Fry off: did New Zealand invent the sausage sizzle? Australian claims hit a snag

"Sausage sizzles are a cherished part of Australian culture. Anni Turnbull, a Powerhouse collection curator specialising in the Australian culinary archive says democracy sausages sold outside polling booths on election day in particular are an edible manifestation of the idea of a fair go. The only snag? Sausage sizzles may not be an Australian creation."

"Often it's not who did it first, it's who wrote it down first,' says Jacqui Newling, from the Museums of History NSW. This isn't the first time the two countries have clashed over claims of gastronomic appropriation. See: lamingtons, pavlovas and flat whites. The origins of the sausage sizzle may have legitimate roots in Aotearoa's soil, based on archival New Zealand and Australian newspapers."

"The earliest documented use of the term sausage sizzle to refer to a charitable event in Australia was in 1946, where members of the Forbes Junior Country Women's Association organised a Full Moon Sausage Sizzle to bring non-perishable supplies in exchange for a sausage. These were to be sent to England to help postwar recovery efforts. This was four years after New Zealand's first use of the phrase."

"In 1942 Beryl Menzies threw a Popular Girl sausage sizzle, in an attempt to become Hamilton's most Popular Girl. Popular Girl contests were community-run events used to raise funds for wartime charities. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Barbara Santich, author of Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage, says New Zealand's claim as the sausage sizzle's place of origin isn't entirel"

Sausage sizzles are widely loved in Australia, with long lines forming at school fairs, open-air markets, and Bunnings when bangers are frying. Democracy sausages sold outside polling booths are described as an edible expression of a fair go. Claims about origins are contested, with New Zealand arguing it held the world’s first sausage sizzle and invented the snack. The earliest documented Australian use of “sausage sizzle” for a charitable event appears in 1946, when the Forbes Junior Country Women’s Association organised a Full Moon Sausage Sizzle to exchange sausages for non-perishable supplies sent to England for postwar recovery. New Zealand’s first use of the phrase is reported as earlier, including a 1942 Popular Girl sausage sizzle in Hamilton tied to wartime fundraising.

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