Opinion
Compared with Europe, the food at Australian roadside stops is terrible
Lee Tulloch
Travel columnistJust before Christmas I went on a road trip from Cannes on the French Riviera to Milan in Northern Italy. Taking freeways all the way, the trip clocked in at just under five hours.
Once across the Italian border, we needed fuel and a snack, so the driver pulled up at an Autogrill, the European version of an Australian service station, or “servo” as they are fondly known here.
The pickings are slim and often grim at an Australian roadhouse.Credit: Getty Images
It was nothing special inside in terms of decor. But unlike Australian service stations, it sold bottles of wine. It also sold boxes of panettone, tins of olive oil, and books for bored, back-seat travellers.
The shelves were stocked with coffee beans, sweet and savoury biscuits, cheeses, cakes, olives and dried pasta. Fridges were full of soft drinks, juices, kefirs, yoghurts and beer. There was a table of salumi, or cured meats, and artisanal breads. You could eat at a simple cafe serving pastas, soup and salad or take away many kinds of sandwiches and focaccias. A barista made coffees at a dedicated bar.
It was almost as good as the Austrian service station I visited years before, which was like a mini-food hall or food fair, with an array of delicious hot food at brightly decorated stations that we could take away or eat at outside tables.
Compare this to my last foray up the Hume. After a few hours of driving, we paused at a large petrol station for necessary refuelling. Most service stations these days have similar layouts, divided into two areas – the section where you pay for fuel, grab a soft drink, ice-cream or an overpriced chocolate bar, and a take-away food counter, which might have limited table service.
The food offering was dismal. There was nothing I wanted to eat. The sandwiches were bland and pre-packaged. With limited options, my husband ordered a burger. When it came, it was just a reheated patty on a sweet bun, like something from McDonald’s, except without the tasty pickles and sauce.
Dreaming of the days before the road bypassed Albury, when you could stop at the Mermaid Cafe for a juicy home-made burger layered with the lot, he returned to the counter and complained about the lack of even a lettuce leaf. The server pointed to a photo above his head of an unappetising burger with no salad. You get what you see, he said.
This summer thousands of families will have travelled along Australia’s freeways, stopping at service stations along the way for fuel, food and toilet breaks. Some are happy with McDonald’s and KFC. But what if you’re not? Travellers deserve better than the culinary wastelands these places have become.
I’m nostalgic for the old Golden Fleece roadhouses, introduced in 1964, which were the largest chain of restaurants in Australia at the time. The food wasn’t exactly sophisticated. They offered staples such as wiener schnitzel, ham steak Hawaiian and roasts. Food was cooked on the spot, not reheated pre-packaged meals from a supermarket chain (which own many of today’s service stations). Often the proprietors went to real trouble, with lace curtains and flowers on the table.
These days, the coffee is better, but that’s about all. I find the lack of quality food inexplicable in a country where we’ve elevated the humble cafe to something quite brilliant and our every-day diets includes food from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
Is it laziness or expediency? Travellers are a transient audience, unlikely to complain. A sausage roll might be easy to take away but so is a banh mi.
Some service stations are better than others, of course. In South Australia, a group of entrepreneurial young Sikhs have bought several servos from Snowtown to Port Lincoln, serving fresh home-cooked curries to hungry travellers. I’m sure readers have their own favourites, around which they plot their journeys (post your tips in the comments below).
Away from the freeways, there’s better food in the cafes and pubs of country towns, which the roads increasingly bypass. But that’s no excuse for what is on the highways to be so terrible, especially as the long stretches of road mean a servo is the only option in many cases.
People are likely to be spending more time at service stations in the future, as the charging of EV batteries takes much longer than filling up a tank.
Why not treat this as an opportunity to showcase some regional food beyond the sausage roll? Or at the very least put some beetroot in that burger.
Sign up for the Traveller newsletter
The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.