Australians LOVE meat - roast, meat pie and bbq is our favourite food

Some interesting facts about how Aussies eat and drink:

One thing is sure: We LOVE meat.

In 2010, News Ltd asked the Australian what the National dish should be, and after almost 24,000 votes were counted, the lamb roast was announced the winner, very closely followed by the meat pie then the barbequed sausage in bread.

According to another study from Good Food & Wine Show, the Aussie BBQ is Australia’s most iconic dish with the meat pie and sauce taking second place, followed by the family roast.

The study also showed that Aussies are very habitual when it comes to simple cooking at dinner time, with the roast dinner, stir-fry and pasta coming in as the most cooked dinners in the family home.

According to Tefal, the survey of 2,500 Australians, 45 % failed to meet the recommended daily intake of five vegetable portions.

Of these, 39 % said that preparing and cooking vegetables wasn’t convenient as part of their busy lifestyle. 37 % stated that they often avoided vegetables as they weren’t confident about how to prepare and cook them, and 15 % claimed they weren’t aware they should be consuming five portions of vegetables a day in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We are replacing more and more home cooked meals with take-away. The latest cafe, restaurant and catering service industry report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed takeaway meals have grown in popularity three times faster than sit-down meals in restaurants.

Cafes and restaurants raked in an average 6 % more each year from eat-in diners in the four years to 2006-07, while takings from takeaway meals jumped an average 18 % annually.

The Good Food & Wine survey showed that chocolate is seen as the best comfort food according to 28.5%, while mashed potatoes came off second with 12.1% of votes.

Research from Electrolux (Passion for food) showed that when it comes to dinner table romancing, the traditional roast (27%) is the go-to favourite, closely followed by seafood (23%) and a juicy steak (14%), while a decadent chocolate pudding was named as the ultimate dessert for a night of loving.