Thanksgiving is so much a part of Canadian culture that it’s a shock to discover that only Norfolk Island celebrates the holiday in Australia.

Different culture; different country.

To experience the reality of how people outside the tourist industry live, go grocery shopping. The local unfiltered culture is found between the fruits and vegetables display and the frozen food freezers.

It’s always a surprise, and here in Australia it turns out there is more to try than Vegemite. There are foodstuffs from all corners of the globe, and even though towns are being Americanized with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, American influence is not overwhelming. Indeed, Starbucks closed about 70 per cent of its Australian outlets when its American model of “grab and go” failed.

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Australia has its own coffee culture, and Bill Bryson said it best in his book, In A Sunburned Country, published in 2000: “The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life doesn’t get much better than this.”

What makes the food........

© Calgary Herald