The Vegemite Sandwich and Beyond.

I gather the Australian government wants to have vegemite banned from sale in certain aboriginal communities. They say that some individuals are using it to create illicit alcohol, and the result is various sorts of trouble.

This is a complex issue. On the one hand they might have a point. On the other, it smacks of over-regulation (a trait to which Australian governments are prey, I hear) and a whiff of the old colonial mentality. I’ll reserve judgement since I’m not close enough to be entitled to make one, but what I would say is that I think it pretty clever to be able to make beer from vegemite, and I’m wondering whether they’ve published instructions for the general benefit. (I believe it’s all to do with vegemite containing brewers’ yeast.)

Oh, and another thing. The news report in which I read this little snippet referred to vegemite as ‘an Australian culinary icon.’

I said ‘Do you speak-a my language?’

He just smiled and gave me a vegemite

Sandwich

~Men at Work. Land Down Under.

So that’s one thing Aussies and I have in common: a sense of style.