The arrival of Mediterranean recipes and food in Australian magazines.

Introduction

As part of our research on food habits (1), we have focussed on Mediterranean diet(s) in Australia. We collected information on food habits from different individual immigrants from 17 Mediterranean countries (2). We have analysed FAO Food Balance Sheets for the 18 Mediterranean countries and Australia from the 1960s to the late 1990s and found that there has been some convergence. Australia's current food consumption is closer to that of Italy and Greece than it was in the 1960s (3).

Several developments have influenced the adoption of Mediterranean foods and recipes in Australia in the last 40 to 50 years. One is the arrival of nearly 1.5 million settlers from Italy, Greece, Lebanon and other Mediterranean countries (4) bringing with them some of their own foods and establishing restaurants. Another is health messages, starting with Ancel Keys (5-7) that 'the' Mediterranean diet is associated with low rates of heart disease. Australians have travelled increasingly and enjoyed Mediterranean countries and cuisine. The pressure to prepare quick meals favours some Mediterranean recipes like pasta dishes and fruit desserts (instead of puddings). But it also seems that cookery writers in Australia, some proud of their own cuisine, others following those like Elizabeth David (8) have played a central role in bringing some of the more adaptable Mediterranean recipes into Australian kitchens and homes and thus changing our food habits.

As an approach to tracing the introduction and impact of Mediterranean foods and diets in Australia, we have searched the two major women's magazines that have been published from before Mediterranean foods and dishes became part of mainstream Australian food habits up to 1995. The Australian Women's Weekly has been published since 1933 and New Idea since 1902.

As the two magazines have aimed for somewhat different readerships and their cookery editors have had different experience and interests, we thought that both magazines should be systematically scrutinised. The findings for each are different, so they are presented here in separate tables.

In the early issues of these magazines (i.e. before the 1960s), Mediterranean foods and recipes rarely appeared and when they did, they were not authentic. As we continued searching issue after issue, Mediterranean recipes and foods started to appear. This is one form of evidence, from the Australian literature, that these meals were being made and consumed here. The second type of evidence for introduction and adoption of Mediterranean recipes can be seen in a study of historical Australian cookbooks. This will be reported in another paper.

Magazines

Australian Women's Weekly

The Australian Women's Weekly began in a newspaper format on 10 June 1933, when it cost two pence (2d) and was only available at first in New South Wales. Before long, it became so popular that it was distributed to all Australian states and by 1937 distribution in New Zealand had commenced. The magazine has undergone many changes since it began, including a change to a more convenient size in 1975. In 1979 the Australian Women's Weekly changed to a new format, coated stock and perfect binding and in 1983 became a monthly publication (despite its continuing name!).

The first food editor in 1933 was Margaret Shepherd. On 2 March 1935 Ruth Furst became the food editor and on 10 July 1937 she introduced the first Mediterranean recipe in the magazine, Italian 'Risotto'.

New Idea

New Idea was first published in August 1902 in Melbourne, Victoria and became a weekly paper for Australian and New Zealand women. The first ethnic recipe was published on 23 November 1949 and was an introduction to the Chinese style of cooking. The first Mediterranean recipes were Italian and appeared on 15 June 1955, authored by Mary Farmer who became the cookery editor on 3 February 1960.

In 1980 Margaret Fulton became the cookery editor of New Idea, and in 1984 she was joined by her daughter Suzanne Gibbs and as food editors they continued to 2003.

Methods

Libraries

The search of back issues of Australian Women's Weekly and New Idea was made in Sydney. The Australian Women's Weekly from 1933 to 1995 was available on microfilm at the State Library of New South Wales and all these issues were searched. Copies of New Idea from 2 March 1934 to 1957 were found at the State Library of NSW but issues from 1957 to 1971 were missing. The publishers, Pacific Publications, Sydney, gave permission to search their own library for all issues up to 1995.

Missing issues

There were no missing issues of the Australian Women's Weekly. Both publications ceased during World War 2. The following issues of New Idea were missing from both the State Library and the publisher's library: 22, 29 January 1964 and 4, 5, 11 and 26 March 1964 and appeared to be unavailable anywhere.

Counting the Mediterranean recipes

In general, a recipe is a list of ingredients and instructions for making a food dish. For this project, a recipe was considered Mediterranean if it was:

(1) identified as Mediterranean; or

(2) titled according to one of the Mediterranean countries (Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco); and

(3) made of more than two Mediterranean ingredients.

The size of the recipe on the page was not taken into consideration in counting recipes but the number of the ingredients and method of cooking were used to classify recipes into three categories:

Authentic when the name of the dish, recipe(s), the ingredients and methods of cooking were in the original tradition (e.g. pizza base and toppings prepared without any changes, very basic topping with little mozzarella cheese and tomato paste, not with fruits or curry chicken).

Small changes if the name was Mediterranean but other name(s) were added or if one of the main ingredients was replaced by a non-Mediterranean one (e.g. Moroccan couscous with Thai green curry chicken).

Large changes where recipes have only the name with minimal Mediterranean ingredients (e.g. Italian tiramisu, but used cream cheese, instant coffee, ready-made cake, or 'Greek salad' which had one authentic ingredient which was tomatoes, no Kalamata olives, no feta cheese and vegetable oil instead of olive oil).

Data collection and interpretation

Data for Australian Women's Weekly issues were recorded manually in the library on paper then entered into a computer and for New Idea the data and special notes about each recipe or issue were entered directly by computer.

Results

The results are described broadly in the following text and the numbers of recipes and categories are shown in the tables (Tables 1 and 3 for Australian Women's Weekly and Tables 2 and 3 for New Idea) and figures (Figure 1 for Australian Women's Weekly and Figure 2 for New Idea). These are in order of the number of recipes from each Mediterranean country. From searching the longest printed media in Australia written for Australian women, we found the following results.

The 1930s

During the 1930s, only the Australian Women's Weekly published Mediterranean recipes. These were Italian recipes, such as risotto with large changes and using Australian ingredients in place of Mediterranean ones. These recipes had only the name without any Mediterranean ingredients or cooking methods. French recipes also appeared during the 1930s but the majority of these were not from the Mediterranean part of France. They were for different types of omelette, pastries and gateaux.

The 1940s

Both magazines were discontinued during World War 2, re-appearing in 1948 with Italian recipes, such as spaghetti meat loaf and spaghetti with meatballs as part of advertisements for Heinz food company in the Australian Women's Weekly. A cookery competition organised by the Australian Women's Weekly in the same year did not include any recipes using olive oil and only one mentioned garlic.

The 1950s

The Australian Women's Weekly published six Italian recipes, four had large changes (no olive oil, and garlic optional), and the others presented an Italian style of cooking and ingredients. Four Italian recipes with large changes appeared in New Idea.

The 1960s

The number and variety of Mediterranean recipes increased noticeably during this period. The Australian Women's Weekly published 31 Mediterranean recipes from Spain, Turkey and Greece for the first time along with Italian recipes. Some recipes were authentic and some had small changes. Ingredients such as salami and olives were presented as side dishes. No Mediterranean recipes appeared from 1961 to 1971, most of the recipes were Chinese and non-Mediterranean French recipes.

During this period New Idea published 140 Mediterranean recipes: 67 Italian (18 authentic recipes, 37 with small changes and 12 with large changes); 20 Greek recipes (six authentic, ten with small changes and four with large changes), 22 French (four authentic, 13 had small changes and five had large changes) and 19 recipes from Spain (11 authentic and eight had small changes), and nine recipes from other Mediterranean countries.

Both magazines were influenced by Australians travelling to different countries e.g. Spain, Italy and Greece. Cruise tours were described and advertised in New Idea, for example, 'Chef Antonio Arena of the Lloyd Triestino luxury liner, Marconi...presented to his passengers many regional dishes from Italy and France'. Meanwhile, the food editors presented Mediterranean recipes as part of their own experience of and liking for these dishes.

The 1970s

The Australian Women's Weekly published 142 Mediterranean recipes during the 1970s, 67 authentic, 29 with large changes and 46 with small changes. The highest number of recipes was Italian, total 43 (26 authentics, four small changes and 13 large changes). Thirty-five Greek recipes (19 authentic, five large changes, and 11 small changes) were published; French recipes totalled nine; Lebanese recipes 26, Spanish 21 and there were eight Turkish recipes (see Table 1).

New Idea published 144 Mediterranean recipes, 63 authentic, 75 with small changes and six had large changes. Total Italian recipes were 63, (31 authentic and 32 with small changes); Greek recipes were 23 (ten authentic recipes and 13 with small changes); French recipes were 23 (but only five authentic); and Spanish recipes were 27 (12 authentic and 15 with small changes). Other Mediterranean recipes appeared in small numbers (see Table 2).

During this period, some Mediterranean ingredients were expensive and not generally accessible. Therefore few Australians cooked with them or even tasted them.

The 1980s

The Australian Women's Weekly published 277 Mediterranean recipes: 148 were authentic, 93 recipes had small changes, and 36 recipes had large changes (see Table 1).

There were 176 Italian recipes (95 authentic, 65 small changes, and 16 large changes) and 61 Greek recipes (35 authentic, 18 small changes and eight large changes). Other Mediterranean recipes included three Lebanese (two authentic). By the 1980s, Asian recipes were found in most issues of the magazine. They had appeared rarely in earlier issues.

New Idea published 435 Mediterranean recipes; 285 authentic, 126 with small changes and 24 with large changes. There were 193 Italian recipes (135 authentic), 69 French recipes (56 authentic), 95 Greek recipes (55 authentic), and 26 Spanish recipes (16 authentic). It was a time of acceptance of new flavours (see Table 3).

The 1990s

Throughout the six years searched (1990 to 1995), the Australian Women's Weekly published 395 Mediterranean recipes: 216 of these were authentic, 128 had small changes, and 51 had large changes. Most of the Mediterranean recipes were Italian (292) and Greek (71, with 25 authentic) and a few were from Spain, Lebanon and Egypt. The rest of the international recipes were from Asia and India.

New Idea published 377 Mediterranean recipes, 251 authentic, 119 with small changes and seven with large changes. There were 242 Italian recipes (181 authentic), 71 Greek recipes (39 authentic), 27 French recipes and 25 Spanish recipes (see Table 2).

Discussion

Most Mediterranean dishes and foods arrived in Australia after World War 2. There are no continuing records of the meals of ordinary families to answer the question of how they came into our food habits. It is very difficult to obtain useful records of production or sales of ingredients like garlic, oregano, olive oil and some different types of pasta. Restaurants only provide food and drinks for a minority of the population. We reasoned that a feasible method for studying the introduction of Mediterranean foods and recipes would be to estimate their appearance in women's magazines. We selected two long running magazines that have emphasised food and cooking.

The concept of the Mediterranean diet for nutrition education became popular overseas and in Australia in the 1990s (9,10) but by this stage Mediterranean recipes and ingredients were well established in Australia. Our search has shown that Mediterranean ingredients and recipes were rare up until the 1960s. From then until now Mediterranean recipes have appeared frequently in the magazines. In the early decades most of the Mediterranean recipes published were not authentic. This may have been the cookery writers' method of gradually introducing these recipes. Ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, salami, basil, and coriander, that are in all Australian supermarkets today, were largely inaccessible then, and consumers were unfamiliar with their flavours. From 1961 to the 1980s most of the Mediterranean recipes were authentic. Their ingredients started to be stocked in grocery shops and their flavours became increasingly acceptable. Italian recipes fitted well with lifestyles where many women were working and time for food preparation had been compressed.

Although only limited numbers of Mediterranean migrants have come to live in Australia, they have made a vital impact on Australian cookery and food availability. The European migrants planted olive groves and vineyards were established in some areas. As their population increased, business people imported foodstuff from their countries of origin. Australians established their new cuisine by purchasing foreign foods and trying new and different cooking method and ingredients (4).

More recently Australian cuisine is tending to modify ethnic recipes, e.g. to mix Asian and Mediterranean styles, to introduce new ingredients that were not original, such as risotto with kangaroo or burger on spaghetti and using different Asian sauces for Italian recipes or a mix of Moroccan with Indian dishes.

By far the most popular Mediterranean recipes from the magazines have been Italian (see Figures 1 and 2). We observed that it is the most successful non-British cuisine in Australia; it is hard to find any restaurant's menu without spaghetti bolognese, pizza, espresso coffee and cappuccino. The reasons that the Italian dishes have become popular in Australia appear to be that many of them are easy and quick to prepare, the ingredients are now generally available and inexpensive, yet the flavours are enjoyable to a wide range of Australians. Most women are working outside the home, time for food preparation has decreased and home economics has lost its former place in schools. Entrepreneurs with origins in northern Mediterranean countries have enabled the wide availability of ingredients for simple Italian and Greek cooking in supermarkets.

[FIGURES 1 & 2 OMITTED]

In conclusion, we have found that Mediterranean recipes and ingredients started to appear regularly in two major Australian magazines in the 1960s. Their numbers have increased in every decade since then. These were the only exotic recipes in the magazines until the 1990s but Asian recipes have increasingly appeared in recent years. We suggest that the frequent appearance of Mediterranean recipes in these magazines is a useful indicator of the uptake of Mediterranean food habits in the community. It is likely that adoption of Mediterranean dishes into general Australian food habits has increased the variety of what we eat and may have made the Australian diet in some ways healthier. In another paper (3) we have reported that there has been some convergence of Australian food consumption and that of Italy and Greece.

Table 1. Mediterranean recipes, by year, in Australian Women's Weekly
magazine

Date of issues   Countries   Authentic   Modified (a)

    1935           Italy         2           1(3)
    1936           Italy         1           2(1)
    1937           Italy         -           1(1)
    1938           Italy         -           4
    1948           Italy         1            (1)
    1949           France        1            (1)
    1955           Italy         1           1(4)
    1960           Spain         5           2
    1960           Italy         2           4
    1960           Turkey        4            (4)
    1961           Spain         1            -
    1961           Italy         5            -
    1961           Greece        3            -
    1961           Turkey        -           1
    1971           Spain         1           3
    1971           Italy         5           2(1)
    1972           Greece        3           1(3)
    1974           Spain         1            -
    1974           Italy         3           1
    1974           Greece        4            -
    1976           France        1            -
    1976           Italy         5           3
    1976           Greece        4           2
    1976           Turkey        1            -
    1976           Lebanon       2           1
    1977           Spain         3           1(5)
    1977           France        1            (2)
    1977           Italy         5           2(1)
    1977           Lebanon       3           1(3)
    1978           Spain         1           3
    1978           France        1           4
    1978           Greece        5           3(1)
    1978           Lebanon       3           2(4)
    1979           Spain         2           1
    1979           Italy         8           5(2)
    1979           Greece        3           5(1)
    1979           Turkey        1           4(2)
    1979           Lebanon       1           2(4)
    1980           Spain         1           4(1)
    1980           France        3           2(1)
    1980           Italy        12          15
    1980           Greece        8          10(1)
    1980           Lebanon       2           1
    1981           Spain         4            -
    1981           France        1           1
    1981           Italy        16          13(2)
    1981           Greece       10           1(2)
    1982           Italy        10          12(5)
    1982           Greece        3           1(4)
    1984           Italy        12           8(2)
    1986           Spain         5           3(1)
    1986           France        4            (6)
    1986           Italy        22          12(4)
    1986           Greece       14           6(1)
    1988           Italy        23           5(3)
    1990           Spain         1            -
    1990           Italy        26           5(8)
    1990           Greece        4           7(4)
    1990           Lebanon       5           2(3)
    1990           Egypt         2           4(1)
    1991           Spain         1           4
    1991           Italy        14          15(6)
    1991           Greece        2           8
    1991           Lebanon       1            -
    1992           Italy        16          20(4)
    1992           Greece        3           9(1)
    1993           Italy        37           5(9)
    1993           Greece       16          12(5)
    1993           Lebanon       5           3
    1994           Italy        39          22(10)
    1995           Italy        44          12

(a) In the modified column numbers without brackets had small changes
from authentic, whereas numbers in brackets had
large changes.

Table 2. Mediterranean recipes, by year, in New Idea magazine

Date of issues   Countries   Authentic   Modified (a)

    1955           Italy         -            (3)
    1955           Cyprus        -            (3)
    1960           Italy         -            (4)
    1963           France        -           6(1)
    1963           Italy         -          16(1)
    1963           Greece        -           1(2)
    1964           Spain         -           4
    1964           France        -           2
    1964           Italy         -           5(3)
    1964           Greece        -           2(2)
    1964           Egypt         -            (2)
    1964           Morocco       -            (1)
    1965           Italy         2           1
    1965           Lebanon       -           3(1)
    1965           Spain         7           3
    1966           France        -           2
    1966           Italy         5           2
    1966           Greece        -           2
    1967           Spain         1           -
    1967           France        4           -
    1967           Italy         2           7(1)
    1968           France        -           3(4)
    1968           Italy         4           2(3)
    1968           Greece        1           4
    1969           Spain         3           1
    1969           Italy         5           4
    1969           Greece        5           1
    1972           Spain         3           2
    1972           France        2           1
    1972           Italy         1          10
    1972           Greece        3           6
    1973           Malta         3
    1975           Spain         2           3
    1975           France        3           9
    1975           Italy        10           8
    1975           Greece        7           5
    1975           Turkey        -            (2)
    1976           Spain         -           1
    1976           France        -           1
    1976           Italy         -           9
    1976           Greece        -           2
    1978           Spain         7           9
    1978           Italy         8           5
    1978           Lebanon       2           1
    1979           Italy        12           -
    1979           France        -           3(4)
    1980           Italy         4           2(3)
    1980           Greece        1           4
    1982           Italy        34           6
    1982           Greece       12          18
    1983           Greece       10           9
    1983           Lebanon       4           7
    1984           Malaysia      -            -
    1986           Spain         6            -
    1986           France       29           3(1)
    1986           Italy        32           3(5)
    1986           Greece        9           1
    1986           Turkey        1            (2)
    1986           Tunisia                    (1)
    1986           Lebanon       1           1(1)
    1986           Malta         -           1(1)
    1987           Spain         5           2
    1987           France       15           7
    1987           Italy        20          18(3)
    1987           Greece        6           1
    1987           Lebanon       2           3(1)
    1987           Italy        15          13(3)
    1987           Greece        5           6
    1988           Tunisia       -           1
    1988           Morocco       3            (1)
    1988           Spain         4           7
    1988           France        9           1
    1989           Italy        30           2
    1989           Greece       12           1
    1989           Turkey        4           5
    1989           Tunisia       1            -
    1989           Lebanon       6            (2)
    1989           Malta         1           2
    1989           Spain         1           1
    1989           France        3           1
    1990           Italy        28           4
    1990           Greece        5           9
    1990           Spain         3           7
    1990           France       11           1
    1991           Italy        49             -
    1991           Greece        7           11
    1191           Spain         -            1
    1991           France        5           10
    1992           Italy        17           22
    1992           Greece       19            5
    1992           Brazil        -             -
    1992           Italy        24           11
    1992           Greece        8            7
    1993           Lebanon       3            5
    1993           Spain         7            6(1)
    1993           Italy        34             (5)
    1994           Italy        29           19
    1994           Lebanon       2            1(1)

(a) In the modified column numbers without brackets had small changes
from authentic, whereas number in brackets had
large changes

Table 3. Number of recipes found in the magazines

Australian Women's Weekly

          Total Mediterranean and
Years     Non-Mediterranean recipes   Total Mediterranean recipes

1960-69             39                           31
1970-79            153                          142
1980-89            283                          277
1990-95            450                          395

Years     Italian   Greek   French   Spanish   Lebanese   Turkish

1960-69     11        3                 8         -          9
1970-79     43       35       9        21        26          8
1980-89    176       61      18        19         3
1990-95    292       71                 6        19

          Other Mediterranean
Years          recipes          % of Mediterranean recipes (a)

1960-69           -                        79%
1970-79           -                        93%
1980-89           -                        98%
1990-95           7                        88%

New Idea

          Total Mediterranean and
Years     non-Mediterranean recipes   Total Mediterranean recipes

1960-69             145                          140
1970-79             157                          144
1980-89             484                          435
1990-95             381                          377

Years     Italian   Greek   French   Spanish   Lebanese   Turkish

1960-69     67       20      22        19          4
1970-79     63       23      23        27          3         2
1980-89    193       95      69        26         28        12
1990-95    242       71      27        25         12

          Other Mediterranean
Years          recipes          % of Mediterranean recipes (a)

1960-69           8                        97%
1970-79           3                        92%
1980-89          12                        90%
1990-95                                    99%

(a) Total recipes/total Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean recipes
X 100.

Acknowledgments

The University of Sydney Nutrition Research Foundation provided a scholarship to Ann Noah during the first half of this project. Margaret Fulton kindly shared some of her experiences with us. We thank the staff of the State Library of NSW and also the Pacific Publications library for permission and help in searching the missing issues of New Idea. Dr Dianne Volker provided advice and support.

References

(1.) Truswell AS, Wahlqvist ML. Food habits in Australia: Proceedings of the First Deakin/Sydney Universities Symposium on Australian Nutrition. North Balwyn, Victoria; 1988.

(2.) Noah A, Truswell AS. There are many Mediterranean diets. Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr 2001;10:2-9.

(3.) Noah A, Truswell AS. Commodities consumed in Italy, Greece and other Mediterranean countries compared with Australia in 1960s and 1990s. Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr 2003;12:

(4.) Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs. Fact Sheet 4. Over 50 years of post-war migration. Canberra: DIMIA; 1996.

(5.) Keys A, Fidanza F, Scardi G, Bergami MH, Dilorenzo F. Studies on serum cholesterol and other characteristics in clinically healthy men in Naples. Arch Inter Med 1954;93:328-35.

(6.) Keys A and 23 others. Coronary heart disease in seven countries. Circulation 1970;41 Suppl 1:1-211.

(7.) Ferro-Luzzi A, Sette S. The Mediterranean diet: an attempt to define its present and past composition. Eur J Clin Nutr 1989;43 Suppl 2:13-29.

(8.) David E. A book of Mediterranean food. London: Penguin; 1950.

(9.) Profiles in nutrition: The Mediterranean diet for the new millennium. Aust J Nutr Diet 1998;55(4):2S-36S.

(10.) Truswell AS. Practical and realistic approaches to healthier diet modifications. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;67:583S-90S.

Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Sydney

A. Noah, MSc, PhD Candidate

A. Stewart Truswell, AO, MD, DSc FRACP, FIUNS, Emeritus Professor

Correspondence: A. Noah, A.S. Truswell, Human Nutrition Unit, Biochemistry Building G08, University of Sydney NSW 2006. Email: [e-mail]