Throw another shrimp on the barbie ...

This appeared in The Australian this morning ...

Migration, Jamie Oliver and the nation's passion for seafood have altered the face of Australia's barbecue culture.

The thousands who flocked to beaches and parks yesterday for New Year's Day embraced our cultural diversity and cooked dishes that would have left dad scratching his head.

At Sydney's Maroubra beach, friends Jason Fung, Howard He, Lucia Liu and Jocelyn Wang were cooking chicken breast with a traditional Chinese honey sauce, and had marinated their prawns with chilli.

Mr Fung said barbecuing was "a hot topic" in Australia, but was less popular in northern China, where he was from.

The students had planned to buy some more Aussie-style sausages "but Woolworths was closed today".

At nearby Bronte, Shun Ihara, 26, and his friend "Zacky" Matsuzaki, 30, crowded around a barbecue to celebrate New Year's Day with workmates.

They cooked sliced beef and pork with roast capsicum and carrots, and enjoyed a few snags and a couple of beers during an afternoon at the park.

Next to them, Lauretta Wiering roasted a boereworst, a spiral-shaped South African sausage.

Sydneysider Christian Prats cooked steak, prawns and corn and said the days of the snag were passing. "I'm more of a steak man," he said.

Barry Rallis, owner of The One that Got Away seafood emporium, said people were increasingly turning to fish for their summer fare.

"People like to barbecue tuna, swordfish, marlin, salmon and blue-eyed cod," he said.

"These fish can handle the barbecue. They have a larger muscle structure and they're more dense. And they cook quickly, so it seals in the flavour and moisture."

He said prawns and Moreton Bay bugs were a favourite at year's end, while snapper remained the most popular whole fish to cook.

"It's hot here," he said. "This time of year the last thing you want to be eating is meat, which sits in your body a long time."

He said his customers were buying octopus with marinades such as lemon, garlic and oregano.

Fish sausages made from salmon with roast pepper, or barramundi with lemon grass, were also becoming popular.