Dawn Fraser at the table

In the working-class Balmain of the 1940s-60s, the daily food rhythm followed a simple, hearty pattern: a substantial breakfast, "smoko" (the mid-morning tea break with a biscuit or scone), the evening dinner built around the sacred "meat and three veg" (a meat and three boiled or roasted vegetables), the Sunday family roast, and a sweet dessert for special occasions. The cuisine was British in origin, adapted to local produce and climate, both thrifty and generous.

This amber cane syrup, sold in its iconic green and gold tin, is THE Australian pantry staple. It sweetens, binds, and glazes Anzac biscuits, flavours puddings, and sweetens homemade drinks. Cheap and foolproof, it embodies the resourceful cooking of working-class families like the Frasers.