Three Aussies search for Hong Kong’s best meat pie
The Aussie meat pie has seven long decades of history since its ‘invention’ in 1947. A trio of aficionados from Down Under scour the city to find the best golden parcels in terms of selection, taste and ingredients
Think Australian cuisine and images of a meat pie, the gravy-filled vegetarians’ nightmare that’s as Aussie as a kangaroo at a barbecue, hop to mind.
And nobody is more familiar with the Aussie meat pie than author and journalist Robert Macklin. His love affair with the savoury treat stretches back to the 1950s and family drives along “the highways and pieways” from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise. He’s even written a book on them.
So what makes a good Aussie meat pie, I ask Macklin.
“You should find enough filling for a delicious and nutritious story here,” he says, referring to his e-book, The Great Australian Pie, attached in the email. And I did.
Macklin explores Australia and its obsession with the meat pie, looking at its role in the country’s psyche from pop culture references to its famous makers.
“There must be something in the Australian character that led to the invention and the universal enjoyment of the good meat pie. No other country in the world – except New Zealand – shares our love for them. We feel compelled to consume no fewer than 240 million pies every year!,” he writes.