As I’ve previously posted, there are a number of Australian ‘meal’ terms that will be unfamiliar to North American visiters in Australia.

Bringing a ‘plate‘ is the Australian form of “potluck“, and coming to “tea” means a full meal (Unless it’s “Morning tea” which is the equivalent of “elevensies” in Hobbits’ terms.)

And further, “supper” is more of an hors d’oeuvres and drinks thing served late at circa 10 pm.  (Read more about Australian slang here.)

etiquette for dining with Australians

Here are a few more things you should do to be polite when dining with an Australian:

If you go to their home:

1) Always bring some alcohol.

2) The first time you go to someone’s house, it’s a good idea to bring a gift.

3) AFter the first time, I always like to bring a gift too, but it usually ends up being wine/flowers. This is a nice gesture and appropriate.

4) Offer to help clean up, or just start cleaning up, if you feel comfortable.

It’s a good idea to have your friends over to dinner too — Aussies love to cook and share food.

If Australian dine at your home:

1) If they bring wine and say “this is a gift for you” then you don’t drink the

gifts of wine--should you store it or serve it?

wine that night; but if it is just brought, you can open it and serve it (some ppl bring a bottle they’d like to try with you). (There’s no real set rule abou tthis, but this is a helpful policy that doesn’t offend anyone, I think).

2) Clean your house so people feel like they have somewhere to sit.

3) People tend to like to be able to help you, so if they ask, don’t feel like you have to do all of the jobs yourself.

4) Prepare to serve some cold hors d’oeuvres and don’t be offended if they are 30 minutes late or so…this is ‘very Australian’. (Usually once you become close friends though, you can set some expectations about punctuality.  For instance, with some friends, we are both always 15 minutes late. But with others, we are both more punctual.)

5) There are usually at least 3 courses and never forget to serve dessert!

If you go out to dinner:

1) Try not to be late. People eat out a lot in Melbourne — you might lose your reservation (and its always a good idea to make one)

2)  It’s normal to ‘go dutch’ in Aystralia and split bills. Usually you leave a bit of a tip too when you are doing this, although tipping is not as expected in Australia as it is in Canada as serving wages are higher.

Is anything else you have noticed?