Australian Food

Source: The Age

Light on the beer, heavy on the onions

By PHILLIP HUDSON - Published Thursday 09 April 1998


Australians are drinking more light beer and eating record amounts of vegetables, according to the latest snapshot of national dietary habits.

Total beer consumption fell for the seventh consecutive year as the popularity of soft drinks rose for the fourth year in a row.

The Bureau of Statistics survey of food consumption in 1995-96, released yesterday, showed the average person was eating more vegetables and less fruit, more margarine and less butter and more powdered milk and less condensed milk.

Light beer comprised one-quarter of all beer consumed.

Australians drank 22.4 litres each of low-alcohol beer, up 4.6 per cent from 1994-95. Consumption of full-strength beer fell by 3.4 per cent to 72.9 litres and each Australian drank 114.6 litres of soft drink.

The average person ate 163 kilograms of vegetables (up 11 per cent).

This was the highest level of vegetable consumption since statistics were first collected in the 1930s. Potatoes were the most popular vegetable with each person eating about 70 kilograms.

The amount of fruit consumed fell marginally to 122 kilograms each, with the average person eating 37 kilograms of oranges.

Meat intake fell to 73 kilograms each with veal, lamb, mutton and pigmeat down but consumption of the most popular meat, beef, increased to 35 kilograms.

The amount of poultry eaten rose by 4 per cent but seafood was down 6 per cent, with fish consumed down 8 per cent.

The survey showed the average person consumed a record 11 kilograms of cheese, 49 kilograms of bread, 132 eggs, 2 kilograms of peanuts, 47 kilograms of sugar, 6.5 kilograms of rice and almost one kilogram of honey.


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