Australia is a huge country and it has a lot of different kinds of food. In the past, the Aboriginal people of Australia ate animals like crocodiles and some insects like the witchetty grub. Aboriginal Australians travelled around the Australian countryside, or ‘bush', to find food.

When the first British and Irish people moved to Australia in the 1830s, they brought sheep and cows from Europe. They also brought traditional English and Irish recipes. Many of these recipes, like fish and chips and meat pies, are still popular today. They also created new Australian recipes such as the pavlova (a fruit dessert - named after a Russian dancer) and damper (a bread cooked in the bush).

After 1945, a lot of people came to live in Australia from countries like Italy, Germany, Greece, Thailand, and India. They brought recipes with them and Australians began to eat and drink different things. People started to drink espresso coffee and eat Mediterranean and Asian food.

A lot of modern Australians love cooking with fresh food. They often cook food on barbecues in their gardens or on the beach. Today more people also eat Aboriginal food like kangaroo and emu. Mark Olive, an Aboriginal chef, has a popular TV cookery programme about traditional bush food. There are always new recipes to try in Australia!