Posted on 08/09/2015 6:15:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The days of Vegemite, the Australian equivalent to Marmite, could be numbered down-under because people are using it to make moonshine.
Just like its British counter-part the love-it-or-hate-it sticky spread is somewhat of a cultural favourite.
But Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, said its sale should be restricted in remote communities where alcohol is banned.
He went as far as describing the spread as a ‘precursor to misery’, claiming kids were too hung over to go to school and blaming it for a spike in domestic violence cases.
Mr Scullion says in communities where alcohol is banned because of addiction problems, the sale of Vegemite should also be restricted.
He said: ‘Businesses in these communities… have a responsibility to report any purchase that may raise their own suspicions.’
But Dr John Boffa, of the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition, who is based in Alice Springs, in Australia’s Northern Territory, says the problem is not widespread.
‘We’re talking about an isolated problem in a couple of communities around a very large nation, and a nation where there is a very large number of Aboriginal communities, and every community is different,’ he told the BBC.
Vegemite started as a war-time substitute for Marmite, and is now something of an Australian culinary icon.
Some 19 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland have alcohol bans or restrictions and it is an offence to make home brew.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott also ruled out a ban of the spread, saying Sunday he did not want a ‘Vegemite watch’. ‘The last thing it want to see is a Vegemite watch going on because Vegemite, quite properly, is for most people a reasonably nutritious spread on your morning toast or on your sandwiches,’ he told reporters in Queensland.
Cant make it taste any worse than it already does I reckon.
I see what you did there.
How ‘bout it, Janey ?
Yes - and it's just a suggestion at this stage. Some communities have a current problem with Vegemite being used in this way - but other substances currently aren't being used that way.
Vegemite is a particular issue because it's so ubiquitous. The number of people in these communities who are actively baking bread is small. But Vegemite is common. The local authorities would notice quickly if people started bringing in much more bakers yeast than before, but bringing in more and more Vegemite wasn't noticed.
Strong tasting stuff...like just a dab of it on a cracker, but have not had it for a while...hope this story is wrong. Is this metro news outlet credible?
Not a general ban across the country.
And the Prime Minister already said it's not going to happen. In other words, a non-story.
Best wishes to them. Fermentation is such a ubiquitous process that it’s hard to stop determined people from doing it and producing a beverage ... but they might find tomato beer pretty disgusting and you’d need to down a gallon of it at a time, and then you’d have the trots ...
They use bread as a yeast substitute to ferment that nasty drink in prison. Some factions want to ban everything that enters their tiny liberal minds. Bang!
Oh, I bet they're just *loads* of fun to be around...
Paul Hogan also spoke lovingly of Vegemite on the “Paul Hogan Show.”
I wish they would re-run that show. One of the funniest shows ever.
Seems like they should have named it Yeastemite since it is yeast-based rather than vegetable-based.
I think I'd rather hold my breath for 10 minutes for a buzz than drink that stuff!
Yes to your question, but there’s something similar from England but I can’t pull its name up...
well the horrible stuff is good for something anyway...
I used to love Marmite on toast myself..
Maybe, but it is like a brown thick goop that tastes like it was beer that has lost all the water in it with beef boullian concentrate mixed in.
A flavor so strong and overpowering its fun to see how much you can take at once.
I reckon people who spread it on bread have their taste buds numbed from years of building up a tolerance.
Probably ought to ban sterno ,as well as, sugar, fruits, water, and grains because we all know where those lead
Pretty rough to ban something as ubiquitous as yeast.
Working Saudi I know it’s not possible....
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