Good Morning Dear Readers! How are you faring this lovely Saturday morning? If you’ve got some lazy, leisurely weekends planned ahead then I might have the book for you 
Mezza Italiana by Australian writer Zoe Boccabella is a biography of an Aussie-Italian girl who grew up in Brisbane and went on a voyage to her ancestral village in Italy. She talks about growing up in Australia and how she tried to fit into society even dying her dark hair blonde and her sense of feeling “half and Half” and there are recipes interspersed throughout the book which I loved because it sounded very similar to my experiences (and perhaps yours too!) and my upcoming book.
Here is a description of Mezza Italiana: “Growing up in Brisbane in the 1970s and 80s, Zoë Boccabella knew if you wanted to fit in, you did not bottle tomatoes, have plastic on the hallway carpet or a glory box of Italian linens. Though she tried to be like ′everyone else′, refusing to learn Italian… Zoë couldn′t shake the unsettling sense of feeling ′half-and-half′ – half Australian, mezza italiana – unable to fit fully into either culture, or merge the two.
Years later, she travels to her family′s ancestral village of Fossa in Abruzzo and discovers a place that is the stuff of fairytales – medieval castles, mystics, dark forests, serpent charmers and witches. As Zoë stays in the house that has belonged to her family for centuries, the village casts its spell. She begins to realise the preciousness of her heritage and the stories, recipes and traditions of her extended Italian family become a treasured part of her life. Then the earthquake hits…”
Thanks to Harper Collins, five lucky winner will win a copy of Mezza Italiana! For a chance to win this pack all you have to do is tell me which country you feel most at home in and why! Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at midnight AEST 18th of June, 2011. You can enter this competition once daily and it is open to anyone within Australia.
***The winners are:
Ellen E-W of S.A.
Matilda A. of NSW
Karen D-T. of NSW
Marcella C. of Qld
Antoinetta F. of Vic.
***
Best of luck!
Lots of love,
Lorraine
xxx
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165 Comments | Add your own
I love these types of stories. In the end, we embrace our heritage; it’s so much part of us.
I am an Aussie, 1/4 Chinese and the rest German. But apart from Australia, I feel the most at home in Greek: the food, the music, the attitude. I always say I’m Greek at heart, and the Greeks accept this of me and embrace it. My favourite place in the world is Oia, Santorini. Pure. Unadulterated. Perfection.
So, I can’t win the book because I don’t live in Australia, but that is why we have Amazon in our world, so I can get my very own copy!
I must get this book! It is also a reflection of my life. How I want an Australian name like Karen or Julie but no I had one that no one could pronounce! However I feel at home in rural Australia because that is where I grew up and though I love my heritage and have come to love my name, I’m proud to be an Aussie!
Each time that I have travelled to my husband’s birthplace of New Zealand, I feel the warm embrace of its culture and Maori people.
France. After living there five years I just can’t get it out of my system. French food, french style, being able to speak the language, French movies and the beautiful French countryside
I also grew up in the 60′s with a name which was not “plain”. So many people just couldn’t pronounce it. How hard is it, really?!! But I love living in Australia with all my italian family and friends, truly good food and home-made wine. You just can’t be that!
Australia, Our Country is beautiful and So relaxing. Its a Place I do feel Safe.
Sounds like a great read – I’d love to enter and would love even more to win….
My place is Paris not original perhaps but oh heartfelt!! I grew up in Armidale NSW a university town. Many of my friends’parents were on sabbitical from overseas so multicultural friends just normal surely how it should be. But, my Paris it’s the aesthetics that feels right. Dressing for the everyday not for anyone else but because I feel comfortable. Eating lightly but well and the sheer appreciation of all the beauty
in the architecture and ambience that is Paris. Warm regards Gerri
Well, i feel most at home in Israel, because it is home… i have been living here in California for the last 2.5 years, i have learned to love a lot about it, i have traveled in Italy -it’s beautiful!, Paris – amazing! New-Zealand – unbelievable! Australia – great! but you know what they say… “home is where the hart is” and my hart is with my family, in Israel.
i love the Israeli kitchen, i love the people, i love my family and friends (i do not love the politics, but that is something else).
Australia is all I know, But Italy is where I want to go
If I were French I know I would love to live there. To speak the beautiful language, to eat the lovely food and to watch the great French films. However, I love living in Australia.
As an Australian, I would say naturally I feel most at home here, I thought about all the great places I have been and the fantastic european foods…but that is what is great about Australia being so mulitcultural we have lots of that yummy food here….and I now own a Mediterranean restauran with my Greek partner. So I have the best of both worlds the fantastic Mediterranean food but I stare out over the Sunshine Coast beach all day…
I was born in England but can’t imagine living there again. I feel at home right where I am now. Rural Tasmania. Wide open spaces, fresh air and a vegetable garden to die for.
Three little letters: Eha – ‘the last light of day’ in Estonian – have they brought me grief! There are at least a dozen possible pronunciations, it seems! At Uni a waggish boyfriend actually called me ‘Eeyore’ from “Winnie the Pooh’! Very funny!
First day at High School – everyone VERY friendly, but: ‘Do you have cars in your country?’, ‘Do you have doctors in your country?’, ‘Most of you look like Red Indians, don’t you?’ ;D! I swear!!
Comfortable – somehow, in spite of the above, I began feeling so in Oz almost from Day One, and it has never changed. No curiosity to go back even – my birth country has changed so much. Had I the money I’d rather go and learn cooking in Vietnam! Or north to Alaska, where I have never been. Or the National Parks of the US . .
It sounds like a wonderful story. I like the idea of bringing it to life by cooking the recipes.
I feel most at home in Brisbane. The people are friendly, I know my way around and my friends and family are close.
I recently read this book and it is impossible to put down. Zoe’s story of coming to terms with being something other than a white Anglo-Australian and then developing a new relationship with her grandparents and the land of their birth is incredible.
The recipes and the descriptions of the food they eat is incredible. I loved it. Having a cultural family background for different foods is such a joy, and being able to discover and explore them the way that Zoe does is a dream.
Hope the winners enjoy as well!
I feel pretty much at home whereever my partner and pillow are.
However, I would love to win a copy of Mezza Italiana as I would like to explore my Italian heritage on my grandad’s side, which I only found out about recently when my grandmother died.
My grandparents divorced shortly after I was born and I never met my grandad or heard anything about “his people.” At my grandmother’s small funeral this unusual looking woman in gumboots and a crocheted beanie who noone recognized turned up and said she was the keeper of the family tree. She told me that my greatgrandfather was Italian and changed Anglicised his surname when they migrated. So in some region of Italy I must have lots of Italian rellies and I would love to read about another daughter of the diaspora’s journey back there.
Australia is the only place I call home, after living in different countries around the world….and now back home to live this year, you understand that we are turely a blessed country.
Ok this is sad but true I havent travelled any where but here (Australia) so really have no choice but to call it home ( not that I think thats a bad thing ) but one day I would love to travel the world and maybe find a couple of places I could call home if only for awhile.
With an Australian mother and an Italian father I am mezza italiana! This book would be great, displayed pride of place in my cucina!
My parents are Vietnamese and even though we still have carry through a lot of Vietnamese traditions, I have to say that Australia is still my home.
I had a Swedish grandfather and the rest of me is generations of Australian, English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and yet I still feel a disturbance within. I have only holidayed overseas so this country is where I should feel at home. Perhaps a country upbringing has created a sense of not belonging in the city where I have lived for 38 years.
Such a wonderful story and I feel a bit sorry for Zoe, for the sheer reason that growing up she didn’t embrace both cultures.I was lucky in the fact that my parents pointed out at a very early age how important it was to embrace our Italian culture, as well as fit in to the Australian way.I’m not kidding myself by any means, as there were times during my school years when I was called names ie:Wog or Dago that felt so unwarranted,that I was ready to punch someone’s lights out but having a strong personality helped me overcome this and other things. What makes me smile on the inside now is the huge turnaround in Australian lifestyle which has come about by taking the best from every culture in this melting pot and making Australia a country that many envy. I love to go back to Italy at every opportunity , to embrace my relatives , to enjoy the endless selection of Italian specialties, to find history at every corner , to immerse myself in ‘La Dolce Vita’but Australia is where I have lived since I was 5 years old, this is my home and there is nothing better than that magical view of Sydney Harbour as the plane curves in to land!
Any Mediterranean country makes me feel at home: being born in Spain, I feel we share common heritage in how to enjoy life: family, friends, food, culture, festivities, love…and our beautiful blue Mediterranean see
Hi Lorraine, I just bought this book to take on the plane to Paris! I’m sure it will be a wonderful read… good luck to everyone who enters!
i feel most at home here in australia because i have never been anywhere else
Although Aussie, I love being in the English countryside. I feel I lived there in another life, and hope to in a future one also ! The endless hills, smells, flowers and warm fires are special to me.
My heritage is completely Australian so I guess I feel most ‘at home’ here but I do have a particular affinity for Malaysian Borneo – especially in the rainforest in Mulu. There’s something so peaceful, serene yet wild and untamed there that speaks to me somehow
France keeps calling me back. I have only been twice but I feel so comfortable there, the food the wine the countryside. I want to go back again soon
I was born and bred in Sth Australia and I have been fortunate to visit every state and Territory in Australi as well as several overseas countries. I love Australia unconditionally, but I certainly thoroughly enjoyed myself everywhere I have visited
I was born and bred in Australia, and all my family is in Australia, yet after visiting Italy for my gap year I fell in love with everything there and feel most at home in Italy! Once I finish uni I hope to move there to live. So being italy, it makes me really want this prize!
I am a kiwi, but spent most my life in Australia. Most of my childhood was spent yearning to return to my homeland, which I did quite frequently in my teens. As adulthood approached, this yearning declined as my desire to travel the world increased. I consider myself well-travelled, and have a love affair and dreams of living in several countries – Canada & Italy & Singapore just to name a few. Like many Antipodeans, I lived in London for a few years. Oddly enough, this is where I felt I had finally arrived home – simply because I felt like I belonged. The Northern Hemisphere seasons appealed, and the proximity to the world was wonderful. Still, after being back in Australia for 6 years, I cannot shake the feeling that is truly where I should be.
Despite being Australian by many generations now and regarding this as most definitely home, I also feel strangely at home in Ireland. Grey, wet, rainy, green, nothing like the vast blue skies and wide open spaces of the Darling Downs where I grew up, but somehow homely and welcoming!!
Zoe’s story, a virtual mirror image of my own. Growing up in Melbourne in the 70′s and 80′s, understanding my heritage at home but outside the walls it was a different experience for not just me but my whole family. Wanting to “fit in” to the Australian culture, we did succeed with my parents being open minded about the new country and embracing it as well and therefore entwining it into ours. So, being Mezza Italiano, half Australian is my celebration of my life. And I love it. Having visited overseas, seeing other countries (Italy the most), the country I feel most at home is of course, Australia. The best country in the World!!
I’m in Helsinki on this fine Saturday morning, so right now I feel at home in Finland. I also feel completely at home in lovely Italy and Australia. I would be happy to call all 3 home.
Naturally Australia,but….. I could easily settle in the basque country of SPAIN,they love food,fun and family,exactly the same values as us,only thing lacking here at home is the siesta!!!
Hi, I would have to say just about every country I have been lucky enough to visit. You can always dream………… Always enjoy my home coming ie being able to flush the toilet paper after use!Not having Bali belly!
Has to be Australia. Brilliant to visit everywhere else, but I also love coming back home.
I think Thailand is the place where I’ve felt most at home. From my very first visit, I felt like I’d come home. Back then, I also was local size which helped a lot. But the food, the clothes, the lifestyle – except for the strip shows and child selling obviously, which is so sad – I felt like I’d been there before.
definitely Australia! my kangaroo tail soup is to die for (but with the twist – dates, port, and veges slow cooked in a tagine)….i believe in taking the best from every culture, it can only strengthen our young but old Aussie one…
Australia naturally, but I love experiencing the cultural differences the world has to offer
Thats easy, I am aussie through and through and it definitely feels like home to me
This book sounds really interesting, a good read i’d say.
Italy, even though I’m Aussie born & bred, with a wonderful Italian husband!! Italian people are most welcoming and accommodating, in every aspect of their lives. Nothing is to much, to hard or ever an inconvenience for them. To them having a distant relative from across the ocean come & stay is an honour and something to be celebrated and embraced by the entire extended family, village & even community! Unlike here, if distant relatives were to want to come & stay, it would be an annoying burden that most would not want to endure, and would make a million excuses to avoid. There’s no place on earth more comfortable or homely than Italy.
Australia! Home is where the heart is, and all my creature comforts are here too. It’s all I’ve ever known, Australia is my home and what a wonderful home it is.
~~The book sounds great. I shall buy it on Amazon. I also can’t wait to read yours, L! PS. did you figure out who will play you in the film yet? Remember Julie & Julia???? Amy Adams was Fab–:) XXxx
I am only 1/4 Italian but have loved every minute of the time I have spent there. It certainly helps to speak Italian, even if it’s as badly as I do. Having said that though, it has to be Australia as there’s no place like home and the familiarity of the place you grew up.
I have to admit I feel most at home lying on a beach, any beach…
I never felt anywhere was home when I was growing up, as the military moved us constantly. We had only mums parents as rellies, so the only constant was family. Mum and Dad were the centre and us kids revolved around them. We would always ‘adopt’ more grandparents from an old folks home or church,so home always meant family, where ever that happened to be.
awesome book… do send it my way
This sounds like so many other peoples lives mine included i cant wait to have a read
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i’m still craving Italian food even since Venice and would love a good Italian cookbook. Her story sounds fascinating too and yes I think we all relate growing up in Oz without blonde hair. Too bad I’m not in Oz right now, will be exciting to be eligible for these competitions soon!
Whilst there are so many wonderful and very beautiful places in the world, my heart (and my stomach) will always belong to Melbourne, with it’s cafes, restaurant scene, hidden laneway gems, parks, and galleries. But Zoe’s Italy sound gorgeous. Any place where food comes first!
India – i’m willing to experience everything there, i’m a real ‘Goa’!
Thailand – i’m alwayus totally ‘Satay’sfied there!
I feel most at home in Aus – both my parents grew up in country NSW as did I and the rolling hills and crisp country air always make me feel at home.
I am well-travelled and there are countries I really love (Turkey, Spain) but I am still, and always will be, a true blue Aussie.
I’ll always call Australia Home. I’ve lived in Hong Kong and the US, and love France and other parts of the world, but there’s nothing like your roots, where family and friends are that you’ve know since being a little kid.
Though Aussie born, I felt the most welcome of anywhere I’ve been in Turkey. We spent 5 weeks there in 1998 and everywhere we went we felt we were with friends. The Ataturk quote at Gallipoli ‘Your sons are now living in our bosom
and are in peace.
Having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well’ reflected the warm embrace that we felt everywhere we went in Turkey.
The full quote by Ataturk is:
Those heroes that shed their blood
and lost their lives..
you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours.
You the mothers
who sent their sons from far away countries
wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now living in our bosom
and are in peace.
Having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well.
Amazing country, amazing people, fine food too!
Oh wow… reading that sounds eerily like my own upbringing… Both sides of my family are Italian, and I’ve come out looking as Aussie as possible – red hair, freckles and all! I never really fit in with my Aussie friends (because yes, we make pasta sauce, sausages and have the plastic on the good furniture too!), and after a trip to Italy a few years ago, I found my place! We were raised to love food and cooking, to enjoy it and respect it, not to count calories and feel guilty like a lot of my friend and colleagues do. I can’t wait to get back to my family in Italy and learn more about my roots and my family’s cooking secrets
It really did feel like home!
My ancestry is pure British Isles…on my first trip “home” I felt an instant affinity, loved the history, greenness, and the food, particularly the emphasis on afternoon tea!
I feel most at home in Italy its where my Dad was born and its our family culture and history.
Home is wherever my loved ones are, but if I had to pick a place that I am most comfortable with, it would have to be Melbourne. Like Zoe, and a few other people who’ve responded to this story, I was born in Australia, my parents are Greek, and I struggled for years with the conflicts of being a Greek-Australian in the 70s and 80s. And then I went to Greece for the first time at 21. It was there that I came to the realisation that I never felt more proud to be Greek. I relished the journey of discovery and embraced my Greekness for the first time, and continue to do so today. It was cool to be an ethnic after all, and still is. Now, I am married to a Dutchman, and my kids were born in London and Singapore. We live in the Netherlands (so guess am not eligible for this prize). I will encourage my kids to embrace their different backgrounds and help them enjoy being a delicious cocktail of Greek, Australian and Dutch.
Apart from Australia… America, because I have so many friends there, the boy who first captured my heart (even if he didn’t want to keep it very long), and so many vegan/dairy-free goodies that I long to gobble up…
I love all things Greek but especially the food – we always had Greek neighbours and were invited to their celebrations and I fell in love with their attitude to life, music & of course food…. slow baked lamb with lemon potatoes . yum
My family are European Jews and my long-ago ancestors were undoubtedly from Israel, but I grew up in Moscow and I think of Moscow and our small flat on the banks of the Moskva river as my home… I also love spending time in Israel and living in Sydney. But I guess I am comfortable where my family, my child and my pillow are. Oh, and having a spacious kitchen always makes for the HOME feeling for me. Simple.
dear you always have the best giveaways, caught a glimpse of some lovely hot chocolate. I wouldn trade my vampire fangs for a cup of it!!
sweetlife
I would have to say I feel very comfortable in Phuket. The people are amazing, simple lives they lead, and humble. When we went for a visit, i took my kids behind the scenes, so they could really see how simply these people live, away from the tourist mekka, I hope i made a point with my kids, that not everything you do when on holidays is touristy, and that you should embrace other ways of life and cultures. I loved phuket and would move there in the blink of an eye!
I have never been outside of Australia but have always wanted to travel. So Australia is home to me. But I have a great fondness for Italian food and now I have an Italian boyfriend…..I don’t think it will be very long before I am embracing Italy.
All countries are beautiful but Australian Outback has my heart with all the wildlife that runs free and the great sights to see.
I’m Chinese and brought up in Australia so naturally I feel home is Aus, because it’s so comforting to know where everything is and where I fit in.
When I first read a review of Zoe’s book I immediately thought of my daughter, who, also, is mezza italiana, her father being Italian. Of course, my daughter’s journey has been different, but I still remember how it was when she first visited Italy and encountered the culture of her “other half”. We would love to read Zoe’s story!
This type of story makes you realise that the world is equally balanced and good comes to those who deserve it
I love travelling, and have visited many overseas countries and I really enjoyed seeing new landscape, new customs and cultures and meeting wonderful people but as a 6th generation Australian my heart and soul belongs to Australia, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else
I grew up in Melbourne in the 70′s and 80′s with Italian parents. Like Zoe, I also tried to reject all things Italian to fit into my rather anglo suburb and school. I refused to speak Italian which I now regret. I never experienced any racism though which is probably due to not looking ‘Italian’. I have visited Italy several times and it took the fourth visit to really feel a connection to the country. I now love visiting Italy and I do feel very comfortable there but having lived here all my life Australia will always feel like home.
In Italy they live to eat rather than eat to live which is my attitude to life as well so VIVA ITALIA,thanks.
I am Aussie Aussie Aussie Aussie…am proud of it… Even though my Ancestary is English/Scotish-I love this country and proud to be part of a beautiful country,people and welcome many cultures as we are all Aussies at heart……
How great to grow up knowing and exploring both your cultural heritages; finding Italian roots late in live changes all concepts of one’s perceived ideas. A copy of Mezza Italiana would add one more leave on a wonderful journey of exploration.
I grew up in the US and still talk like a Yank but Australia is home to me!
When in France and the little villages I feel so much at home – the gentle and quiet paced lifestyle instantly relaxes me and I feel contented … especially with a glass of wine too!
I feel most at home in Australia, the beautiful country. It’s a place where many cultures offer diveristy in traditions and everyday life.
I’m an Aussie girl with Aussie parents and although raised in the suburbs and that’s where I live now nothing feels as much like home as the Aussie countryside. Oh how I would love to move out to the country and live on a property.
This truly is the lucky country and I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Im a born an bred Aussie but feel a true and very real attachment to my ancestral coutry of Ireland. I love the scenery of brilliant greens, rugged landscapes, heartening meals and fun loving people
I feel most at home in “Aussieland”. I have migrated here 25 years ago and I love the freedom of expression, freedom to wear what you like, freedom to be gay, religious, atheist, fat, skinny, ugly without people laughing at you or judging you. …I will never live in my home country again.
i too, born in Australia but both parents Italian, i went to italy to see my parents heritage, it was amazing but missed my home Australia.
There’s no place like home … Sydney is where I feel most at home. In a culinary sense though….my heart is in Thailand.
It has to be Canada, vancouver island in particular after spending months in America, a week spent in Canada was like coming home. The kindness of the people, decent bread and just how beautiful the place is.
Ireland – I have some strong ancestral roots there! And I love the music…!
I will never do as much overseas travelling as I would like, but give me a home beneath the gum trees, with kangaroos, koalas, Wombats and Platypus, with its’ beautiful sandy beaches and laid back style, not Paradise but the best country to live in
Having only travelled to USA – LA and New Zealand, I don’t have much experience, but I would love to think that I could adapt to the Italian way of life using food straight from the garden to the table.
I’ve been lucky enough to live in Italy and have travelled the world. While Italy feels like a second home to me, Melbourne is still the best city in the world to live, I still get excited seeing it when I fly back home.
You def need to be proud of who you are. Even if it takes you a while.
I have to say, I love Australia but I also feel very at home in London. The people, places and pride are all what makes it so great!
well its not a country, but it should be! New York! I love that no matter what you feel like, you can get it. 3am perogis, late night shopping ALL the time, and giant oversized frozen hot chocolate. mmmm
Ireland is my home away from home, as my daughter has married an Irishman and now lives over there. He comes from a very large family and when we visit we are always treated like royalty by their family and friends. We also have 3 beautiful Irish grandchildren who are absolutely enchanting.
My place would be switzerland in my aunt’s lounge room, drinking white tea by the litre and eating a whole cake between 4 of us. Family, great cooks and great food are all there.
Will an Oz address work Lorraine? If yes, do count me in. Will hopefully be there in June. India is home for me, always, and theres no place like it. There is no method in our madness, yet the place draws you to the colour and culture!
I would have to say Singapore… I can either dine on local street food (which is hard to replicate at home) or at the high end restuarants, either one is always welcoming and enjoyable. There is a bit of everything there and nothing feels out of place. The markets are unique, the people are friendly and very welcoming.
I love visiting other countries, and I love trying different countries’ food (apart from anything to *HOT* but my heart belongs to Australia, and as many have already mentioned I couldn’t live in a country which didn’t have my family in
Even though I have lived all my life in Australia and I was born in this wonderful country, I feel at home in Hong Kong where my background is because I feel that I can connect with the people and really find my roots via the awesome food they have, the overall atmosphere and every time I go there, there are no strings attached and I can really enjoy myself.
Italy!!!! The food, the smells, the wine. What more could you want?
Every time I travel overseas, as much fun as it is, I can’t wait to get home … Australia is and always will be home. The sun, the sea and the people!
There really is ‘No Place Like Home’ and Home for me is and will always be Australia. I honestly don’t think that any country has the appeal as Australia
The country I feel most at home in is Italy. Coming from drought-stricken Australia I was completely bewitched by how lush the countryside was in the north, even in summer! The land is so different that I could easily understand the horror of my relatives getting off the boat in Fremantle and wondering what they had done. My first trip to Italy felt more like a reunion than a first meeting and I’m eager to get back and know it better!
While it is wonderful visiting other hospitable countries Australia will always be home for me. South Australia in summer for it’s luscious produce and cheese. Queensland in mid winter for it’s warmth and New South Wales for the remainder as it’s home! What contrast and comforts we have. With my family’s Italian heritage we eat, drink and laugh well. This, in our hearts, is home.
Compared to the rest of the World Australia is a very young country……..Not the country itself but its’ settlement. Europe, Asia the middle East have their historic buildings and their history, the UK is green and lush, but my Australia is a multitude of greens, browns and Gold we ARE The LUCKY Country and I am Proud to say “This is MY Home”
i was in Hong Kong when it handed back to China and the army marched in with machine guns
I was living in Manhattan when the twin towers came down on top of us.
I have traveled to many places but NOWHERE is as easy to live, free, safe and happy as i feel back in Australia. I will continue to travel but i will always come” home.”
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – THE only place to be – in the good times and bad Aussies unite like no other and help out their mates – so proud to be Australian
Australia – as a Pozzie (British by birth, Australian by choice) Aus is now my home, where I feel patriotic and where I want to live the rest of my life
Right here, in Australia! Travelling is fun and a great experience, however it’s always a relief to return home, to Australia.
What a beautiful book, some of my favourites about memoirs with recipes threaded through, I love hearing the stories behind them.
I think I’d feel most at home in England, I have (fairly distant) relatives there, and have dreamed of going there all my life. Not to mention, my pasty skin should help me blend in!
Even though I was born here, everytime I go to England, I feel like I’ve come home. If only I could afford to move there!
Australis! I love it here and I feel at home and relaxed and love the fantastic life style that we have
When I set foot in England I felt I had come home, although I was born in OZ and I loved every minute but at the end of our holiday I had to agree with Dorothy, there’s no place like home!
Australia will always be my home, and the country I feel safest and most at home in.
Both my parents are Italian, I married an Italian and I love travelling to Italy but I feel most at home in Australia. It may not have a lot of history or beautiful old buildings but the lifestyle is magnificent.
I am several generations West Australian and love Western Australia, however it is easy to embrace other parts of the country when visiting. In recent years I have visited France and Italy a couple of times and when there day dream about living in those countries. This makes me think we are really children of the world and should be more tolerant of each other.
America was an eye-opener but I’m at home here in Australia, with my Vegemite, Tim Tams and annoying blowflies!
Australia because I was born here, so naturally I feel most comfortable here
I’m a bit of a lost soul really, I love Australia where I have grown up, I like Italy where I have also grown up and I have travelled vastly and lived in London which I have also embraced as home. So all three!
France because the life style and the food suits me to a T!
I grew up in Australia although Kiwi by birth. Lived in Australia from age 4 to age 38. Back in NZ for 19 years of marriage but on returning to Australia when that marriage disintegrated I find at age 58 I cannot gain permanent residency in Australia or citizenship because I am too old – which means I can’t get a lot of employment even that of Census Form Collector…… and have no eligibility for Centrelink benefits despite twenty something years of being an Australian taxpayer…. and being allowed back on the Electoral Roll because I was on it in 1984. So although I have always felt Australia, loved Australia as my home and felt at home here, and my elderly Mother and my sisterr and her family and my son and grandchildren are all resident here and are now Australian citizens I now feel unwanted by my country…… that I no longer have a home anywhere. During my married years in NZ I was always teased for being an Aussie, despite my NZ citizenship and having been born in NZ……
i have just finish reading Mezza Italiana and loved it . Iam Mezza italiana and love all the stories my family told us and stillcook a lot their way
Australia because I have never left it!
I find myself at home in both Australia and Italy. I have Italian (Abruzzo and Veneto) heritage and like to cook Italian but, like Zoe didn’t really know much about it or have a connection to it until I travelled there. I like to cook Italian with an Australian influence, so modern Italian I suppose, my twist on the recipes my mother taught me…
Im Australian with a touch of Italian(grandfather) which most people pick up on as i love Italian foods and my family.My late grandfather left me with wonderful childhood memories,He owned a Italian restuarant when i was little.
I would love to say that I feel at home in Italy, but I don’t because I can’t speak the language. Australia is home.
I was born in France, moved to the UK after graduating, then Japan. I’ve been living in Sydney for 2 years now, and it starting to feel like home, I feel like I have finally settled.
She grew up in my wonderful, much loved Bris-vegas!! I would love to read of her adventures!
the saying/song “where ever i lay my hat thats my home” – rubbish!! Home is Australia.
I love to sample the tastes of many countries within my own and as a very wise man once said “No matter how far or wide I roam, I still call Australia home”. That is indead where I feel most at home.
Having only travelled to 2 countries. I would say New Zealand as they have a similar lifestyle to Australia.
Although I was not born here, I’ve never felt so at home as I do here in Australia. It is the most warm, happy, welcoming place in the world!
I’m proud to be a true blue Aussie!
Italy. I too was born “half-and-half” but my mix was Italian and American. I was always too “ethnic” for my American friends. They didn’t understand why I didn’t have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch but rather leftover Rigatoni Bolognese.
It wasn’t until I moved to Italy that I was able to revel in my Italian roots and amazingly enough, discover the preciousness of my American side too!
A~BBQ
U~luru
S~ydney
T~anned bodies
R~eal men
A~l fresco dining on
L~ush women
I~n bikinis
A~t the beaches!
I’m an Aussie, born and bred. It’s here I like to lay my head!
Growing up I longed to visit/live in England and Germany. I’ve been fortunate enough to briefly visit both countries and while they lived up my long held expectations and more, my heart truly belongs to Australia. This country girl couldn’t wait to go visit the family farm and enjoy a great big steak burger with extra beetroot after only a 6 week europe getaway!
I love it here is Australia, I guess Im just most familiar with it!
I am most at home in Australia. My partner has moved to Australia from England, and also calls Australia his home. We both love the climate most days, the opportunities available (you can accomplish any dream here)and the many attractions to see.
After living in Australia for eleven years, I feel the most at home right here. Visiting my family in the USA is always a culture shock and I have to stop myself saying “We do that better in Australia.”
Melbourne, Australia we have such a diverse city with so many cultures in the food people and buildings. Where ever you turn you can try new foods from all over the world.
Definitely right in here in Australia. Sunshine Coast, Queensland to be precise. Even on a very grey and cold day today it is still beautiful and I would not be anywhere else. Other places are just to visit.
I still call Australia, HOME!
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies -
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI
Although I am technically Australian, after visiting Italy for my gap year I fell in love with everything there and feel most at home in Italy! When I finish uni I want to move there to live. So as I feel most at home in italy, it makes me really want this prize!
Australia. Where else in the world can you experience the full gam mat of cultures in food,wine and entertainment. I love Australia.
Australia. I was born in Scotland, had a Scottish dad and have an Italian mum, but I came to Australia eleven years ago on holiday with my Aussie partner and just didn’t want to return to the UK. I have been an Australian now for seven years. I love the people, food, wine, atmosphere, the land, the air..everything! It’s home!
Australia, the land of my birth, we are just so lucky here, sharing this country with people from so many other countries and cultures.
Im a 7th Generation Aussie who loves the outback so good old Settlers Tucker is my way. I crave damper, bunnies and good molasses bikkys and hot tea regularly
I have never left the country Australia so that feels and is my home – I love eating different types of foods to give me more culture and variety though.
The Land Downunder! I do believe that I would feel pretty comfy in Germany too!
Australia is home for me and I love that pretty much EVERY cuisine and culture is catered for and applauded.
Too many choices!
Would have to say Switzerland, while backpacking thru Europe in my 20′s I came across a small village in the mountains. Everyone spoke French, the boulangerie was only open for 3 hours in the morning, then after that, there was nothing. It was heaven not to have to rush, the be somewhere, to just be. Even now, I think I could just leave it all behind and live such a simple life…perhaps in another life…
I just came back from cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian ship after becoming engaged to the perfect man on a gondola in Venice. As I said to the gorgeous waitress on our table, “Io sono italiana in il mio cuore”. I am Italian in my heart.
Apart from Australia, the country I feel most at home in is Malta.
Although it is only a tiny island in the Mediterranean, it has left a huge imprint in my heart. The wonderful people, the stunning beaches and the amazing history all play a part…. but the yummy food is the main reason! Pastizzis especially!
Actually I feel quite ‘homesick’ for Malta right now!
Other than Australia, I feel at home in New Zealand, I was born there and there’s nothing better than gazing at the snow covered mountains while eating home made ice-cream at the local ice creamery, after stopping to buy the local seafood along the highway!! How simply delicable.
Home is where the heart is and that’s Australia because this is where my family are.
I feel at home in Australia because its the only place I have ever known but i feel most at Home in Tasmania but i dont know why
Have a similar background to Zoe and have sometimes felt ‘mezza Italiana and mezza Australiana.’
I feel most at home in Australia its my country of choice, not my country of birth
AUSTRALIA is my BIRTHPLACE & “HOME” – Home is where you HEART is & for most people that means FAMILY!
Australia – with only a few minor flaws it still is the best country to live in!
My family moved over to Australia when I was 12, and I’d always considered my native England to be home. Last year I headed back to the UK, which didn’t work out at all as planned, and I came to understand that I really do belong in Australia now. I finally feel at home.
I’m Italian and my husband is English, so dinner is always interesting with us eating traditional English fare with an Italian twist or vice versa, but I feel most at home here in Australia where I know who I am and where I want to be!
As I watch horrific images on TV of hurricanes and floods, I think how lucky I am. The total devastation that some people are facing is beyond me. I loving call Melbourne, Australia, my home, as it keeps me safe. And if something devastating did happen here, I know that the people who also love Melbourne would band together.
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