thousand Layer cake. Other kids had sponge with icing, and I just wanted to fit in. Of course now I'm grateful because I know how long it takes to make a Mille-feuille, and also because I'll take caramel and puff pastry over store-bought sponge and cream any day.

To those adventurous early European settlers who brought with them beef and wheat, two Australian exports now revered around the world, I say thank you. To the Swiss and Germans, without whom Barossa and Yarra Valleys would not be synonymous with wine. Many an evening has improved with a glass of vino. Most have been remembered, some have fallen into the foggy drunken abyss and yet I thank you for what surely was a great night. Post-war, the doors opened and 800,000 more Europeans decided to make Australia their home. Without you, would we have enjoyed borscht, baklava, churros or chorizo, cannoli, cannelloni, spaghetti Bolognese, or the always-regretted-3am souvlaki or kebab? For all of these things, I thank you.   

I’m grateful to the Chinese, who during the gold rush brought with them rice, ginger and their amazing stir fry technique. In the 1970's, Vietnamese and Cambodians gave us lemongrass, lime leaves and chilli. These ingredients form part of my diet almost daily. My addiction to the fragrant Vietnamese soup called “phở “ is legendary, and when I gave birth to a four-kilo baby without drugs, my reward was a Vietnamese pork roll. The Indian community has taught me to value the mortar and pestle; reinforcing my love of spices. Your introduction of cardamom to the Australian table has made my life so much sweeter or more savoury, it just depends on where I use it. So, thank you my dear Asian friends for all the foods you have given us. (Exception: the infamously stinky durian fruit, that you may keep!).  

My ethnicity has been a blessing, and while most people go out and spend a fortune on quince paste, I'm in my kitchen making a huge batch for next to nothing. I will teach my daughter to do the same, and to be proud of being half-Chilean (we have ceviche) a quarter Italian, (they have pasta) and a quarter Scottish (they have deep fried mars bars). While we can travel the world in search of the exotic, thanks to multicultural Australia and our love of food, we have so much on offer right here at home.