Although it was originally launched as Vegemite, Australia's national spread did have a brief name change in its early years. Sales of Vegemite were initially slow, and the English spread Marmite dominated the local market. In 1928 the makers decided that a change of name and a catchy new slogan might boost sales. They renamed it Pawill and adopted the slogan “If Marmite…then Parwill.” The new name never took off and in 1935 it was changed back to Vegemite.

Tea was the last item to have its restrictions removed in July 1950, five years after the end of WWII. Sugar and meat had been freely available for some years and butter was rationed until June 1950.

The 1956 Olympic Games brought many international chefs to Australia and is considered a major turning point for Melbourne's restaurant industry. The Olympic Committee recruited international chefs to work at the Olympic Village, many of which stayed on to open restaurants of their own. One of the most renowned was Hermann Schneider, who went on to open Melbourne’s Two Faces restaurant.

Introduced by the Fitzroy confectioner MacRobertson's in 1924, Cherry Ripe is Australia's oldest chocolate bar. The signature combination of cherries, coconut and dark chocolate has been manufactured by Cadbury since 1967. In 2013 Roy Morgan Research found it to be our most popular chocolate bar.

The billy is an iconic Australian term for a metal container used for boiling water, making tea or cooking over a fire. Traditionally Billy Tea is made by boiling water in a billy can, adding tea leaves and swinging the billy over your head to sink the tea leaves to the bottom of the pot so you can pour a cup without tea leaves.

Located on Little Bourke Street, between Spring and Elizabeth streets, Melbourne’s China Town is the longest continuously running Chinatown outside of Asia. Established in the 1850s during the Victorian gold rush, it is the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Country Women's Association of Australia (CWA or CWAA) is the largest women's organisation in Australia. Formed in 1922, in NSW and QLD it quickly opened chapters in WA (1924), VIC (1928), SA (1929), NT (1933) and TAS (1936). The CWA is well known for its charity work and iconic Cookbooks that were a staple for many Australian homemakers.

On Lonsdale Street, between Swanston and Russell Streets there is a concentration of Greek restaurants and shops known as Melbourne’s Greek Precinct. The precinct is reflective of Melbourne having the largest population of Greeks outside of Greece. After World War II the Lonsdale Street precinct began to attract cafes, restaurants and businesses set up for, and by Greek immigrants.

During 1942 a combination of labour shortages, drought and increasing difficulty in importing goods led to a growing threat of food shortages in Australia. The ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was launched by Prime Minister John Curtin in January 1942. It encouraged Australians to grow their own vegetables in Victory Gardens and raise chooks.

Tupperware was developed by American Earl Tupper in the mid 1940s and quickly became a popular household item. The only way to get your hands on a set of these polyethylene plastic storage containers was through a Tupperware Home Party. Tupperware Parties’ in the 50s and 60s were a way of marketing the product directly to women and allowed women to work from their own homes, and at their own convenience, which was a major attraction to many women seeking job opportunities.

Legend has it that the dim sim was invented in Melbourne by William Chen Wing Young for his restaurant Wing Lee in the mid-1940s. Realising that people were fond of the traditional Chinese siu mai pork and prawn dumplings he adapted the recipe and started to mass produce them under the name ‘dim sim’. Therefore, in essence dim sims weren't exactly invented in Melbourne – but William can be credited for their name, mass producing them, and their rise in popularity in Australia.

William’s dim sims inspired others like Ken Cheng of South Melbourne Dim Sims to start his business in 1949 which is a Melbourne landmark and continues to churn out thousands of dim sims to this day.

Interestingly, William’s family is also credited for Australia’s love of the deep fried ‘dimmy’. While delivering frozen dim sims around Melbourne William’s brother Tom dropped some off at a local fish and chip shop. The owner threw them into the deep fryer and the rest is history.

To ‘devil’ food means to season it aggressively, making it peppery hot perhaps with a bit of chilli, black pepper, mustard or paprika.

Nathaniel Gubbins, an alias of Edward Spencer, wrote Cakes & Ale in 1913 and invented many spicy dishes and sauces, including Gubbins Sauce which became well known in Britain. In Cakes & Ale the instructions to make the sauce are as follows:

Melt on the plate a lump of butter the size of a large walnut. Stir into it, when melted, two teaspoonfuls of made mustard, then a dessert-spoonful of vinegar, half that quantity of tarragon vinegar, and a tablespoonful of cream—Devonshire or English. Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne, according to the (presumed) tastes and requirements of the breakfasters.

Olive oil was mainly sold in chemists in the 1950s and 1960s in Australia and marketed for its medicinal properties.