Iconic Aussie Food: Musk Sticks

This post is part of an ongoing series on iconic Aussie food. Be sure to check back for more food adventures, or subscribe to my RSS feed to receive updates automatically to your reader.

If you’re at a gathering in Australia and someone happens to pull out a bag of the bright pink musk sticks, your ears will be met with the pleased sounds of pretty much everyone in the room… everyone in the room, except me.

I don’t understand how this flavor exists, and why anyone would invent it in the first place. Of course, I also ask this question about Vegemite. What’s up, Australia, with your crazy flavor loving?!

When I first arrived in Australia, I did a little write-up on my personal travel blog about this treat. I described it like so:

“Have you ever walked through a room just after someone sprayed something in the air, getting those little particles in your mouth so you can taste it. Imagine now that person is your grandmother, and that something is a perfume. Also, if you can imagine doing this just after eating something sweet, then you have what a musk stick tastes like.”

Hmm… yes… If you’re thinking that sounds delicious then there is a good chance that you might be an Australian. I, however, cannot get past the fact that musk is literally the secretions from male deer glands – an odorous one at that. In other words, it is just not something that we were meant to eat.

I’m prepared for disagreement on this one (bring it, Aussies); I have dealt with my fair share of outcasting from it already. I will never like the musk stick as a sugary treat, but I do still recommend that you give it a try when you arrive in Australia, if only for shear I-told-you-so pleasure.