The Fascinating History of Australian Chinese Cuisine

Have you ever tasted Mongolian Lamb, Salt and Pepper Squid, Honey Chicken, Prawn Toast, or Mango Pancakes? Well, surprise! These are all uniquely Australian-Chinese yummies you probably can’t get anywhere else. In fact, many of our favourite Chinese dishes like Chow Mien, Peking Duck and Sweet-Sour Pork have evolved from adapting classic flavours for the Aussie taste palate, with a history that stretches back to over 100 years.

Humble Beginnings of Australian-Chinese cuisine

It began in the 1800s during the Australian gold rush, which brought a wave of immigrant workers to the mines and fields. Many of them were Chinese, and they soon set up small food businesses around the makeshift camps, catering to the workers’ needs. But their hometown ingredients were hard to come by, and their fellow workers included Europeans as well. So, the Chinese combined their traditional cooking techniques to create new flavourful dishes with available ingredients that everyone could also enjoy.

Survival in a foreign land and culture was the major motivation in this development for the Chinese diaspora. However, they are also known to be skilled chefs. Traditionally capable of adapting and amalgamating their own cooking styles to local tastes, wherever they settled. To quote from chef and author Ross Dobson’s book, Australia: The Cookbook: “By the 1890s, it is estimated that one-third of all cooks in Australia were Chinese.”

A Flavourful Legacy by Chinese Immigrants

As history progressed and the immigrants became citizens for generations, Australian-Chinese chefs developed a distinctive cuisine, with cookbooks filled with uniquely localised recipes; and restaurants serving signature flavours and dishes found nowhere else in the world. These restaurants aren’t just a staple of Chinatowns in major Australian cities, but have also thrived beyond their respective Chinese communities.

The wondrous flavours and aromas aside, the Chinese philosophy of sharing a tableful of goodies, rather than single-served dishes, is also a big part of these restaurants’ vibe and appeal. Perhaps you too, have a nostalgic memory of savouring an Aussie-Chinese meal with your friends and family in your neighbourhood; and have enjoyed the myriad of iconic Aussie-Chinese takeaways?

Besides restaurants, the plethora of Chinese sauces, condiments, spice-blends and ingredients available in Aussie supermarkets today, are also a testament of how deeply Chinese cuisine has long since become a rich part of Australian culture. A potent display of our diversity, as well as our expansive taste palate; owing much to the earliest Aussie-Chinese chefs mentioned above.

Asian Cuisine in Australia: The Yummy Present 

We’ve come a long way since the 1800s, and with decades of globalisation, many Asian communities have found a home in Australia as well. Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and more; each brought their own unique cuisines and authentic flavours to enrich our collective food culture. Many regional cuisines from China such as Sichuan, Xi’An and Xinjiang cuisines have gradually won over Aussie foodies; while the current trend of preferring authentic tastes, have arguably superseded the allure of Aussie-Chinese flavours. Historic restaurants, too, have seen a decline in recent years.

But Australian-Chinese food is just as authentic as the regional goodies. After all, cuisines are never static, nor are ingredients and flavours exclusive to one culture or another—Modern Asian food is a whole thing. Ultimately, Aussie-Chinese cuisine is proof of human ingenuity, adaptability and our collective love for delicious food; and will always have a place in our hearts and taste-buds.

More Chinese Flavours

Chinese cuisine offers a wide array of gastronomic wonders, made with the culinary philosophy of accentuating your ingredients’ natural flavours. Come explore the 8 major Chinese cuisines, discover our top 10 Chinese noodle favourites, have a taste of some delish Chinese classics, or have a fast and tasty meal with these easy awesome goodies. Also check out our massive collection of Chinese home-cook recipes!