Can you feel that? That warmth, those smells, that happiness in the air?
It’s that time of year, alright, and what better way to celebrate living in the luckiest country in the world than to share some delicious food and refreshing drinks with your nearest or dearest (or that weirdo neighbour who just keeps popping up…who cares, its summer, the more the merrier!)
Here in Australia we are so lucky that all those fun, fantastic holidays and events occur when the weather is (usually) so hot and sunny and joyous.
And what better way to celebrate than with some fantastic food to go with your favourite summer drink?
The move away from traditional
We all know Christmas lunch has traditionally been a huge hot meal in the middle of the day with all the family gathered around the table.
But as we move further away from eating three big meals on a daily basis and veer towards smaller meals and more snacking, the same is being done on celebratory days too.
“Its not so much the big dinner in one hit, people will be happy to have essentially three or four courses but again littler serves and more powerful and fresher flavours,” Wine Selectors’ wine educator Chris Barnes explained.
“People might have seafood and then something like a sausage, but these days it’s a bit fancier.
“Rather than the traditional beef sausage as a meal, it might be a nice delicate pork sausage or a little chorizo you’ve made at home.
“People might have meat too, but they’re lighter serves and more leaner cuts.”
Barnes also believes the traditional Aussie tradition of a backyard Barbie is changing, particularly around Christmas.
“People are using barbeques like slow cookers these days,” he told Food Magazine.
“Rather than throwing a big slab of meat on a high heat, it’s a lower setting and it’s closed and it created more gourmet snacks and meals.”
Bakers Delight’s Kate Adamson agrees that the traditional family smorgasbord is not the only way people celebrate in Australia anymore.
“Many people are moving further away from the traditional lunch, but there is also that yearning at Christmas and Easter for something traditional, that something you used to have growing up with your grandparents,” she told Food Magazine.
“I think it’s that time of the year when you gather that family and friends and so something a bit special and a bit our of the ordinary.
“Aussies love getting together and giving some food and a chat and if there can be more time doing that than spending endless time in the kitchen, that’s great.”
To provide for the different ways people choose to spend their Christmas, Bakers Delight has created some traditional and not-so-traditional options, including fruit cake and lemon tarts.
“When you think of Chrissie the first thing that comes to mind is fruit cake so we focused on one that was dense and moist and was really traditional and something you could cook at home,” Adamson said.
“You could almost get away with saying you made it yourself.
“And for something a little less traditional, and for people who don’t like fruit cake, the lemon tarts are a great fresh option for summer.”
Barnes also believes that as a nation, we are evolving and moving towards different cuisines and traditions, but there will always be an element of the old way things were done.
“I think it’s still very much fifty-fifty between what people call the full toast catastrophe and the more modern affair.
“It’s part of the old family tradition, of gathering family and all eating a long meal together for many people.
“Then there’s about half who want to almost rebel against that and only have cold foods and only eat at the beach or the park or anything that is not the traditional family dinner table.”
Divorce and Christmas
The changes to the nuclear family is also a contributing factor to change in traditional events, with government statistics showing just under half of all marriages in Australia end in divorce, meaning more people than ever are dividing their days, including Christmas and other holidays, between different locations.
“The rise in the divorce rate during the second half of the 20th century, especially after the introduction of the Family Law Act 1975, represents one of the most spectacular changes in family relationships in Australia,” the Australian Institute of Family Studies states.
“The Act allowed for "no-fault" divorce based on just one ground – "irretrievable breakdown" – as measured by at least 12 months of separation. Current trends suggest that one in three marriages will end in divorce.
“It is also worth noting that just under half of all divorces occur among couples with children under 18 years old.
“This means that, each year, around 50,000 such children experience the divorce of their parents.”
Aussies more experiemental with food and beverages
Barnes believes multiculturalism also plays an important part in the changing cuisines on traditional days.
“What’s changing with food and wine in Australia is that people are becoming more adventurous and they want variety,” he said.
“Whether its variety in sense of cuisine or cooking, or when it comes to wine, a new grape variety.
“New doesn’t mean they’ve been created in a labratory but are types that haven’t been grown much in Australia before.
“They are now coming from Italy Spain, Portugal and even others here and Pinot Grigio is the best example of that.
“The cuisine generally is getting lighter, and we need styles of wine that suit that.”
The traditional summer fruit
What lighter or better food to enjoy with your drinks during the day than the traditional Australian cherry?
It’s just not summer without cherries, as Simon Boughey from Cherry Growers Australia told Food Magazine.
“I think they’re vital,” he said.
“Our figures on the consumption of cherries show that a week or so before Chrissie, it goes through the roof.
“But the season lasts 100 days and we really want to encourage people to keep eating them through January.
“They are a fantastic Christmas fruit, but they can also be enjoyed through other parts of the warmer months.
Even when it comes to fruit, it seems people are moving towards smaller, snack-sized offerings, which Boughey said the industry is working to accommodate.
“People are looking at different packaging techniques, they want kilo or half kilo boxes these days.
“Plenty of people still prefer them the way they are in the bigger packages, but it is good to cater to different needs.
“So we will see supermarkets using different options for packaging and also some will be sold without stems.
“It’s about new ways people want to eat their cherries, while also catering to the more traditional preferences.”
How will you be celebrating Christmas this year? Did you put the Chrissie tree up in your house yesterday?