American Mag Thinks Australians Live on a Diet of Fairy Bread

As you may have noticed in your newsfeed in recent months, other countries are just discovering the existence of fairy bread, Australia’s most-loved birthday-party food (chocolate crackles are a very close second).

In the scramble to get their heads around the very complex treat, there are a few things getting lost in translation.

Lets take one of the latest articles, published yesterday in American digital food magazine, Epicurious.

The writer describes fairy bread as “a slice of bread generously spread with butter and covered in – wait for it – rainbow sprinkles”. Firstly, that slice must be unnaturally soft, Homebrand, bleached-white bread – not that artisan-looking, crusty loaf pictured in the article.

Secondly, rainbow sprinkles or “sparkling sanding sugar” is not correct. Hundreds and Thousands is the go, and you need to spill half of them on the kitchen floor and under the fridge as you make it – respect the tradition, okay?

If you want to make your own cultured butter like the writer suggests, go nuts. It’s just … fairy bread isn’t really a plan-three-days-ahead kind of snack.

Finally, this bit is pretty glorious:

“Despite its striking appearance, in Australia, fairy bread isn't considered fancy food – the toast is usually eaten as breakfast, as a snack in-between meals, or after dinner to finish off the meal.”

While not exactly true, fairy bread as a socially acceptable breakfast choice is a very interesting suggestion.