Australian food culture has changed enormously since the 1980s and is now among the most interesting in the world — not because of a national cuisine, but because the country absorbed migrants from Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, and developed a serious restaurant culture in the major cities that draws on all of it.
Sydney and Melbourne are both excellent food cities. Melbourne in particular has a coffee culture that takes itself very seriously — flat whites, single-origin espresso, and a density of good cafes that puts most European cities to shame. Brunch has become a near-sacred institution: expect queues at popular spots on weekends, poached eggs with every imaginable variation, and excellent smashed avocado (yes, it really did start here).
The classics: A meat pie — ground beef in gravy in a short pastry case, often with tomato sauce — remains an Australian institution, sold at every service station and at football grounds. Fish and chips, bought wrapped in paper near the beach, is another. The "chicken parmigiana" (chicken schnitzel topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese) is the dominant pub meal, found on menus from Darwin to Hobart. A burger "with the lot" comes with a fried egg, beetroot, and pineapple, which is exactly as Australian as it sounds.
Native ingredients are increasingly on restaurant menus after decades of being ignored. Kangaroo is lean, flavourful, and widely available; it appears on pub menus and at better restaurants. Barramundi (a mild, flaky freshwater and estuarine fish) is the nation's most beloved fish. Macadamia nuts, Warrigal greens, lemon myrtle, and finger lime are used by chefs experimenting with indigenous flavours. Moreton Bay bugs (a type of flathead lobster from Queensland) are a particular treat.
Vegemite is the dark, intensely salty yeast extract spread that Australians eat on toast from childhood. Visitors who pile it on like Nutella will be disappointed; the right application is a thin scrape on buttered toast.
BBQ is cultural as much as culinary. Australians grill — sausages, lamb chops, prawns — at home, in parks, at beaches. Public gas BBQs are provided free in national parks and on many beach foreshore areas.
Wine: Australia's wine regions — the Barossa Valley, Margaret River, Clare Valley, Yarra Valley, McLaren Vale — produce excellent wine at all price points. South Australian Shiraz is the flagship variety. Riesling from the Clare and Eden valleys is underrated and exceptional.
Seafood: Given the coastline, the seafood is what you'd expect. Fresh oysters (Sydney rock oysters are the local variety) at the fish market; prawns by the kilo from roadside fishmongers; coral trout and reef fish in Queensland. The Sydney Fish Market is the second largest fish market in the world by variety.