Australian cuisine Australian cuisine is the food and cooking practices of Australia and its inhabitants. As a modern nation of large-scale immigration, Australia has absorbed culinary contributions and adaptations from various cultures around the world, including British, European, Asian and Middle Eastern. A typical Australian meat pie with tomato sauce Indigenous Australians have occupied Australia for some 65,000 years, during which they developed a unique hunter-gatherer diet, known as bush tucker, drawn from regional Australian plants and animals. Australia became a collection of British colonies from 1788 to 1900, during which time culinary tastes were strongly influenced by British and Irish migrants, with agricultural products such as beef cattle, sheep and wheat becoming staples in the local diet. The Australian gold rushes introduced more varied immigrants and cuisines, mainly Chinese, whilst post-war immi...