Oceania encompasses Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island nations of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia — a region spanning thousands of islands with distinct Indigenous food cultures that predate European contact by thousands of years. This section currently covers Australia and New Zealand; Pacific Island locales will be added in future updates.

Both Australia and New Zealand share a colonial history of British settlement beginning in the late 18th century, which introduced wheat flour, dairy, sugar, and British baking traditions to regions with established Indigenous food systems. The result in both countries is a dessert culture that exists on two tracks — the British-derived baking tradition that became mainstream, and the Indigenous food traditions of Aboriginal Australians and Māori New Zealanders that operated separately and are now in active revival.

Australia’s food culture has been further shaped by post-World War II immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, and more recently from Asia — particularly Vietnam, China, Lebanon, and India — producing a contemporary food landscape in cities like Melbourne and Sydney that extends well beyond the Anglo-Australian baking tradition. New Zealand’s food culture reflects its Māori majority in some regions and its significant Pacific Islander population, particularly in Auckland.

The pavlova — a meringue cake topped with whipped cream and fruit — is claimed by both Australia and New Zealand as a national dessert, with the origin dispute unresolved and actively contested by food historians in both countries. It is one of the few genuinely contested food origin questions between two nations that share a colonial history and similar ingredient bases.