WE are in Warsaw at a Polish cooking course learning how to cook pierogi. In the course there were three German women, two French women and a French man, an Italian woman and a lady from the Netherlands.
The lady leading the cooking was Polish born and bred.
We made and rolled our dough and made our pierogi. Our pierogi was cooked in boiling water. And together as a group we ate.
I asked the Italian lady if Italians eat at Italian restaurants.
She looked aghast and said they would never eat at an Italian restaurant. They make their own and share it with their family.
I spoke to the lady from the Netherlands about Dutch food. I like the croquette. She agreed. It is nice. She spoke about Dutch food. But what, she asked, is Australian food? What is it like? I couldn't think.
Australia doesn't really have its own dish. Our food culture after the First Fleet was based on stodgy food from the old country; vegetables cooked to within an inch of its life, meat stewed in lard. Well, that was my memory growing up.
Foods indigenous to our country, while tasty and having had thousands of years of refining from our first Australians, aren't seen as national dishes. I'm not sure of many countries that eat the animals that make up its national arms.
So what is Aussie food? Is it the shrimp on the barbie, as popularised by Paul Hogan? Is it the meat pie that should be eaten with one hand? Is it a Vegemite sandwich? Should the lamb roast be hoisted on a pedestal and be our national dish?
Food Month in Newcastle in April showed the wares from our wonderful city. It also shows that our food is made up from the wonderful input of migration from peoples from over the world.
So I asked myself, and now ask fellow Novocastrians, what is our national dish?
My top five are a meat pie from Harry's Cafe de Wheels, pavlova (even though there is conjecture if it's ours), Vegemite, Tim Tam biscuits and a works hamburger with beetroot and pineapple.
Andrew Whitbread-Brown, Cardiff Heights
Details short in nuclear pitch
WHEN will Peter Dutton and David Littleproud tell us where they plan to dump the toxic radioactive waste produced by their planned nuclear reactors?
Nuclear fission generates hundreds of hazardous radioactive fission products as well as lethal transuranic elements like plutonium.
The US Environmental Protection Agency admitted in 2008 that spent nuclear fuel (SNF) will remain lethal to humans for a million years.
Therefore, long after electricity generation has ceased, today's radioactive waste will become a hazardous and costly burden on thousands of future generations, without their consent.
Globally, the nuclear industry has generated at least 400,000 tonnes of hazardous SNF and millions of tonnes of other radioactive waste. Yet there is no proven safe site anywhere in the world suitable for isolating nuclear wastes for a million years.
The financial cost is already enormous.
In the UK, the cost of decommissioning and cleanup is forecast to grow to £260 billion ($A 501 billion), according to Professor Stephen Thomas, of University of Greenwich.
The US Congress was informed that taxpayers have already spent $10.6 billion (A$ 16 billion) to manage US nuclear waste, but the Department of Energy (DOE) expects those costs will balloon to $50.2 billion (A$ 76 billion) in the longer term.
Kenneth Higgs, Raymond Terrace
Relief won't ease pain for long
The federal Budget is deflationary with a predicted surplus of $9.3 billion. But to win your vote, the federal Labor government has put in 'cost of living relief.'
This money will be provided in the form of income tax cuts and welfare increases, such as rent assistance. The money will mostly go to battlers who will spend most of it on rent and food. Because of increased demand, we should expect another round of rent and food price increases and further delays in interest rate cuts. Without any rent and price controls, this money will go to landlords and supermarkets. Perhaps in a nation where the national government collects more in HECS repayments than petroleum resources rent tax, we should expect this.
Geoff Black, Frankston
Budget offers bizarro look at top priorities
DID someone put something in my gin and tonic? I woke up to a Labor budget that gives nothing to the unemployed and millions to big businesses. Far out man, is Jerry Seinfeld writing this script? It's a bizarro world.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
Tasman's not much of a stretch
AFTER all the advertising about Kia's new model's name, they have come up with a name that has already been used: Tasman. The Austin 1800 was called Tasman way back. Surely they can come up with something more original?
Graeme Kime, Muswellbrook
Driver discourtesy isn't isolated
WE have the same problem, Daryl Smith ("Don't abuse pedestrians on road", Letters, 16/5), at Warners Bay. The stop signs at the two exits from the Coles car park onto Charles Street are often ignored and I've nearly been bowled over a couple of times. Don't these drivers know that I'm in a hurry to get to the pub for the free meat raffle?
Neil Meyers, Warners Bay
Footage may not be smoking gun
HOW will the CCTV cameras at Green Point Reserve help capture the idiots wrecking the place if the bikes are unregistered?
Bryn Roberts, New Lambton
Port penalty was well-kept secret
YOUR editorial ("Hard to contain excitement over the Port", Opinion, 16/5), assumes that Parliament intended to authorise all of the $4.3 billion proceeds of the Port Botany lease in 2013, to be refunded to the lessee. Parliament had no such intention. The public and Parliament knew nothing about this liability, denied by the previous government, until it was exposed by the Herald's investigative reporting in July 2016. Parliament did not intend to authorise the leasing of the Port of Newcastle for the purpose of funding the liability. Port of Newcastle Investments agreed to fund the liability when it leased the port in 2014 but did not object until 2018.
Greg Cameron, Wamboin
Of course they all make mistakes
HILARIOUS! Lloyd Davies ("Both sides can get it wrong", Letters, 16/5) is like a lone seagull waiting to pounce on the last remaining chip. Of course all governments make mistakes but can you honestly compare one mistake to a mob that shows its total incompetence by making decisions that repeatedly compound their errors?
