Never mind the great parmy vs parma debate, what’s going on with Australia’s glass sizes, asks Vanessa Cavasinni
I’m a big fan of Survivor, the long-running reality show where a couple dozen people get stranded on a beautiful tropical island, and scheme to vote other members of the group out until only one is left standing. Food is limited to rice and beans for the most part, but certain challenges come with food rewards for the victors.
Sounds simple enough, but last week, Australian Survivor decided to enter the cultural chat, by offering up a food reward of a classic pub meal – a chicken parmigiana and a beer. As could have easily been predicted, the ongoing pub debate flared up: is it a parmy or a parma?
Like the famed Barassi Line, Australians are geographically and culturally divided on the correct name for this classic dish (forget parmigiana, it’s not even in the conversation).
I’m a Sydney-sider, but I’ve been doing this job on a national scale for so long that I forgot who calls it what and had to look it up. Victorians and Tasmanians agree its ‘parma’, while the rest of the nation is either in favour of ‘parmy’ or evenly split between the two variations. But then there’s debate about whether it should be spelt ‘parmy’, ‘parmi’, or ‘parmie’.
It’s a bit of fun, and can make for a great conversation starter. But I would argue there’s a bigger, more serious debate that should be gripping the nation when it comes to pub consumption: beer glassware sizes.
It flabbergasts me that we have different beer glass sizes in various states. Do you want a pot, a pint, a middy or a schooner? Don’t get me started on a ten or a handle. Or how about the fact that a pint is 570ml everywhere except for South Australia, where 570ml is an Imperial pint, and pint is the term for a 425ml glass (known as a schooner everywhere else in the country)?
Honestly, spare me the outrage about a chicken parm (that’s right, I’m remaining neutral) – let’s sort out these glassware sizes and names, shall we?
In the meantime, I’ll have a parm and a 425ml pour of beer, thanks mate.
