‘A little rice, a few vegetables, some meat.’ Mulligatawny in Australia 1864 – 1914

8 July 2023

Lately I have become interested in walking down some of the lesser worn paths of ingredients, methods of preparing them and their contribution to Australian cuisine. I am interested in when and where they entered the Australian foodscape. What can they tell us about the early years of Australia cuisine. It’s part of my project to broaden the understanding of Australian cuisine in the early years of its development. I want to challenge the view that it was all just meat and three bland British veg. I’ve looked at chillies, tamarind and chutney. Mulligatawny has been one of the dishes encountered in researching these three.

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Big Mulch

Paul van Reyk
According to Mum, my first attempt at cooking, at 6 or 7, was a ‘curry’ of leaves and twigs stirred up in kids' versions of earthenware pots still used in Sri Lanka - chatties. I've broadened my repertoire since, and upgraded the utensils, but stuck with leaves and twigs, Now, though, they’re likely to be spices and herbs used in my specialty, the food of South Asia – Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. I eat it, I cook it, I cater with it, and I take people on tours to find it – at home in Australia and back in South Asia.

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