Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sweet

Gavin: After gathering many data points, I believe I'm ready to generate a hypothesis regarding the food here:

Australians have a huge sweet tooth. Yes, even bigger than Americans.

We made the mistake of buying "traditional" mayonnaise when we got here, before we realized that "traditional" means "sugar paste mixed with a little oil." We're buying the "whole egg mayonnaise" nowadays.

I'd have to take some measurements to work out what percentage of the local supermarket (Woolworths, aka "woolies") is dedicated to chocolate-covered biscuits and candy bars and ice cream (oh, helpful hint to New Englanders in Australia: the Mission Beach woolies hides the real maple syrup in amongst ice-cream toppings, NOT with the pancake mixes or any other place you'd expect to find it) and pavlova mixes, but it seems like half the floor space is taken up selling things where the main ingredient is 'sugar.'

Maybe it's something in the water; I was born here, and I've always had a pretty big sweet tooth. Maybe by the end of our stay I'll be guzzling "old-fashioned" soft drinks by the litre and eating Violet Crumbles by the handful.

I should do my part to support the local economy, right?
Despite an extended maintenance stop of 13.98 hours last Thursday, the factory crushed a very creditable 98,437 tonnes [of sugarcane last week].
-- Tully Sugar CEO John King, quoted in the 20 Aug Tully Times
I've already booked a dentist appointment for two days after we get back to Amherst...

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