I’m a firm believer that Australia is the birthplace of some of the world’s best restaurants and chefs. Sure, we might not have a distinct ‘national cuisine’, but we’re a melting pot of global flavours and recipes. But what truly sets Australia’s food scene apart is our homegrown snacks – iconic, divisive and, unfortunately, not with the best reputation overseas.
It should come as no surprise that Vegemite tops the list as Australia’s most despised food, according to TasteAtlas’ ranking of the 27 worst-rated foods in Australia. Despite living in nine out of ten Aussie pantries, the thick, salty, black spread currently has an average 2.9 star rating from almost 3,000 reviews. One brutal responder commented, “A foul affront to the taste buds. It is unfortunate that I can't rate it zero stars on this site.”
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SAO biscuits rank as the second-worst Australian food of all time, earning an average 2.9 star rating. But honestly, we’re not sure why people are so tough on this harmless lunchbox snack. The crackers are full of tiny holes and childhood nostalgia – don’t pretend you didn’t use to slather SAOs with butter or Vegemite and squeeze ‘worms’ out of the holes. Hilarious!
The third most disliked Aussie food on the list is canned spaghetti on toast. This humble comfort food, also regularly eaten for breakfast and lunch in New Zealand and the UK, holds an average three-star rating. But it’s not the only eyebrow-raising entry on the list. The iconic Dagwood dog – a festival staple consisting of a deep-fried hot dog on a stick – landed in fourth, while the fritz (sausage) and tomato sauce sandwich took sixth. Perhaps Australia’s most genius invention, the pie floater – a meat pie submerged in green pea soup – ranked ninth. You can check out all the worst foods in Australia, as reviewed by TasteAtlas’ audience below.
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These are the worst Australian foods:
- Vegemite – 2.9/5
- SAO biscuits – 2.9/5
- Spaghetti on toast – 3.0/5
- Dagwood dog – 3.0/5
- Dolly Varden cake – 3.0/5
- Fritz and sauce – 3.2/5
- Vegemite on toast – 3.3/5
- Yo-yo biscuits – 3.3/5
- Pie floater – 3.3/5
- Boston bun – 3.3/5
- Iced VoVo – 3.4/5
- Chiko Roll – 3.4/5
- Continental roll – 3.4/5
- Australian pizza – 3.5/5
- Damper – 3.5/5
- Chicken and corn soup – 3.5/5
- Neenish tart – 3.6/5
- Oyster blade steak – 3.7/5
- Prawn cocktail – 3.8/5
- Fairy bread – 3.8/5
- Cheese and bacon roll – 3.8/5
- Cruffin – 3.8/5
- Jam and cream lamingtons – 3.8/5
- Anzac biscuits – 3.9/5
- Spag bol – 3.9/5
- Vanilla slice – 3.9/5
- Hot jam donuts – 3.9/5