“The whole shrimp on the Barbie thing is actually just a U.S. commercial. So I hate to burst people's bubbles, but we don't even call them shrimp. We call them prawns.”
My Food Job Rocks! · Alternative Proteins · October 2026
Pryles grew up in Melbourne and now lives in Austin, Texas. Asked about meat culture in Australia, she says it is real (meat pies at the stadium, plenty of lamb and steak) but that the country has no deep barbecue tradition of the kind Americans imagine.
Transcript
I am. Yeah.
Melbourne, Australia. I've been there. I loved it there. Is there a big meat culture there? Or do you feel like, or what is it that seems like Australian meat versus like United States meat?
I mean, there's a big meat culture in Australia. Like meat pies are like our version of hot dogs at stadium food. And, you know, we love a good steak. We don't necessarily have a tremendous barbecue culture historically. It's certainly getting better. The whole shrimp on the Barbie thing is actually just a U.S. commercial. So I hate to base people's bubbles, but we don't even call them shrimp. We call them prawns. Oh, funny. Yeah. No, I live in living in Austin, Texas now. I've been here for 11 years. I do think that there was exposure, like we eat a lot of lamb. We grow and export a lot of beef and red meat as well in Australia. So it's certainly part of the cultural framework.
Pre-show, I mentioned we lived, I lived in Waco, but I also lived in Austin for like less than a year. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit right before South by Southwest happened. So it was like, I had a social job at the time. So I was like, oh, I better get out of here. But I loved Austin. I loved…
Allie's crushing it. She's got a Michelin star now.
Yeah. Oh, awesome. I should go back. And, you know, everyone loved brisket specifically in Austin, Texas, I've noticed.
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