In article >, Old Mother Ashby > wrote:
>Little piece in this morning's paper extracting the juicy bits from a
>couple of surveys. Apparently 78% of evening meals are prepared at home.
>Consumption of salads, yoghurt and bottled water is up, hamburgers and
>fizzy drinks is down. The most common takeaway food item is the
>sandwich; the statistical average Australian ate 20 last year, followed
>by 18 buckets of chips and 12 burgers.
>
>A different survey found that people on more than $85,000 per annum
>preferred Thai when eating out, the paupers opting for Chinese - not
>surprising since it tends to be more expensive. The other choices,
>Italian and Indian, were also ranked differently, but I don't know what
>indicates.

The traditional Italian cafes of 40 years ago have died out locally --
gone are the days when all you could get after a night at the pub was
chicken and spaghetti or steak and spaghetti. [As well as the menu
changes, it's pretty well impossible to get a feed in town at all now
after 8 p.m. :-( ]

When pub counter meals became common a favourite dish was the mixed
grill (it still is) and the cafs changed to this too, as well as a
wider range of other dishes.

We've had a Chinese place (sometimes two) for about 20 years now. I
rarely use it for takeaway, but commonly eat in there. There's also a
Thai joint in town now. It's pretty much obligate takeaway and only
open in the evening. Nothing Indian, which is a pity as I really got
to like Indian tucker during several months on the subcontinent.

Today I bought a pie from a pie cart for the first time in years!
(This is not to say I've given up on pies; just that I haven't seen a
pie cart down town for yonks.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID