Australians first confronted the oddities of their national cuisine when this gastronomic classic appeared 25 years ago. Because Australia never had a peasant farming class with local cooking customs, the book explains, camp food became the mainstay of the Aussie dining tradition. Portable weekly rations of mutton, flour, and tea had turned the early settlers into a mobile army, and their suburbanite descendants still survive on tins of jam, condensed milk, camp pie, and beer. A cry for action, the book successfully launched a new Australian taste for fresh produce, farm markets, and...

This series pairs leading Australian thinkers and cultural figures with some of the big themes in life. Gay Bilson rose to fame as chef and owner of the influential Australian restaurant, Berowra Waters Inn. She has written a thoughtful meditation on food and writing.