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were flavoured wdth various herbs, spices and wdne and contained large amounts of salt
to assist the preservation process: some sausages would hang to mature for several
years before being eaten, ^' Many of the Italian speakers who came to Australia
retained their traditional diets, this enabling them to continue a pattem of
self-sufficiency which aided their economic survival while at the same time enjoying a
familiar pattem of eating. They were also able to maintain a similar working calendar,
only having to adapt their customary activities to the different months in which the
seasons feU, Though time-consuming and laborious, the preparation of food-stuffs had
played a vital role in the day-to-day life of the peasants and, closely aligned with their
social and religious events, was one which they were reluctant to surrender. In
AustraUa many famiUes, such as the Vanina and Gaggioni clans, joined efforts for the
annual grape-harvest or sausage-making days and celebrated their conclusion with a
'pot night'. Despite the preference for a traditional diet, contact with the Anglo-Celtic
community did, however, mean the inclusion of some new foods, especially for those
families operating a food outlet to the general community (see Perini section). The
greater availability of certain foods also impacted on their eating pattems, the
immigrants developing a new type of sausage called a bullboar which contained, as its
name suggests, near equal amounts of pork and beef It soon assumed supremacy over
the traditional pork-based cudeghini which, although still continuing to be made,
comprised only the scraps and gristle left over from &w//Z>oar-making. Bullboars
became popular with local people of all nationalities and were eventually produced in
some of the district's butcher shops (cf above p. 214). The sharing of food and wine
was thus important for the growth of mutual understanding between different ethnic
groups of the Colony.
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