PattyCakes

Welcome to my first official food blog - PattyCakes! Throughout my time in Australia, I'm making it my own personal goal to discover and explore as much about Australian cuisine and culture as I can.

As both a dietitian and a member of the Duffey family, I have a mini obsession with food :) I may have been a little frustrating to Emily these past few weeks - from my 30 minute sessions in grocery stores while I examine labels such a SkinnyMilk and Chicken flavored chips, to my constant indecisiveness on which cafe to try next, and finally to my determination to always convert KJ to kcals when reading nutrition labels. Hopefully, our fun experiences at cafes and sometimes almost laughable failures with our food choices will make my annoying habits permitable.

For my first food blog, I'm simply going to list some of the major differences we have stumbled across. The first few weeks of moving to any country can be a little crazy. I'm estatic to try absolutely everything and go everywhere. However, there are also those times of homesickness and hunger (being on a budget can be a little restricting) that I'm just craving the goodness of a home cooked meal from my mom....haha okay, and even the occasional Subway. I've had 3 weeks full of delicious foods. On the other hand, I've also made way too many peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, had occasions that I simply could not understand what I just ordered, and definitely have experienced a major stomach ache or two. Here's a list of standard differences that I found interesting about the cuisine these first few weeks in Melbourne:

1. Pizza. Pizza is NOT the same as American pizza unless you go to a high end restaurant. They LOVE toppings here. Emily and I had the unfortunate incidence of eating "Greek pizza", aka 3 inches of spam on toast. On the other hand, I discovered an adorable cafe called Banff that has a thin crust vegetable pizza with roasted pumpkin and pesto - actually a really tasty combination!
2. Bacon is the equivalent to virginia ham....and it's everywhere! Warning to all BLT lovers - if you don't enjoy the traditional ham at Thanksgiving, then do not order something with bacon.
3. Coffee. Tall, short, white, black. I'm still getting the hang of the difference in ordering, so for now I'm sticking with cappuccinos. Melbourne is known for their great coffee and the cafes take pride in making their product look absolutely decadent; I love getting cappuccinos simply to see the design made from chocolate shavings in the foam :)
4. Gluten-free products are available at almost every cafe! I was so surprised and happy to see how much Gluten-free products are marketed and readily available to try! Vegetarian restaurants are also very popular and I've already scoped out a few places I'd like to try.
5. For all my Irish family members, beer is expensive. If you're on a budget, young people tend to drink Goon - a cheap boxed wine that has fish eggs as one of the ingredients. However, if any family member does decide to visit, I am more then willing to go tour some of the supposedly fabulous vineyards of Victoria with you :)