Meat Pie

The meat pie arrived with British settlement and evolved into something Australians regard as distinctly their own. The individual, hand-sized pie eaten without cutlery is the defining form, and it is a genuine national staple rather than a novelty.

It is tied closely to sport. The pie is the traditional food of football and cricket crowds, and consumption at major matches is measured in tens of thousands.

New Zealand shares the tradition closely and the two countries compete over quality, with formal competitions in both judging bakers on their pies each year.

The standard filling is minced beef in a thick brown gravy, seasoned simply. The gravy must be thick — thin filling makes the pastry soggy and produces the notorious hazard of the contents escaping on first bite.

The pastry is usually two kinds: a sturdier shortcrust base that holds the filling, and a puff pastry lid that rises and browns. That combination is close to universal in commercial pies.

Variations are numerous — steak and mushroom, curry, chunky steak rather than mince, and cheese-topped versions — but plain mince and gravy remains the benchmark.

Tomato sauce is effectively obligatory, applied through a hole poked in the lid or squeezed on top. The pie is eaten standing, from a paper bag, and the technique for avoiding a scalded mouth or a stained shirt is learned young.

South Australia contributes the pie floater: a meat pie upended in a bowl of thick green pea soup, generally with sauce on top. It has a devoted following in Adelaide and bewilders most other Australians.

The pie's ubiquity is the point — it is available at any bakery, petrol station or corner shop, hot, cheap, and at any hour.