Top Ten Australian Foods

1. Pavlova. Image credit: Rob Shaw/Bauer Media. Legend has it that, inspired by the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova during her 1926 and 1929 tours of Australia, Western Australian chef Herbert Sachse of Perth's Hotel Esplanade created a desert recipe that was as light as the ballerina herself.

Australia's love affair with the simple Chiko roll began back in 1951, when it made its NSW debut at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Show. Frank McEnroe – a boilermaker from Bendigo, Vic. – invented the cabbage, carrot, onion and beef stuffed snack.

An Australian or New Zealand meat pie is a hand-sized meat pie containing diced or minced meat and gravy, sometimes with onion, mushrooms, or cheese and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. The meat pie is considered iconic in Australia and New Zealand.

A lamington is an Australian cake, made from squares of sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate (or sometimes raspberry) sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut. The thin mixture is absorbed into the outside of the sponge cake and left to set, giving the cake a distinctive texture.

Australia only defines low salt foods, but by UK standards Vegemite is classified as a high salt content food. The low-salt version of Vegemite with a distinctive pale orange lid was introduced to the Australian domestic market in September 2014, offering a 25% reduction in sodium content.

Whether at a family Christmas feast at the height of a scorching Australian summer or barracking at a local footy match in the depths of winter, Australians enjoy foods that suit our laid-back lifestyle. While the origins of many of our favourite Australian 'food groups' (e.g. the meat pie) lie elsewhere, we've proudly adopted many as our own.

Weet-Bix™ is Australia’s favourite breakfast cereal. With a delicious malty flavour and the goodness of wholegrain wheat to help kick-start your day

ANZAC biscuits are a traditional Australian sweet associated with Anzac Day, but are eaten all year round. Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day has been held on April 25 for more than a century.

AUSTRALIANS LAY CLAIM to wonderful food creations, some more ingenious than others, yet our attachment to our Aussie food 'classics' suggests that it is the simpler things that take our fancy. Whether at a family Christmas feast at the height of a scorching Australian summer or barracking at a local footy match in the depths of winter, Australians enjoy foods that suit our laid-back lifestyle.