Just a warning to all of you about some of the food available in supermarkets here in Australia.
There is something lurking in many Australian made foods found in all Aussie supermarkets...(cue the Jaws shark music)
Generally speaking the Vegetarian range of foods available in Australia tends to not only be small and lacking in variety, but the most annoying thing is the HUGE difficulty in being able to find vegetarian food withour GARLIC in it. GARLIC seems to sneak it's way into everything!!! NOT ONLY vegetarian food but also many sauces, condiments and pastries here ALL seem to contain the dreaded foul smelling, horrible tasting, breath spoiling GARLIC!!!
Now this is okay for the large volume of you people who don't mind garlic, but for the few of us, like my wife and I who are not vegetarians but really HATE garlic, makes visiting the supermarket a terrifying experience. Yes..Turning the label over to find once again the dreaded G word, or sometimes even sneakily "hidden" under the guise of the word "spices", makes the shopping cheaper each week, but the trolley and our tummies left very empty!
Just thought we'd warn all you garlic haters out there before you arrived.
I am vegetatian and have been here 15 months now. The range of food available is very, very limited, and even simple things such as veggie suasages are disgusting.
Perhaps its better in the more developed areas, such as Sydney and Melbourne, but up on Sunshine Coast, where Queenslanders are meat mad, options are poor to say the least. Resteraunts don't really have much, often, the vegetarian option is just one dish, presumably the option is 'take it or leave it'!
Apart from this issue, Oz is great and love it, but I still dream of Tescos!
I couldn't agree with you more!
I miss the good range of veggie food in Tesco, back home. Although not a vegetarian, I still eat a lot of veggie foods and since being over here, I have spent so much time just trying to find edible vegetarian food in the supermarkets. They all taste dreadful.
Course, I have the added problem of gagging whenever I get so much as a whiff of garlic!
I have an allergy to garlic and certain food flavourings, usually found in cheese and onion crisps (except for Smiths crisps for some reason!!). When we were on holiday in the Gold Coast last year, we found a take away that sold lovely full roast dinners, such as whole chickens, roast potatoes, vegetables etc. I had been really looking forward to this roast dinner, as when we were there, one of our weeks in August was really cold and wet, and definately 'roast dinner weather'. When we got it home, the chicken and the roast potatoes were covered in garlic.
I also noticed that any take away food such as KFC is usually COVERED in salt. We went to Sea World and the chips had so much salt on that to eat them we had to wipe them with a serviette!! It really can't be healthy.
We are a family of plain food eaters, so enjoyed the nice fresh meat, fruit and veg, but I think i may struggle with take away food - which could be a good thing!!
I wouldn't say Brisbane wasn't a place for veggies but when there is a tv advert that advises you eat 4 portions of red meat a week (fantastic i've been eating extra to make me healthy) it will give you a clue of mentality.
When we were on holiday in the Gold Coast last year, we found a take away that sold lovely full roast dinners, such as whole chickens, roast potatoes, vegetables etc. I had been really looking forward to this roast dinner, as when we were there, one of our weeks in August was really cold and wet, and definately 'roast dinner weather'. When we got it home, the chicken and the roast potatoes were covered in garlic.
Ewwwww!!!!! That would be a real nightmare come true for me *insert barf emoticon here*.
Haha.. but I could take a wild guess at which food outlet that roast came from! If it's the place I am thinking of, it reeks of garlic whenever you walk past one of their outlets. Jeez, so you couldn't even tuck in to your grub.
I've got into the habit now of asking at every eaterie whether or not the dish I'd like to order contains garlic or not.
I hear you on the salt thing, too. We had some hot potato wedges whilst out, recently, and didn't notice the garlic til after it was too late and we'd eaten the lot. Bleuuurgh!
Someone told us the heavy garlic influence over here's due to the large Italian community. Don't know if that's true.
The Aussies love to cover their chips (hot chips) in 'chicken salt'. Tastes good.. but just a tad too salty for my liking..
I tend to try and stick to the basics here... fresh fruit and veg and NOT 4 servings of red meat per week as is advertised on the telly lately! (Yeah, that's not going to clog up them arteries, eh!).
The likes of Tesco's would do a roaring trade over here, with all the pommies out here! I know they opened up "Tesco Express" stores in California U.S. a couple of years ago.. would be cool to have them over here too...
I have to agree, that after all the damage done to farmers here, it would be such a shame to see Tescos infiltrate Oz as well. Looking on the bright side though, maybe there is a gap in the market that could be filled by someone with the skills and ambition. Anyone think they could start a vegetarian or healthy eating type of resturant with plenty of vege options? Or maybe some vege ready meals for the supermarkets?
It seems odd in a way that the Ozzies are very into sports and activities, but they seem to be rather behind on the healthy eating side of things.
Cara
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Quick question: Why as vegetarians are you struggling to find food. You have tons of fresh fruit and vegetables at your disposal. Please tell me you are not buying ready made vegetarian meals? Surely now is the time to start experimenting with new ideas.
Oh and the Southern Hemisphere is renown as meat eaters! Seriously nothing unusual about the ads.
WARNING - Aussie food
