The Australian meat pie is regarded as the country’s national dish, with special pie shops found all over the country full of the savoury dish. Typically made with minced meat and gravy, onion, mushrooms and cheese, the pie is usually the size of a hand and often consumed as a snack or takeaway dish.
The meat included in the pie ranges from beef, buffalo, camel, pig, rabbit, sheep and hare. Kangaroo meat can be used as a leaner alternative, but Australian locals don’t typically consume kangaroo – that is more of a tourist novelty like crocodile or emu, which is dubbed by locals as ‘the skippy factor’ – with 60’s TV show Skippy the Bush Kangaroo encouraging Australians to see kangaroos as friendly creatures instead of food, with it being said that the thought of eating a kangaroo is like ‘eating Bambi’. However, native Australians did use to eat kangaroo, but only out of necessity.
The status of the Aussie meat pie can be attributed to The Great Aussie Meat Pie Contest, which has been held annually since 1990, which aims to find the best everyday meat pie produced in Australia, in order to create advertising and find the highest quality pie. Pie makers from all over Australia join the contest for their pies to be anonymously judged, in order to win and generate more sales to their food establishments.
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