In light of my most recent post about the food I've found to enjoy in Australia, I thought it might be important to include those foods that are in fact awful. Since I've learned what I do really like to eat here, it seems to only be fair to mention what I'd skip altogether if I could do it over. Consider it my own personal warning.
1. Fairy bread – I still haven't been able to fully understand what it is about bread, not even toast, being heavily buttered then covered in rainbow sprinkles, also known as "100's and 1,000's," that's supposed to seem enticing, but the Australians are crazy about it.
2. Vegemite – extremely salty, dark brown, yeast extract on my toast for breakfast? No thanks.
3. American Candy Bars – they all seem just a little off. The Twix, for instance, tastes like it's been left over since Halloween.
4. Chicken from Asian restaurants – I am going to start with the disclaimer that I am VERY picky when it comes to chicken, but any chicken dish I've gotten from an Asian style restaurant here I have ended up skipping the chicken part entirely. I think it may be more customary to use other parts of the chicken that we aren't used to eating, but it almost always appears grayish in color with a funny, unpleasant taste.
5. Licorice sticks – they take a long chewy licorice type candy and stuff it with an uncomplimentary chewier taffy that you might mistake for bubblegum at first. They're way too sweet and weird tasting and will just leave you with an upset stomach.
6. Deep fried shells of shellfish – we peel the shells off of shrimp for a reason, why would I want to eat it once it's battered and deep-fried?
All of that being said, there's a couple things the jury's still out on:
1. The sushi – the sushi here is served hotdog style in one long roll. One thing I found particularly odd is that the tuna rolls have cooked tuna fish in them and you will also find sushi rolls with different ingredients than we're used to in the US such as teriyaki chicken. I actually really like these different variations they have, however, the seaweed is wrapped on the outside, so I usually take that part off. This makes an absolute mess out of the sushi, but I find it makes it taste a great deal better.
2. The pizza – it's not awful, but it's not particularly good generally. What I do appreciate is the wide variety of toppings available.
3.
Kangaroo - if prepared correctly it can be pretty good. It's a little chewy and can have a funny aftertaste, but not bad. I first encountered kangaroo at a welcome party for the international students where it was mass prepared on skewers and it tasted like human flesh. Beware the preparation, it's crucial.
4. Meat Pies – Expect to experience third degree burns in your mouth from the liquid based filler of these pies being fully trapped within a flakey crust and heating up to a molten lava. Twenty minutes after getting the meat pie when it has finally reached a semi-safe eating temperature, they can be decently good, but whether or not it's worth the price of a peeling mouth, I'm not so sure.
I should also mention there are a couple things that differ pretty greatly than what we have in the US, so here are some things to look out for:
1.
The coffee – it's not like ours. If you want just regular coffee you have to specify just straight black coffee, which is referred to as a "long black." If you just order a coffee you're going to get it made pretty much half coffee, half cream and a lot of sugar. I've also completely given up on trying to order an iced coffee. The first time I got a hot coffee with two ice cubes in it and the second time I got a coffee with ice cream in it. Also, the coffee is so much stronger than ours, so the little Dixie cups that are the smalls are that tiny for good reason.
2. Eggs and Milk NOT in the refrigerated section – It's totally okay! When I first saw milk and eggs casually placed on racks in the cereal aisle I thought someone was definitely getting fired later that day. They have a very highly pasteurized milk that can last up to nine months without refrigeration, but must be drank within seven days after opening. As for the eggs, my Australian friend Jordi made a very good point to me: when a hen lays an egg, it's not cold. When the eggs are being transported, they're not kept cold. They're only refrigerated once they get to our supermarkets – so it's completely fine and normal.
