On Your Doorstep
At the start of the 20th century the butcher, the baker, the greengrocer and the milkman delivered their goods to customers' homes by horse and cart. Milk was poured into a billy can left out on the front step. Imagine what it tasted like if it wasn't brought in straight away on a hot day! Milk was often unpasteurised and the cause of illness in many children.

Rabbits were also sold door to door by the 'rabbit-oh' who would skin them on the doorstep for sixpence a pair. Rabbits were in such abundance that rabbit meat was cheap and it soon became considered food for the poor. In rural areas people threw rabbits to their dogs.

The General Store
Foods like flour, sugar, tea, biscuits and dried fruit and nuts were sold at the grocers. Customers would ask for the quantity they needed and the grocer, wearing a white apron and standing behind a high wooden counter, would measure out the correct amount from a sack or barrel and put it in a paper bag, which the customer would place in a basket. Chairs were often provided for customers to sit down while they waited. Self-service did not exist in those days. Butter and cheese were cut off a block or wheel. Customers could not always be sure how old it was. Many cheeses were covered in wax to stop them going bad.

• In 1918 The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay was published with food as a main theme. It has become an Australian classic and is still sold today.
• In 1910 JP Sennit started making ice cream in Melbourne.
• In 1918 NESTLE opened a chocolate factory in Sydney.
• Anzac biscuits were first developed from Scottish oatcakes introduced by Scottish settlers arriving in the goldrush days of the 1850s. Over the years different ingredients were added such as coconut and golden syrup. The biscuits were sold as a fundraiser for Anzac soldiers and soon became known as Anzac biscuits.

Advent Of Processed Cheese
Fred Walker was constantly striving to improve his products. It frustrated him that cheese had such a short shelf-life. Little did he know that on the other side of the world, in North America, James L Kraft was battling with the same issue. Working in a grocer's, JL Kraft saw how much cheese was wasted when the dry bits were cut off. In 1903 he started selling cheeses from a horse and cart. He set up the Kraft Company with his brothers in 1909.

In 1912 JL Kraft experimented with blending and heating cheese. In 1916 he took out a patent describing the process. Halting the natural maturing of cheese allowed the cheese to be stored indefinitely. The pasteurisation and emulsification process was the start of processed cheese. That same year he started supplying the US Armed Forces with canned cheese.

Walker - The Entrepreneur
Fred Walker was very much the entrepreneur, helping to establish Australia as an exporting country. In 1910 he handled a variety of merchandise from petrol and tea, to paper and silk. He even exported fresh fruit and hams and bacon in refrigerated containers. By the 1920s Fred Walker and Company was canning fruits and baked beans.

Coffee, Tea Or Bonox?
Bonox, a beef extract that can be made into a drink or used as stock was launched in 1919. It became something of a household name - it used to be common for people to offer 'Coffee, tea or Bonox?' to friends. Bonox is still sold in supermarkets today.