2009 Pollywaffle discontinued
The Pollywaffle chocolate bar was introduced in 1947 by Hoadley’s Chocolates. It consisted of marshmallow inside a chocolate-coated wafer tube… Read More
2000s
2009 Domino’s fast food app
Domino's, who pioneered home delivery of pizza in Australia, released its first fast food app in 2009. The app allowed customers to… Read More
2009 South Australia bans plastic supermarket bags
South Australia was the first Australian state to ban lightweight plastic supermarket bags, phasing in the new laws from 1… Read More
2009 Bottled water ban in Bundanoon
Residents of Bundanoon, in the New South Wales Southern Highlands, voted to ban the sale of bottled water in their town, making… Read More
2009 MasterChef TV series airs
The first of the MasterChef Australia TV series went to air on 27 April and kept viewers enthralled until 19… Read More
2008 Starbucks closes Australian stores
Starbucks closed 62 of their 85 Australian stores across Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, South Australia and Tasmania,… Read More
2008 Bottled water gains market share
An AC Nielson survey in April 2008 showed that still water had a 9.9% market share of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink products,… Read More
2008 GM crop moratorium lifted
The NSW and Victorian governments lifted the moratorium on the planting of genetically modified canola early in 2008. With GM… Read More
2008 International Year of the Potato
The United Nations declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato, to focus world attention on the role the potato… Read More
2008 Urbanspoon launches in Australia
Launched by three partners in the USA in 2006, Urbanspoon provided an online forum for peer-reviewing of restaurants. The service… Read More
2008 Subway abandons Anzac Biscuits
The Anzac Biscuit recipe is protected under Australian legislation, policed by the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Commercially made Anzac Biscuits… Read More
2008 Australia shopping with plastic
By 2008, approximately 13 million credit cards and 28 million debit cards were on issue in Australia. Visa said the… Read More
2007 25th anniversary of “Good Living”
The 25th anniversary of Good Living in the Sydney Morning Herald prompted a feature wherein several of the Good Living… Read More
2007 Locavore is word of the year
The term "locavore" was named the Word of the Year for 2007 in the Oxford American Dictionary. Locavore was coined by… Read More
2007 Australia’s first truffle festival
Although Australia’s first farmed black truffle was harvested in 1999 in Tasmania, Australia's first truffle festival took place in an… Read More
2007 Australia’s first edible insect farm
In many countries, eating insects is no big deal. Here in Australia, First Nations people have been hoeing into witchety… Read More
2007 Prime Minister plugs Iced VoVo
The Iced VoVo is a sweet biscuit first made by Arnott’s around 1904. It has two strips of pink icing… Read More
2006 First Indigenous celebrity chef
The TV series Outback Café was not Mark Olive's first appearance on the small screen - he had previously hosted… Read More
2006 Food books are big sellers
Two million food books, worth almost sixty million dollars, were sold in Australia in 2006 (Neilsen Bookscan). Writing about food and… Read More
2005 Cupcake craze hits Australia
Thanks to the popularity of the American TV series Sex and the City, these highly decorated little cakes, the signature… Read More
2005 Adelaide Food Summit
The Adelaide Food Summit on The Future of Food was held between 25-26 October as a Tasting Australia event and… Read More
2005 Seafood sustainability becomes an issue
Concerns about seafood sustainability were voiced at Tasting Australia in Adelaide and at a Slow Food conference in Melbourne. The… Read More
2005 Farmers’ markets turn over $40 million
At the second National Australian Farmers' Markets Conference in Albury Wodonga the first substantive Australian research into farmers' markets was… Read More
2005 Lamb for Australia Day
As a response to declining lamb sales, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation recruited former Aussie Rules footballer and media… Read More
2004 Grill’d rethinks the hamburger chain
The hamburger has been around in Australia since the 1930s. The traditional "one with the lot" was cooked to order… Read More
2004 Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me
The American documentary film Super Size Me by director Morgan Spurlock aimed to expose the evils of fast food. The film… Read More
2003 Australian Ark of Taste established
The Ark of Taste (or Arca del Gusto) is an initiative by Slow Food International to identify and preserve heritage… Read More
2003 Mo Vida rides Spanish wave
Barcelona-born Frank Camorra opened Mo Vida in laneway in Melbourne, with tapas as bar food and more substantial plates to… Read More
2003 GM canola approved
In 2003 the Federal Office of the Gene Technology Regulator approved GM canola for cultivation in Australia. It concluded that… Read More
2003 Aussie is world’s best barista
In 2003, 25-year-old Paul Bassett from Australia was officially named the world's best barista. He won the World Barista Championship title… Read More
2003 Four ‘n Twenty Australian again – for 19 years
In 2003, Patties Pies bought Four ‘n Twenty, Herbert Adams and Nanna’s from Simplot, putting the iconic pie brands back… Read More
2003 Australian Farmers’ Markets Association formed
The driving force behind the formation of the Australian Farmers' Markets Association, and its first President, was food writer and… Read More
2003 Chia farm established in the Kimberley
It seems that every generation has its own superfoods. In the past, kiddies lined up for a spoonful of Saunders… Read More
2003 Fuel dockets in supermarkets
Woolworths first became active in the petrol market in 1996, with a Woolworths Plus Petrol station in Dubbo, New South… Read More
2003 Coles Bay bans plastic shopping bags
Coles Bay has a permanent population of around 200, and is located on the edge of the Freycinet National Park… Read More
2002 Food Standards Code introduced
The Food Standards Code set the standards for food labelling and composition for all States and Territories throughout Australia and New… Read More
2002 El Bulli named world’s best
The el Bulli restaurant in Roses, Catalonia, under chef Ferran Adrià, was named best restaurant in the world by Restaurant… Read More
2002 Paleo Diet developed
Based on the (false) premise that humans haven't evolved fast enough to cope with foods introduced since the end of… Read More
2002 delicious. magazine launched
Precious spelling (with a lower case d and a full stop) didn't prevent this ABC-backed magazine from proving a success.… Read More
2002 The GI Diet popularised
The concept of the glycemic index was developed by Canadian Dr David Jenkins in 1980-81. His research showed that some starchy… Read More
2002 Gastronomy degree introduced
The Graduate degree program in Gastronomy (which led to a Master of Arts in Gastronomy) was a collaboration between Le… Read More
2002 New wine can developed
Barokes Wines was founded by Steve Barics and Greg Stokes, reputedly after narrowly avoiding an experience involving a shattered wine… Read More
2001 School garden program begins in Melbourne
In 2001, a community group calling themselves Cultivating Community partnered with celebrity chef and restaurateur Stephanie Alexander to found a… Read More
2001 Donna Hay magazine launched
The former food editor at Murdoch Magazine’s Marie Claire, Donna Hay had a trademark style of simple recipes and clean,… Read More
2001 Drive-through coffee
Muzz Buzz, a drive-through coffee chain, was founded by Craig Muzzeroll, who opened the first outlet in Belmont, Perth. The… Read More
2001 Australian Barista Championship begins
Although coffee culture began seeping into Australian life in the mid-20th century with the introduction of the espresso machine, it… Read More
2001 Aldi arrives in Australia
The German chain Aldi opened its first Australian store in Sydney in 2001 and by 2004 had 54 stores across… Read More
2001 Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation:The Dark Side of the All-American Meal explores the global influence of the American fast… Read More
2001 – 2008 Millennium drought
The worst drought in living memory hit Australia’s south east and south west, impoverishing farmers and increasing food prices. The… Read More
2000 Obesity on the rise
The 1999-2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study indicated over seven million, or 60% of adult Australians aged 25 years… Read More
2000 Juice bars hit Australia
The pioneers of the juice bar as we know it, Boost Juice and Viva Juice, were both founded in 2000, selling… Read More
2000 Gene Technology Act
The Australian Federal Government passed the Gene Technology Act in December 2000 to regulate the research, use and release of… Read More
2000 GST introduced
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced by John Howard's Liberal government in 2000, providing another incentive to eat… Read More
2000 McDonald’s the Olympic restaurant
The official Olympic restaurant for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was that great Australian institution – McDonald's. The Sydney 2000… Read More
2000 Starbucks launched in Australia.
Chains like Starbucks and Gloria Jeans were to coffee what the Eurovision song contest is to rock and roll. Their… Read More