2026 Michelin Guide comes to Australia
In 2026, the first Michelin Guide inspectors arrived in Australia. Or, more specifically, in South Australia. Their presence was the… Read More
2020s
2026 New Sydney Fish Market opens
The new Sydney Fish Market, proudly trumpeting its status as the largest fish market in the southern hemisphere, opened for… Read More
2025 Food trends
It's a given that, as we approach the end of the year, publications start reviewing what has happened over the… Read More
2025 New wave of Greek restaurants
There have been Greek restaurants and cafés in Australia since at least the 1870s, when Athanassio Comino opened his fish… Read More
2025 Yo-Chi goes international
It's been called "Gen-Z's nightclub". The phenomenon that is Yo-Chi owes its success to far more than the frozen yoghurt… Read More
2025 High-protein everything
In 2025, the high-protein trend, which had been building for decades, reached a new peak. It was fuelled by social… Read More
2025 S.A. bans fish-shaped soy sauce bottles
The fish-shaped soy sauce bottles that come free with every sushi order are the latest casualties in South Australia's war… Read More
2025 CSIRO stocktake of Australia’s food system
Given Australians' cost-of-living struggles, the growing number of people relying on food charities and the increasing awareness of the problem… Read More
2025 Egg shortages worsen
It seems periodic egg shortages are something we may have to get used to. The main culprit is avian influenza,… Read More
2024 Matcha latte popularity sparks shortage
Once upon a time, the choice of drinks in your average café was limited to coffee, coffee with milk or… Read More
2024 Yogo Dirt Dessert reintroduced in WA
I love it when I discover regional specialties - foods that demonstrate Australia isn't as geographically homogenous as we might… Read More
2024 Emergency food drive at Foodbank
In the winter of 2024, Foodbank Victoria was running out of food. The dire situation reflected the increasing food insecurity… Read More
2024 1000th post on the Australian Food Timeline
It's more of a milestone for me personally than for Australian food in general but, for the 1000th post on… Read More
2024 Supermarket inquiry announced by ACCC
Amid surging concern about the cost of living, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced in January 2024 that… Read More
2024 – Dubai chocolate craze
We had the cupcake craze and the macaron craze. Then, in 2024, came the Dubai chocolate craze. It began, of… Read More
2023 Google’s top ten recipes
The end of 2023 was marked by the release of Google's top ten recipes for the year - Australia's most-searched… Read More
2023 Some KFC outlets go cashless
Some customers weren't happy, but in 2023 a number of KFC outlets moved to cashless sales only. According to the… Read More
2023 Beef Wellington gets a poisonous reputation
Just as anyone who saw the 1970s film Stork could never look at a smoked oyster the same way again,… Read More
2023 Degustation prices hit new heights
It's likely a new record for degustation prices in Australia. In March 2023, chef Mauro Colagreco, whose French fine diner… Read More
2022 Hallucinogenic spinach recalled
In December 2022, more than 200 people were poisoned by eating their greens. The hallucinogenic spinach had been contaminated with… Read More
2022 Top Australian food companies
In December 2022, Food & Drink magazine published a feature on Australia's 100 top food companies. Of the ten top… Read More
2022 Iceberg lettuce prices soar
In mid-2022, vegetable prices in Australia climbed steeply. In particular, iceberg lettuce prices made the news, with The Guardian reporting… Read More
2022 Soft plastics recycling program falls over
We've been putting our bottles, cans, paper and rigid plastic containers in the recycling bin for decades, but soft plastics… Read More
2022 Butter Board craze on TikTok
In the 2020s, the new food influencers are all using TikTok. And on 15 September 2022, one of the craziest… Read More
2022 Varroa mite threatens agricultural industries
Varroa mite is a small parasitic mite that attaches itself to honey bees. By feeding, it weakens the bees and… Read More
2022 Surge of interest in gut health
Google searches for "gut health" doubled between December 2021 and April 2022, indicating a significant increase in public interest, according… Read More
2022 Non-alcoholic drinks on the rise
I wrote the following article for SoVino, the in-house magazine of the Independent Liquor Retailers group, in late 2021. Since… Read More
2022 Food supply chains fail owing to COVID
As Australia's 90+ per cent fully vaccinated population headed into 2022, hoping for a break from COVID-related dramas, a new… Read More
2021 Gnocchi tops list of most Googled recipes
Tracking the list of most Googled recipes over the past few years is both revealing and mystifying. The most Googled… Read More
2021 Alcohol consumption increases during pandemic
In June 2021, Roy Morgan research found that the number of Australians consuming alcoholic drinks had increased significantly over the… Read More
2021 Coles ditches single-use plastic tableware
From July 1 2021, Coles withdrew single-use plastic tableware from all its stores across Australia. The initiative, which had been… Read More
2021 Providoor expands to Sydney
Providoor changed the game for home-delivered meals. Restaurant meal delivery services have been around since the 1980s, with some of… Read More
2020 Chinese tariffs hit Australian exports
Beginning in 2020, China hit a range of Australian exports with new tariffs and bans in the guise of "anti-dumping"… Read More
2020 7-Eleven mini store in high-rise
In July 2020, the convenience store chain opened an 8sqm store on the 27th floor of a high-rise office building… Read More
2020 Irish spice bag arrives in Australia
It's been called the Irish version of the HSP (Halal Snack Pack). Like the HSP, the spice bag is based… Read More
2020 Fast food consumption rises during pandemic
In May 2021, the research company Roy Morgan reported that during 2020, more than 75% of Australians ate take-away food… Read More
2020 TikTok’s #Food takes off during pandemic
For more than a decade, Instagram was the platform where avid foodies flocked to see carefully arranged plates and gourmet… Read More
2020 Coronavirus prompts panic buying
In March 2020, in an unprecedented wave of panic buying, supermarket customers cleared the shelves of non-perishable foods including canned… Read More
2020 Mateus Rosé makes a comeback
To those of us of a certain age, the words "Mateus Rosé" conjure up memories of our early wine-drinking years.… Read More
2020 McDonald’s vegetable burger launched
Given the trend towards vegetable-based eating, it took McDonald's Australia some time to catch up with a non-meat burger. Launched… Read More