<
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/apr/14/milo-drink-powder-australia-where-from-is-it-good-for-you>
"When I order the jumbo-sized Milo Godzilla at Ho Jiak in Sydney’s Haymarket,
it arrives as advertised – it’s comically large. The Malaysian restaurant
prepares the drink by swirling Milo powder with hot water, adding sweet
drizzles of condensed milk then chilling the mix with ice. Scoops of ice-cream
are added and extra choc-malt powder is showered on top. Served in a one-litre
jug, it’s so big I can’t finish it solo: staff hand me three takeaway cups to
transport the leftovers.
Like many beloved Milo drinks, the Godzilla is native to south-east Asia.
Without ice-cream, it’s essentially a Milo Dinosaur: an iced Milo heavily
sprinkled with more of the choc-malt grains and served everywhere from
Malaysian market stalls to Indian-Muslim restaurants in Singapore.
For Ho Jiak co-owner Junda Khoo, the Godzilla recalls the Milo Ais (iced Milo)
of his Kuala Lumpur childhood. Following his move to Sydney at 16, he
constantly argued with schoolmates that Milo originated in Malaysia. “Until I
finally found out the truth and admitted defeat,” he says.
Sydney’s Aileen Aguirre and Francis Dela Cruz had similar revelations. They
launched Adhika, their Filipino-inspired cafe, in September with Milo lattes on
the menu. They were surprised the choc-malt powder was Australian, as crunching
on Milo was a foundational Filipino childhood ritual.
Milo is currently sold in more than 40 countries. Colombians enjoy it in a
dessert called postre de Milo, Nigerians pronounce it “Me-lo” and think it’s
weird you’d say otherwise, and Milo Dinosaurs originated in Malaysia (or
Singapore, depending on who you ask). Lewis McDonald, who serves the choc-malt
beverage at his Adelaide cafe Idle Hands, is struck by “the quiet colonialism
of Milo, just insidiously inserting itself into local cultures”.
Now owned by Swiss-based multinational Nestlé, the powdered drink was invented
in Smithtown on New South Wales’s mid-north coast, where it’s still produced
for the local market, along with other Nestlé products.
While Vegemite has a global reputation for being Australian, Milo doesn’t share
this status. Even Nestlé had to be reminded of its origins. “The Swiss could
not imagine an Australian invented it,” the drink’s inventor Thomas Mayne said
on Milo’s 60th anniversary. The chemical engineer created the choc-malt powder
in 1934 as a Depression-era health drink for kids; it debuted at Sydney’s Royal
Easter Show as “Milo tonic food” that year."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
