The Colonial Kitchen : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers : 9781442249813 : 1442249811 : 22 Sep 2016 : The first Europeans to settle on the Aboriginal land that would become known as Australia arrived in 1788. From the first these colonists were accused of ineptitude when it came to feeding themselves: as legend has it they nearly starved to death because they were hopeless agriculturists and ignored indigenous foods. As the colony developed Australians developed a reputation as dreadful cooks and uncouth eaters who gorged themselves on meat and disdained vegetables. By the end of the nineteenth century the Australian diet was routinely described as one of poorly cooked mutton, damper, cabbage, potatoes and leaden puddings all washed down with an ocean of saccharine sweet tea: These stereotypes have been allowed to stand as representing Australia's colonial food history. Contemporary Australians have embraced 'exotic' European and Asian cuisines and blended elements of these to begin to s