1999 Energy drinks arrive in Australia
Energy drinks arrived in Australia in the late '90s. ‘V’ was first launched in New Zealand in 1997 and hit… Read More
1990s
1999 Dick Smith Foods, the Aussie way
In 1999, entrepreneur Dick Smith launched Dick Smith Foods. The move was prompted by the increasing foreign ownership of iconic… Read More
1999 McDonald’s launches McOz
The truly Australian touch in this burger was the addition of beetroot. The McOz consisted of a burger patty with… Read More
1999 Aussies love soft drink
In 1999, Australians drank 113 litres of soft drink per person per year, or 300 ml per person per day (ABS).… Read More
1998-9 Egg consumption declines
n 1968 the American Heart Association announced a dietary recommendation that you should eat no more than 300 mg of… Read More
1998 Nigella Lawson publishes How to Eat
If Jamie Oliver was all about energy, Nigella Lawson was all about sensuality. Her first book, How to Eat, had… Read More
1998 Great Vanilla Slice Triumph
The Great Vanilla Slice Triumph began in Ouyen in 1998 after then-Victorian premier Geoff Kennett claimed the vanilla slice from… Read More
1998 Broccolini introduced in USA
Broccolini, a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale, was invented by the Sakata Seed Company of Yokohama, Japan in 1993.… Read More
1998 SMH Good Food Month launched
The Sydney Morning Herald sponsored Sydney's Good Food Month in October as an adjunct to their Good Food Guide. The… Read More
1997 Tasting Australia begins in Adelaide
Aimed primarily at bringing international food and travel media to Australia, Tasting Australia was initially held in conjunction with the… Read More
1997 The Jamie phenomenon
Jamie Oliver became The Naked Chef. The impossibly jaunty young chef received his big break from appearing on television as… Read More
1997 Women cooking most
In a study called How Australians Use their Time, 1997, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that we still relied… Read More
1997 Arnott’s ownership passed to Campbell’s
The Arnott's ownership passed to the American Campbell’s Soup Company in 1997. Campbell’s had been increasing its stake in the company… Read More
1996 Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion
tephanie Alexander’s opus, The Cook's Companion, subtitled ‘The complete book of ingredients and recipes for the Australian kitchen’ went on… Read More
1996 Modern Australian food defined
The term “Modern Australian” first appeared in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guides in 1996. This description… Read More
1996 World’s first wine in a can
Barokes Wines was founded by Steve Barics and Greg Stokes, reputedly after narrowly avoiding an experience involving a shattered wine… Read More
1996 Community gardens get organised
The Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network was set up in 1996. The Network was started by Dr Darren… Read More
1996 Sunday trading throughout Victoria
Sunday trading was introduced on ten Sundays per year in 1991. In 1992, stores in the Melbourne CBD were permitted… Read More
1996 Gloria Jean’s arrives
The US coffee chain Gloria Jean's opened two stores in Sydney in 1996 and by 2003 was trading in every… Read More
1996 Woolworths moves into petrol
Woolworths was the first of the supermarket giants to move into the fuel business. The first Woolworths petrol outlet carried… Read More
1995 Smoking ban in ACT restaurants
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was the first state or territory government in Australia to introduce a total smoking ban… Read More
1995 Fags become Fads
Fags were candy cigarettes, produced since the 1930s, initially by Riviera Confectionery and later by Fyna Foods. They were white,… Read More
1995-96 Takeaway sushi
Sushi had appeared in Sydney restaurants as early as 1963 and by 1982 the Australian Women's Weekly was telling people… Read More
1995 Sydney’s first organic food market
British immigrant Elizabeth Taylor opened Sydney’s first organic food market at French’s Forest in Sydney, concentrating on locally grown food.… Read More
1995 E.coli outbreak highlights food safety
In South Australia, an E.Coli outbreak among people who had eaten contaminated Garibaldi metwurst killed one four year old child… Read More
1995 Slow Food Australia founded
Slow Food Australia operates through a series of convivia, each mandated directly from the Italian headquarters in Bra, Italy. The first… Read More
1995 Arrival of pay TV
The first subscription TV service was Galaxy, which offered eight channels via microwave and satellite. It was followed the same… Read More
1994: Liquor laws relaxed further in Victoria
The Victorian government revisited the liquor laws in 1994, creating the General Licence Class B which allowed establishments that didn’t… Read More
1994 First laneway bar in Melbourne
The first laneway bar in Melbourne was set up by a group of architects who wanted a quiet drinking spot… Read More
1994 Fly Buys program introduced
Fly Buys was originally a joint venture between Coles Myer, Shell and the National Australia Bank, offering flights in return… Read More
1994 Government regulates Anzac biscuits
The Minister for Veterans' Affairs must authorise the use of the term Anzac. In 1994 a general policy relating to… Read More
1994 First genetically engineered food
The FlavrSavr tomato became the first genetically engineered food to be commercially grown and licensed for human consumption by the… Read More
1994 Peter Doyle opens Cicada in Sydney
Chef Peter Doyle, realising that the old-style formality was out-of-step with the times, transformed Sydney institution Le Trianon into Cicada.… Read More
1993 Truffle farming starts in Tasmania
Two Tasmanians started Perigord Truffles of Tasmania, the first truffle farming operation in Australia. They inoculated the roots of oak… Read More
1993 Jill Dupleix’s New Food
According to its author, Jill Dupleix, New Food was based on new information and ideas we can all live by,… Read More
1993 Melbourne has world’s first McCafé
In an acknowledgement of Melbourne’s status as the coffee capital of Australia, McDonalds opened the first McCafé in the world… Read More
1993 First Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival was devised and, initially, financed by leading Melbourne ad-man Peter Clemenger as a way… Read More
1993 Fanny’s Restaurant closes
In the early 1990s, Australia paid a high price for the excesses of the 1980s with what Paul Keating famously… Read More
1993 Gay Bilson’s tripe tablecloth
The kitchen staff from Berowra Waters Inn restaurant, under the leadership of Gay Bilson, made a tablecloth of raw tripe… Read More
1992 Margarine outsells butter three to one
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report in 1994 quoted industry sources that put 1992 market shares of butter… Read More
1992 Greengrocers still sell most vegies
By this time Australia had 5541 supermarkets and 402 convenience stores. However, according to an Australian Supermarket Institute survey in… Read More
1991 Middle Eastern food at O’Connell’s
Greg Malouf started cooking upmarket Middle Eastern food at O’Connell’s Hotel in South Melbourne, redefining the possibilities of this cuisine.… Read More
1991 The term ‘Gastropub’ coined
It’s not a fashionable term anymore, but ‘Gastropub’ was coined in the UK in 1991 to describe pubs offering something… Read More
1991 Easter Bilby campaign introduced
The Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia (RFA) developed and registered the Easter Bilby campaign in December 1991. The aim was to raise… Read More
1991 Organic certification introduced
At the request of the organic industry, the Australian government sought to establish a national organic standard for production and… Read More
1991 First Orange F.O.O.D. Week
The Orange F.O.O.D. Week was initially held in April 1991 with a small number of visionary Orange producers and chefs,… Read More
1991 Kentucky Fried Chicken becomes KFC
With health-consciousness increasing, Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to eliminate the ‘F’ word. It became KFC. No longer ‘Finger-lickin’ good’,… Read More
1991 Pacific Dunlop acquires Petersville
The Petersville brands acquired by Pacific Dunlop included Edgell-Birds Eye, Peters Ice Cream, Herbert Adams Bakeries, Socomin and Four ‘n’Twenty.… Read More
1991 National Foods created
The new food giant, National Foods, was created by the Adelaide Steamship Company by amalgamating several dairy and food-related businesses with… Read More
1991 The National Food Authority founded
The new National Food Authority promoted cooperation between governments, industry and the community to provide a safe and wholesome food supply.… Read More
1991 Darley Street Thai opens
David Thompson opened Darley Street Thai in Sydney’s Newtown in 1991, taking Thai food in Australia to a new level.… Read More
1990 The Hard Rock Café
Cheap and cheerful was the order of the day as the recession bit. Part of the international chain, The Hard… Read More
1990 Paul Keating’s “recession we had to have”
In 1990, Treasurer Paul Keating admitted that Australia was in recession. "The first thing to say is, the accounts do… Read More
1990 Franklins adopts barcode scanners
SIMS supermarket in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray was the first supermarket in Australia to use barcode scanning and Coles… Read More
1990 Milk, calcium and osteoporosis
The Australian Dairy Corporation (now Dairy Australia) began its osteoporosis campaign, talking about calcium intake. Although milk had always been… Read More
1990 Tiny Teddy biscuits launched
Arnott’s Tiny Teddy biscuits hit the market, becoming the most successful product launch in the company’s history. More than five… Read More
1990s Food allergies in the news
Studies showed that peanut allergy in children increased from 0.5 to 1.5% between 1989 and 1994-6 in the UK and… Read More
1990s More pre-packaged meals
In the 1990s, individually packaged, ready-made meals and snacks appeared in increasing numbers in the supermarket. Microwave pasteurisation techniques extended… Read More
1990 Heyday of the Caesar salad
Although generally held to be invented in 1924 by the eponymous Caesar Cardini at his hotel and restaurant in Tijuana,… Read More
1990s Fusion cooking
Fusion cooking started before the 1990s (at Tetsuya’s, for example) but in this decade became more widespread. Chefs combined eastern… Read More