BC vs Modern Australian Cuisine

[SBonner]

We share a common ocean, language, proximity to Asia, and great cuisine. I'm curious from e-gullet readers how they feel about the differences between the cuisine of Vancouver and let's say Sidney and Melbourne. Although I have yet to make a trip to Australia; I've amassed a good collection of "Modern Australian" recipes and have found the flavours, textures, and techniques give then Australian cuisine a slight edge. I open the doors for discussion.

Cheers,

Stephen

[Andrew Morrison]

yeah...but it's australia...

but seriously, i could only speak with some semblance of experience about wine in this comparison scenario.

as far as cuisine is concerned, i think it's a fascinating comparison and i'd never considered it before. I have a sneaking suspicion that the major differences would be in the relative exoticism of our respective ingredients. I can't imagine they get many savary island clams, balsamic from malahat farms, or wild salmon freshly plucked from the charlottes. on the flipside, we don't get much roo here, nor seafood from the arufura sea.

very interesting, and equally so if posed as a wine question.

andrew

Edited January 16, 2005 by editor@waiterblog (log)

[PaoPao]

Can't say I even ever heard of Modern Australian Cuisine before, so I googled it and found and interesting site: http://www.upfromaustralia.com/ausfavfood.html

Would you have some other web links that could familiarize us more with these types of recipes?

I have to say my curiosity is peaked with the mention of Cantonese stir-fried kangaroo meat ......

Edited January 16, 2005 by PaoPao (log)

[Ducky]

I think it is very difficult to say anything definitive in reply on this thread, but as a previous very frequent visitor Down Under my very impressionistic view is that Australian cuisine and the Australian wine industry are both more highly evolved than their counterparts in BC. They have simply been at it much longer - so this stands to reason. I think the Aussies were even ahead of the Californians in exploiting the whole Asian cornucipia in their fusion styles. And of course the Aussies began to pay high respect to their celebrity chefs when we were still eating Calamari at Orestes.

This is not a criticism - but IMO it will take another generation or so for our cuisine to really mature - before we produce our Donna Hays and Neil Perrys and have the breadth and depth of good local cuisine that you find in, say, Sydney. Undoubtedly there is some brilliant cooking happening here - but it's early days.

[The Chefs Office]

(Live from Sydney!)

Kangaroo meat/emu/etc. is certainly not what it is all about here. Far from it.

Style, influence and the passion/drive of the Australian food scene is what is the real key to the level of skill and focus here.

Although I am a noted non supporter of "name" chefs over here, check out some of these links for what may be seen to be examples of great modern Aussie restaurants:

http://www.ariarestaurant.com/main/index.php

http://www.guillaumeatbennelong.com.au/

http://www.flyingfish.com.au/

http://www.rockpool.com/rp_home.aspx

http://www.merivale.com/establishment/est/

http://www.tetsuyas.com/

http://www.becasse.com.au/

http://www.users.bigpond.com/marquerestaurant/

the list goes on....

[*Deborah*]

I'm scared to wonder what a "Bug Meat Boudin Blanc" is...but the tasting menu at Aria sounds lovely.

I will explore some others. Thanks for the links!

[The Chefs Office]

Don't cringe too soon!

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2548.html

"Bugs" are one of Australia's great little secrets!

[*Deborah*]

Of course atm I am having a huge crustacean phobia, having looked at that spider crab on the other thread...

Glad it's not some sort of grub, though.

[Chef Metcalf]

I'd give just about anything for a fresh Morton Bay Bug!

I found them here once frozen from a guy selling seafood on the side of the road on Native land. Okay, but not as good as in Oz.

cm

[*Deborah*]

I'd give just about anything for a fresh Morton Bay Bug!

I found them here once frozen from a guy selling seafood on the side of the road on Native land. Okay, but not as good as in Oz.

cm

←

I think it's time for you to take a nice Pacific tour, first those wasabi things, now this!

[shelora]

I can get equally jazzed about B.C. cuisine as I can about what the Aussie's are doing. Their food magazines are totally inspiring and Donna Hay's approach to cooking for home cooks is simple, healthy, tasty and right on the mark.

There is no reason why our wine and food industry can't compete with what is going on down under. We just have to keep at it. Keep perfecting and refining.

There is such a buzz in the Vancouver food scene these days. It's quite exciting.

s

[ozmouse]

hi folks.

chased you down on the vancouver board steve!!

i posted to the aussie board. here is the link

my diatribe

will have to try and reply to here. more lively discussion going on here.

cheers

ozmouse

[SBonner]

Hello Vancouver e-gullet readers.

Check out the thread I started here in the Vancouver and Australian board. Our Aussi cousins have some interesting comments on Vancouver cuisine. It is most refreshing to read and should be a wake up call for us!

Cheers,

Stephen

[barolo]

Good topic.

I think a lot of the differences come about as a result of our geography and location in the world and immigration patterns. I think many, not all, of the differences in perceptions about what is good or better in a location arise from people missing their familiar favourites. Things in Australia that stood out for me:

BYO restaurants - wonderful, made for a more lively and relaxed restaurant scene. Our liquor laws in BC are pathetic, but Quebec has a better vibe. Service was friendly but pretty incompetent in many of the more casual restaurants. Lack of chains meant more interesting independents, but I suspect chains will take over there too.

Fresh fruit and veg: Overall a longer growing season and therefore better and fresher selection. But our cherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries in season are much better and much cheaper.

Fish: Again I think a longer season gives the Aussies an edge, but there was lots of not fresh fish to be found in Australia.

Wine: Pretty hard to find non-Aussie wines for reasonable prices. I like cold climate whites and missed them in Australia. I found the heat there not conducive to drinking big reds. I loved wine touring in Margaret River. Agree BC liquor stores not the most service oriented, but I'll take our wine selection any day over "all Australian all the time" - not to say I don't like Australian wine. Besides I live near a private wine store.

Food outside the major centres: A wasteland for both countries, except in pockets, but I found Australia had even smaller centres with fewer amenties. Coffee outside the main centres in Australia - very bad even worse than here. Quebec again probably does better at this than anywhere else in Canada.

Food Markets: The markets in Adelaide and Melbourne (especially) were very good and more food oriented as compared to Granville Island which is about much more than food. Granville Island definitely suffers from being such a tourist attraction, they can get away with too much. Farmers markets in Ottawa, when I was there for an extended visit, were much better than Vancouver's and more prevalent.

Other comments:

US influence: Yes, I think to our detriment we have access to lots of relatively cheap and crappy US food which works to the disadvantage our local producers, in BC anyway.

Parochrialism: Pretty similar in both countries.

It is hard to generalize about two such large countries with great regional differences.