According to Mode Australia, a now-defunct magazine published by Australian Consolidated Press, French fries, fresh crab cakes and mesculun (sic) salads were very 'hot' at the end of the '80s. On the other hand, crocodile steaks, doner kebabs and char-grilled anything were 'cold'.
During the mid-80s, there was a massive renaissance of hot and spicy Cajun and Creole dishes. Jambalaya, gumbo, and crawfish became popular and were served all around the country. Perhaps the most popular dish that emerged was blackened redfish.
1980s - The 'me decade'
The Australian economy was booming - property values skyrocketed and many businesses made large profits. Many people became pre-occupied with making money and of course, spending it. Fashion, music and television from the decade was glitzy, showy and glamorous.
Thus, chicken had become popular at the expense of meat, fruit juice was replacing milk as the preferred drink for kids, salads were emerging in fancier guises. The ubiquitous Caesar salad seemed healthy; never mind that its fat content was probably the equivalent of a Big Mac.
Neighbours, Home and Away and Prisoner were popular TV programs abroad, while INXS, Men at Work, the Divinyls, Cold Chisel, Australian Crawl, Midnight Oil, Hunters and Collectors, Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave exploded onto the world music scene. There was even an '80s band called Bottom of the Harbour.
The 1980s, often remembered for its materialism and consumerism, also saw the rise of the "yuppie," an explosion of blockbuster movies and the emergence of cable networks like CNN and MTV, which introduced the music video and launched the careers of many iconic artists.
During the 1980s, conservative politics and Reaganomics held sway as the Berlin Wall crumbled, new computer technologies emerged, AIDS ravaged the United States, especially the gay male community, and blockbuster movies and MTV reshaped pop culture.
The period of low-fat everything had a strong focus on consuming single foods, with exotic-sounding names like the sexy pineapple diet, the grapefruit diet, the wine and eggs diet (yes, it really was a thing!), and even the cabbage soup diet, AKA the Dolly Parton diet.
Breakfast. Then: in the 70s and 80s most children were powered by instant hot oat cereal. On weekends you might be treated to an egg, or if you were seriously fancy, half a grapefruit.
The weekly basic wage in December 1982 was $121 for men and $101 for women. A loaf of bread cost 77 cents, and a 600ml bottle of milk was 76 cents. In August 1982, for the first time in 70 years in Queensland, 52 unions declared a general strike over the introduction of a 38-hour week.
One of Australia's most well-known and destructive bushfire events. Ash Wednesday (16 February 1983) experienced over 100 fires swept across Victoria and South Australia, killing 75 people and causing widespread damage.
March. 3 March — The Australia Act 1986 comes into effect at 1600 AEST, granting Australia legal independence from the United Kingdom by removing the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate with effect in Australia and its states and territories.
The '80s were an exhilarating time for music, fashion, and culture. Young people were moving to big cities in droves and embodying the catchphrase "dress for success." By day, many people were driven, successful, and put-together. By night, girls just wanted to have fun.
American culture became a culture of consumption as shopping became Americans' number-one hobby. For some, shopping became a religion and the shopping mall the new American church. A good education, a good job, and a loving family no longer defined success for many Americans.
Today, some see the 1980s as a Golden Age, a “Morning in America” when President Ronald Reagan, American conservatives, and baby boomer entrepreneurs revived America's economy, reoriented American politics, reformed American society, and restored Americans' faith in their country and in themselves.
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. Tall ship First Fleet re-enactment on Sydney Harbour, Australia Day, 1988. The Australian Bicentenary was marked with much ceremony across Australia.