Our way of life tastes a lot better than it used to

It's all so tasty and over way too soon. And guess what? I can confirm after a recent trip to Vietnam that Australia does the banh mi better than the country which invented it. No wonder it's become a popular lunchtime staple across our wide brown land.

Such a staple that a group of Eureka flag cloaked anti-immigration protesters in Brisbane sought them out from a Vietnamese food truck after their march. Seems migration and multiculturalism are terrible until your tummy rumbles.

In Sydney, after an exhausting afternoon yelling about preserving the Australian way of life, a group of Aussie flag draped protesters tucked into yum cha at a Chinese restaurant. Did it occur to them they were actually enjoying our way of life by doing so? A way of life so much better than the imagined one from the past the protesters pine for.

I remember that past only too well.

The dull fare of meat (usually overcooked lamb chops) and three veg, washed down with a glass of Tarax for the kids and KB for the old man.

The shame at school when you opened the lunch packed by your mum to discover not white bread, devon and tomato sauce but salami. And the taunts that followed: "He's got wog food! He's got wog food!"

And who can forget the cafe treat of grilled cheese and tinned asparagus on toast? No "expresso", thank you. We'll have instant, two sugars and milk.

The exotic food adventure involved Mongolian sizzling beef and spring rolls at the local Chinese, often owned and run by families who'd arrived in Australia during the gold rushes.

I'm breaking into a cold sweat recalling the horror of growing up in a flavour wasteland in 1960s Australia.

Thanks to migration, we've come a long way since then. Not only are our banh mi possibly the best in the world, our coffee (thank you, Italians) is up there, too.

It's hard to beat our Thai cuisine as well - I'm yet to find a better chili basil fried rice than the one on high rotation whenever I'm in Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast and, believe me, I've searched Thailand extensively.

And Little India in Sydney's Harris Park is a far easier and tastier undertaking than travelling to the subcontinent to savour its wonderful food.

Even our fast food scene has embraced multiculturalism, with the Lebanese El Jannah charcoal chicken empire taking on KFC with plans to open 500 outlets.

The Australian way of life I want to preserve is the one that's evolved since we let go of our insecurities and dropped the White Australia Policy. The way of life that allows all of us to enjoy the best banh mi, even if some of us forget how that's been made possible.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Has migration made Australia a more interesting place? Have your culinary horizons expanded thanks to multiculturalism? What's your favourite cuisine? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is refusing to release the full details of a deal signed with Nauru to deport people despite criticising China for being opaque in its Pacific dealings.

- Australia's economic growth rate has accelerated to 1.8 per cent, the fastest rate in almost two years, amid a boost in household consumption.

- CSIRO scientists are involved in a "Survivor-like" contest to keep their jobs, according to a union that fears core roles will be cut.

THEY SAID IT: "Food is our common ground, a universal experience." - James Beard

YOU SAID IT: A spike in the Pizza Index, mysterious garbage bags thrown from the White House and an uncharacteristic absence from public view got the rumour mill spinning over Donald Trump's health. People were also wondering if JD Vance would be any better in the top job.

"[Vance] couldn't make a worse one, but I think the damage is done," writes Ian. "He might reduce the chaos, but he would have to stick to the MAGA agenda. It's a bit hard to know what he actually believes. Like many others, he was anti-Trump before he jumped on the bandwagon and became an arsehole. Who else would carry the MAGA agenda into the next election? How about President Hegseth? I'd almost be happy with Marco Rubio. That's how far I've come since the US turned into a bin fire. I suspect things will get worse before they get better. It's like the Titanic - we can see the iceberg coming, but can we turn away in time?"

Phil writes: "Whether Trump lives or dies is irrelevant. What concerns me is that the US democracy is so tainted by gerrymandering, plutocracy and ultimately absolutist leadership that it calls into question the viability of the US constitution."

"MAGA is a personality cult. No Trump, then MAGA supporters will look for a leader, and Vance and everyone else won't cut it. Certainly not the Trump boys either. Vance is not liked by a lot of MAGA, and apparently not by the Trump boys. He was Kushner's 'project', and Peter Thiel's bum boy. The bureaucracy will subdue Vance, and Vance may even listen to wise heads. I hate to say it, but no one can bullshit, bluster, or so easily lie, like Trump can and does. His departure would leave a huge hole for MAGA."

Mike writes: "With Trump, the line between reality and fiction has become so blurry that even the Pizza Index is getting its own conspiracy theories. Next, we'll hear that the spike in pepperoni deliveries correlates to impending world crises, while the garbage bag is actually a top-secret government operation to hide the true identity of the person who's been running the country-spoiler: it's probably Rudy Giuliani wearing a giant hat and hoping no one notices."

Finally, a missive from David: "Very disappointed that David Pope maligned crocodiles in his cartoon."