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Kangaroo tail soup is an Australian adaptation of oxtail soup, using the tail of a kangaroo rather than cattle. Kangaroo tail soup was popular among settlers in Australia's colonial period, and beginning in 1869, recipes appeared in Britain in editions of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. Kangaroo tail soup continued to be served in Australian hotels until the turn of the century, and remained in Australian cookbooks until the late 1930s. As most Australians stopped eating kangaroo, kangaroo tail soup was mass produced and exported in the mid-20th century.
History Among early settlers, kangaroo was a valued and frequent part of diets, with kangaroo tail soup held in particularly high regard—one assessment given in 1888 by author Gordon Stables said "I know nothing more wholesome and nourishing, though many think it a little strong." Part of the appeal settlers found in kangaroo was the sport of hunting it offered, and following the English fox-hunting custom of presenting a lady with the tail of the fox, colonists presented women with the tail of a kangaroo after a hunt, which was then cooked into soup. One preparation for a kangaroo tail soup, given in the Australian Journal in 1879, read as follows:
A later version of the dish, printed in the 1898 Mrs Maclurcan's Cookery Book, included fresh ginger to provide brightness. This was uncommon in savoury dishes of the time, and may have represented the influence of Asian cooking. Beginning in 1869, the English book Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management included kangaroo tail soup among a set of dishes it presented as typical of the colonial Australian diet, including parrot pie and roast wallaby. It continued to feature in editions through at least 1892. In France, Alexandre Dumas enjoyed the dish, saying "the strong and muscular tail of the kangaroo makes the best and tastiest of soups".
Kangaroo tail soup continued to be eaten in the late 19th century, which was unusual at a time when kangaroo was becoming increasingly infrequent in the diets of Australians. In hotels, it continued to be served until the end of the century. In the years following Australia's Federation in 1901, kangaroo tail soup was often regarded as an essentially Australian dish, at a time when recipes were sometimes used as a medium for expressing national sentiment; in a 1928 copy of the West Australian, kangaroo tail soup was identified as "a national dish if there is one". One recipe in this vein appeared in the 1911 cookbook Kookaburra Cookery Book, including a dollop of native currant jam. Recipes continued to appear in Australian cookbooks into the late 1930s. By this time, eating kangaroos was considered taboo in Australia, a perception that was not shared internationally. By the 1960s, MasterFoods was mass-producing and exporting kangaroo tail soup, and the Australian airline Qantas served the dish inflight.
See also List of Australian and New Zealand dishes List of soups Other kangaroo dishes: Kangaroo steamer Slippery Bob
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