Oceanian cuisine

The cuisines of Oceania include those found on Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, and also cuisines from many other islands or island groups throughout Oceania. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture.

Since the region of Oceania consists of islands, seafood is a prominent part of the diet, with vegetables such as potatoes sweet potato, taro and yams being the main starch. Coconut, and its derivative products such as coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar are an important ingredient in the tropics of Oceania.

One of the most distinctive styles of cooking throughout Oceania is the earth oven, a method which involves laying food on hot rocks and burying it in earth. The technique originated in Papua New Guinea and was subsequently spread by austronesian settlers.

Australia

Other than by climate and produce availability, Australian cuisine has been influenced by the tastes of settlers to Australia. The British colonial period established a strong base of interest in Anglo-Celtic style recipes and methods. Later influences developed out of multicultural immigration and included Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisines. Mediterranean cuisine influences from Greek cuisine, Italian cuisine, and Lebanese cuisine influences are strong, also influences from French cuisine, Indian cuisine, Spanish cuisine, and Turkish cuisine, German cuisine, and African cuisine. Regional Australian cuisines commonly use locally grown vegetables based on seasonal availability, and Australia also has large fruit growing regions. The Granny Smith variety of apples originated in Sydney, Australia in 1868. In the Southern states of Victoria and South Australia, in particular the Barossa Valley, wines and food reflects the region's traditions and heritage. Australia's climate makes barbecues commonplace. Barbecue stalls selling sausages and fried onion on white bread with tomato or barbecue sauce are common.

• Australian cuisine
  • New South Wales cuisine
  • Northern Territory cuisine
  • Queensland cuisine
  • South Australian cuisine
  • Tasmanian cuisine
  • Victorian cuisine
  • Western Australian cuisine
• Christmas Island cuisine
• Cocos cuisine
• Norfolk Island cuisine

• Australian foods and dishes
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  A cooked Balmain bug. Also known as the butterfly fan lobster, it is a species of slipper lobster that lives in shallow waters around Australia.
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  Bush tucker (bush foods) harvested at Alice Springs Desert Park. Bush foods are edible native plant species and animal products used by indigenous Australians as a contemporary or traditional food.
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  Granny Smith apples originated in Australia.
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  A dish from an Australian restaurant.
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  A fruit dessert dish in an Australian restaurant.

Melanesia

• Fijian cuisine
• New Caledonian cuisine
• Papua New Guinean cuisine
• Solomon Islands cuisine
• Vanuatuan cuisine

Micronesia

• Gilbertese cuisine
• Guamanian cuisine
• Mariana Islands cuisine
• Marshallese cuisine
• Micronesian cuisine
• Nauruan cuisine
• Palauan cuisine

• Micronesian foods and dishes
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  Paniki in yellow soup.

Polynesia

• American Samoan cuisine
• Cook Islands cuisine
• French Polynesian cuisine
• Hawaiian cuisine
• New Zealand cuisine
• Niuean cuisine
• Pascuense cuisine
• Pitcairn Islands cuisine
• Samoan cuisine
• Tokelauan cuisine
• Tongan cuisine
• Tuvaluan cuisine
• Wallis and Futuna cuisine

• Polynesian foods and dishes
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  A Hāngi being prepared, a New Zealand Māori method of cooking food for special occasions using hot rocks buried in a pit oven.
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  A Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert and an icon of Australian and New Zealand cuisine.
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  A bowl of Poi, a starchy paste eaten in Eastern Polynesia.
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  Kiwifruit, a well-known New Zealand food.
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  Samoan umu, an oven of hot rocks above ground.

See also

• List of cuisines
• Culture of Oceania