Australia is almost two separate nations when it comes to food. In the cities of the southeast - especially Melbourne - there's a range of cosmopolitan and inexpensive restaurants and cafés featuring almost every imaginable cuisine. Here there's an exceptionally high ratio of eating places to people, and they survive because people eat out so much - three times a week is not unusual. Remote country areas are the complete antithesis of this, where the only thing better than meat pies and microwaveable fast food are the plain, straightforward counter meals served at the local hotel, or a slightly more upmarket bistro or basic Chinese restaurant.

Traditionally, Australian food found its roots in the English overcooked-meat-and-three-veg "common-sense cookery" mould. Two things have rescued the country from its culinary destitution: immigration and an extraordinary range of superb, locally produced fresh ingredients that not even the most ham-fisted chef could ruin. In addition to introducing their own cuisine, immigrants have had at least as profound an effect on mainstream Australian food. "Contemporary Australian" cuisine is an exciting blend of tastes and influences from around the world - particularly Asia and the Mediterranean - and many not specifically "ethnic" restaurants will have a menu that includes properly prepared curry, dolmades and fettucine alongside steak and prawns. This healthy, eclectic - and above all, fresh - modern Australian cuisine has a lot in common with Californian cooking styles, and both go under the latest trendy banner of "Pacific Rim cuisine"