The

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

s of Oceania include those found on

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, and also cuisines from many other islands or island groups throughout

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. Since the region of Oceania consists of islands, seafood is a prominent part of the diet, with vegetables such as

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

and yams being the main starch.

Coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

, and its derivative products such as

coconut milk Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

coconut oil Coconut oil (or coconut fat) is an edible oil derived from the kernels, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat below around , and a clear thin liquid oil at higher temperatures. Unrefined varieties have a disti ...

and

coconut sugar Coconut sugar (also known as coco sugar, coconut palm sugar, coco sap sugar or coconut blossom sugar) is a palm sugar produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut palm. Other types of palm sugar are made from the kithul palm ('' Ca ...

, is an important ingredient in the tropics of Oceania. One of the most distinctive styles of cooking throughout Oceania is the

earth oven An earth oven, ground oven or cooking pit is one of the simplest and most ancient cooking structures. The earliest known earth oven was discovered in Central Europe and dated to 29,000 BC. At its most basic, an earth oven is a pit in the ground ...

, a method which involves laying food on hot rocks and burying it in earth. The technique originated in Papua New Guinea and was subsequently spread by

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Sout ...

seafarers. It was historically the main method of cooking among the

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

ideal to their tree and root crops thus made the established pottery culture of their Lapita ancestors obsolete; some Polynesian peoples in their contact with European explorers centuries later quickly adopted to the latter's metal cookware, as was what happened between the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori language, Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa''), officially named Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay, is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for ...

confronting

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

HMS Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his First voyage of James Cook, first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as t ...

in 1769.

Australia

Other than by climate and produce availability, Australian cuisine has been influenced by the tastes of settlers to Australia. The British colonial period established a strong base of interest in

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British d ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

style recipes and methods. Later influences developed out of multicultural immigration and included

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Malaysian, Thai, and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

cuisines.

Mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, ''A Book of Mediterranean Food'' (1950), ...

influences from

Greek cuisine Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other Mediterranean cuisine, cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains ...

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine#CITEREFDavid1988, David 1988, Introduction, pp. 101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes, and cooking techniques developed in Italy since Ancient Roman cuisine, Roman times, and later spread ...

, and

Lebanese cuisine Lebanese cuisine is the culinary traditions and practices originating from Lebanon. It includes an abundance of Whole grain#Varieties, whole grains, Fruit#Food uses, fruits, Vegetable#Cultivation, vegetables, fresh Fish (food), fish and seafood. ...

influences are strong, also influences from

French cuisine French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a Court (royal), court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote ''Le Viandier'', one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In ...

Indian cuisine Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to the Indian subcontinent. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally av ...

Spanish cuisine Spanish cuisine () consists of the traditions and practices of Spanish cooking. It features considerable regional diversity, with significant differences among the traditions of each of Spain's regional cuisines. Olive oil (of which Spain is ...

, and

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, Ottoman cuisine (Osmanlı mutfağı), European influences, Seljuk Empire, Seljuk cuisine and the Turkish diaspora. Turkish cuisine with traditional Turkic peoples, Turkic elements s ...

German cuisine The cuisine of Germany consists of many different local or regional cuisines, reflecting the country's federal history. Germany itself is part of the larger cultural region of Central Europe, sharing many culinary traditions with neighbouring c ...

, and

African cuisine African cuisine is an integral part of the continent's diverse cultures reflecting its long and complex history. The evolution of African cuisine is closely entwined with the lives of the native people, influenced by their religious practices, ...

. Regional Australian cuisines commonly use locally grown vegetables based on seasonal availability, and Australia also has large fruit-growing regions. The

Granny Smith The Granny Smith is an List of apple cultivars, apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who Fruit tree propagation, propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a Hybri ...

variety of apples originated in Sydney, Australia in 1868. In the Southern states of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and South Australia, in particular the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

, wines and food reflect the region's traditions and heritage. Australia's climate makes

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

s commonplace. Barbecue stalls selling

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s and fried onion on

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. Nutrition Wh ...

with tomato or

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork, beef, and chicken. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the Southern United ...

are common. *

Australian cuisine Australian cuisine is the food and cooking practices of Australia and its inhabitants. Australia has absorbed culinary contributions and adaptations from various cultures around the world, including British cuisine, British, European cuisine, E ...

** New South Wales cuisine **

Northern Territory cuisine Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

** Queensland cuisine ** South Australian cuisine **

Tasmanian cuisine Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-lar ...

Victorian cuisine Victorian cuisine is the cuisine that was widespread in Britain during the Victorian era (20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901). Background There were two seemingly incompatible ideas about the role of women in Victorian society: t ...

** Western Australian cuisine *

Christmas Island cuisine The cuisine of Christmas Island can best be described as an eclectic combination of traditional Australian cuisine and Asian cuisine, particularly meals from Cuisine of Malaysia, Malaysia and Cuisine of Indonesia, Indonesia.

Cocossian cuisine The cuisine of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is primarily based on Malay cuisine, as the vast majority of the islands’ inhabitants are of Malay origin (Cocos Malays). However, it also has its own specific features. The influence of other Asian cu ...

* Norfolk Island cuisine File:Balmain Bug (841993847).jpg, A cooked

Balmain bug Balmain may refer to: Places * Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Electoral district of Balmain, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia * Balmain East, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Balmain Ho ...

. Also known as the butterfly fan lobster, it is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

slipper lobster Slipper lobsters are a family (biology), family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of Achelata, achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not lobster, true lobsters, but are more closely rel ...

that lives in shallow waters around Australia. File:Australian bush tucker, Alice Springs.jpg,

Bush tucker Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal ...

(bush foods) harvested at Alice Springs Desert Park. Bush foods are edible native plant species and animal products used by indigenous Australians as a contemporary or traditional food.Lister, Peter R., Holford, Paul, Haigh, Tony, Morrison, David A. (1996)
"Acacia in Australia: Ethnobotany and Potential Food Crop."Purdue University Horticulture & Landscape Architecture
Accessed July 2011. File:Granny smith and cross section.jpg, Granny Smith apples originated in Australia. File:Hspchips_(cropped).jpg,

Halal snack pack A halal snack pack is an Australian fast food dish consisting of halal-certified doner kebab meat (lamb, chicken, or beef) and chips. It also includes different kinds of sauces, usually chilli, garlic, and barbecue (sometimes known as the "holy ...

, an Australian fast food dish of doner kebab meat and chips with sauces. File:Hannover 2009 -Australisches Restaurant- by RaBoe005.jpg, A dish from an Australian restaurant. File:Australisches Essen 2010-by-RaBoe-04.jpg, A fruit dessert dish in an Australian restaurant.

Melanesia

Fijian cuisine Fiji, Fijian cuisine has long consisted of primarily foraged and farm-grown food. Although rice, wheat, and tea all became staples during Fiji's colonial era, Fijians, native Fijians still eat primarily Tuber, tubers and Coconut, coconuts. The ...

New Caledonian cuisine French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a Court (royal), court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote ''Le Viandier'', one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In ...

Papua New Guinean cuisine The cuisine of Papua New Guinea are the traditional varied foods found in the eastern part of the New Guinea island. Approximately 80% of the population is reliant on subsistence agriculture, so a large percentage of food energy and protein con ...

* Solomon Islands cuisine *

Vanuatuan cuisine The cuisine of Vanuatu () incorporates fish, root vegetables such as taro and Yam (vegetable), yams, fruits, and vegetables. File:Laplap_sosor.jpg, Laplap, the national dish of Vanuatu.

Micronesia

Gilbertese cuisine Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

Guamanian cuisine The Chamorro people (; also Chamoru) are the Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, a commonweal ...

* Marshallese cuisine *

Micronesian cuisine Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polyn ...

Nauruan cuisine The cuisine of Nauru is the traditional cuisine of the island state on the Pacific Ocean. Nauru has the world's highest rate of obesity. Basic foods Like its other island neighbours, Nauruans consume a large amount of seafood, as well as ...

* Northern Marianan cuisine *

Palauan cuisine Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, w ...

File:Paniki manado.jpg, Paniki in yellow soup

Polynesia

Polynesian cuisine encompasses the culinary practices of

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, an area notably defined as the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaii (''Hawaiʻi''), Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (''Aotearoa''). This is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outsi ...

and occasionally, the

Polynesian outlier Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian societies that geographically lie outside the main region of Polynesian influence, known as the Polynesian Triangle; instead, Polynesian outliers are scattered in the two other Pacific su ...

s that have been settled by Polynesian seafarers. The vast area of Polynesia has had a great influence on the cuisine itself, differing as a result of climate, geography and neighbouring island groups, such as the practice of harvesting and boiling down coconut sap in the atolls from

Micronesian people The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan. Eth ...

s or the harvesting and processing of

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

in the outliers from

Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...

. Polynesian cuisine has been influenced by the traditional ingredients and preparations of the Polynesians, as well as

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

, Asian and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

culinary practices. The Polynesian cuisine has influenced the

Malagasy cuisine Malagasy may refer to: *Someone or something from Madagascar * Malagasy people *Malagasy language Malagasy ( ; ; Sorabe: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, c ...

. * American Samoan cuisine *

Cook Islands cuisine Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * Ch ...

French Polynesian cuisine French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the South Pacific Ocean. The total land area of French Po ...

Hawaiian cuisine The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands, primarily originating from Polynesian, North American and East Asian cuisines. In t ...

Native Hawaiian cuisine Native Hawaiian cuisine refers to the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The cuisine consisted of a mix of indigenous plants and animals as well as plants and animals int ...

New Zealand cuisine The cuisine of New Zealand is largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. As an island nation with a primarily agricultural economy, New Zealand yields produce from land and sea. Similar to the Australian cuisine, cuisine of A ...

Māori cuisine The cuisine of New Zealand is largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. As an island nation with a primarily agricultural economy, New Zealand yields produce from land and sea. Similar to the cuisine of Australia, the cuisi ...

* Niuean cuisine *

Pascuense cuisine Pascuense cuisine, otherwise known as Easter Island cuisine or Rapa Nui cuisine, incorporates the influences of the indigenous Rapa Nui people and Latin America. Notable ingredients include seafood such as Fish as food, fish, Octopus as food, oct ...

* Pitcairn Islands cuisine *

Samoan cuisine The traditional culture of Samoa is a communal way of life based on Fa'a Samoa, the unique socio-political culture. In Samoan culture, most activities are done together. The traditional living quarters, or '' fale'' (houses), contain no walls and ...

* Tokelauan cuisine *

Tongan cuisine The Tongan archipelago has been inhabited for perhaps 3,000 years, since settlement in late Lapita times. The culture of its inhabitants has surely changed greatly over this long time period. Before the arrival of European explorers in the late ...

Tuvaluan cuisine The cuisine of Tuvalu, a state in the Central Pacific (Oceania), is based on the staple of coconut and the many species of fish found in the ocean and the lagoons of the atolls of Tuvalu. Pulaka, (cyrtosperma merkusii), or swamp taro, is an imp ...

Wallis and Futuna cuisine Wallis and Futuna, an overseas territory of France in Oceania, has a rich Polynesian culture that is very similar to the cultures of its neighbouring nations Samoa and Tonga. The Wallisian and Futunan cultures share very similar components in lan ...

File:Hangi prepare.jpg, A

hāngī Hāngī () is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an ''umu''. It is still used for large groups on special occasions, as it allows large quantities of food to be cooked witho ...

being prepared, a New Zealand Māori method of cooking food for special occasions using hot rocks buried in a pit oven. Image:Pavlova.png, A

pavlova Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. Originating in either Australia or New Zealand in the early 20th century, it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.Boylen, Jeremy (reporter) (20 August 2004)Pavlova''George Negus Tonight'', Au ...

is a

meringue Meringue ( , ) is a type of dessert or candy, of French cuisine, French origin, traditionally made from Whisk, whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acid, acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or potassium bitartrate, cream of t ...

-based dessert and an icon of Australian and New Zealand cuisine. File:Bowl of poi.jpg, A bowl of poi, a starchy paste eaten in Eastern Polynesia. Image:Kiwi (Actinidia chinensis) 1 Luc Viatour edit.jpg,

Kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

, a well-known New Zealand food. File:Pig on the Samoan Umu.jpg,

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

n '' umu'', an oven of hot rocks above ground.

References

{{Portal bar, Oceania, Food, Drink, Society, Wine, Lists Cuisine by continent Food- and drink-related lists

Cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

Australia

Melanesia

Micronesia

Polynesia

See also

References