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In the post-war era, the country's food habits began to change quite dramatically as Australians started to incorporate more and more ethnic foods into their cooking repertoires. Food proved to be an enjoyable bridge between cultures, a safe vehicle by which mainstream Australians gained knowledge about other peoples in their midst. Because food is also a significant component of identity, the adoption of new foods that diverge from past experience leads to a change in identities. When this occurs on an individual level, it is interesting. When it happens regionally, it is telling. But when it occurs on a national level, it is truly noteworthy. The adoption of any innovation – and a new food is an innovation – entails social and cultural change, so the diffusion of a specific ethnic cuisine throughout Australia in the post-war years is emblematic of something far more profound than new taste sensations. This thesis analyses the process by using the diffusion of innovations approach to help fill in some of the gaps left by food historians and other scholars of Australia's social and cultural history. It acknowledges all aspects of the migrant contribution without neglecting the role of the capital. It makes clear that many other factors - such as travel, women's magazines and even dinner-party hostesses - were also essential in encouraging the diffusion of Italian food throughout Australia after World War Two. By examining the characteristics of an innovation that make it likely to be adopted, this thesis also concludes that only one particular ethnic cuisine was in a position to be adopted in post-war Australia: Italian food. Though they may not have realised it, when Australians began eating Italian food they also started eating their way into new cultural and social realities that would ultimately allow spaghetti bolognaise to become the nation's favourite dish, and they have not looked back since. |
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