How Chinese is Now our True-blue Tucker

By Lisa Mayoh

The data, collected and analysed by research company BIS Shrapnel, shows Australians eat out on average seven times a month.

This follows a steady increase since 1960, when eating out was considered a special treat and made up only 12 per cent of the family food budget.

That figure grew to 25c in the food dollar in 1980 and 32c a decade later, before reaching 37c in 2000.

In a typical month, 86 per cent of Australians aged over 16 went out for a sit-down meal or had takeaway, BIS Shrapnel business unit manager Sissel Rosengren said.

Chinese is the most popular cuisine, followed by modern Australian, Italian and Thai.

Indian food rounded out the top five, followed by Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Greek and French.

Ms Rosengren said eating out was now a way of life.

"You can see the phenomenal development. Back in 1960, only 12 per cent of the family food budget was spent on eating out; today, we're talking 42 per cent, which is a very big difference," she said.

"It's not the special treat it used to be."Two-thirds of diners chose fast-food chains, up from 55 per cent in 2000, while 59 per cent went to restaurants and 50 per cent to cafes.

"During the economic downturn, people didn't go out as often and they didn't spend as much each time," Ms Rosengren said. "But because we have made eating out a way of life, they didn't stop eating out: they traded down."

Australians spent a monthly average of $79 at restaurants and $57 a month on takeaway.

Each sit-down meal cost about $30, while a takeaway meal cost an average $17, which rose with incomes.

Australians earning more than $100,000 a year spend an average of $38 per meal at a restaurant - which is 44 per cent more than someone earning less than $50,000 a year.

Working parents Jorja and Jared Leroy take their children Lotus, 4, and Chevy, 19 months, out for breakfast every Sunday and regularly have dinner out.Ms Leroy said the Avalon family spent about $120 at dinner and about $70 on Sunday breakfast at a cafe.

"Eating out is a way of life. My son and daughter would eat Japanese for breakfast, lunch and dinner if they could - but one of our favourites is Chinese," she said.

Friends John Swieringa, Jessica Hughes and Georgie Rogers enjoyed Chinese fare at one of their regular catch-up lunches yesterday.

"It was pretty random, but we'd eat Chinese when we're out as much as any other food, I'd reckon," Mr Swieringa said.