Vegemite being banned in the US!

[Four Fingers of Death]

Owned by an American company, Kraft, Vegemite is an Aussie essential food that is being banned in the states for containing Foliate apparently. Go figure. My dad said in new guinea during WW2 whan it was in the darkest time there and there was no food to speak of, they nurtured the severly ill soldiers with vegemite licked off a spoon or fed in a broth.

Anyway, every time I hear about Kraft, I think of this joke:

my apoligies to any Italians, but this guy was just like one of my neighbours who was a lovely guy:

A guy immigrated to Australia from Italy. He spoke English, but with a classic biga Italiano accent.

The immigration officer said, ‘now we need to get you a job, what sort of work do you do?’ He answered, ‘I’ma no care, I do any work, but I gotta have a nicea uniform!’

The immigration officer gave him the job as the maitre’d at Kraft’s prestigious head office building in Sydney.

He was very happy with his nice green uniform with the gold buttons and piping and was proudly traveling home one day in the bus, hanging onto the rail, when another man in uniform got on. He made his way over to him and said, ‘thatsa nicea uniform, who you aworking for?

The Salvation Army officer said ‘I work for the Lord Jesus.’ The Italian guy answered proudly and excitedly, ‘Wella, wouldn’t you know it! I’ma working for his brother, Krafta Cheeses!’
Mick

[NVcurmudgeon]

Mick, Vegemite's fame has spread even to darkest Nevada. Not sure what it is exactly, but if it nourished wounded Aussies, good on them. Here, everything gets banned that Mommy government thinks is bad for us. Kraft here has bought up a lot of US food companies, which has narrowed my choices, because they have had an unsavory reputation as a supporter of anti-gun causes for a long time.

[0802]

I have had Vegemite and must say that for once, the government might be right. I recall the Aussie diggers who gave it to me didn't like it either. It certainly must be an acquired taste. I recall its manufacture has something to do with the pasty remains at the bottom of a beer barrel?

[Four Fingers of Death]

It is basically made from vegetable yeasts. Those aussie diggers must have been charlie in disguise if they didn't like vegemite.

[omgb]

Now Mic, I love almost anything from OZ but dang man, Vegemite tastes really bad .... kinda like something that's been left in the fridge way past its prime. Or maybe it tastes like old socks smell ....yech! But, it's got to be good for you. Anything that tastes that bad has got to be healthy.

Of course, the FDA bans it, why not? It's only logical. We allow cigars from turd world countries into the US but ban Vegemite from OZ. Who knows what disease laden folks have been hacking and spewing all over those cigar leaves not to mention the birds that may have been dumping on them and we (myself included) happily stick them into our mouths, light them up and legally puff away. :???: Go figure.

I love good cigars but deep down I know they must be filthy. Still, I buy them and suck away. That its legal happily amazes me. That Vegemite is not befuddles me. I love the USA but hate its bureaucracies.:roll:

[grumpy one]

According to a documentary heard on the radio once (Vegemite is an Australian icon, but even so it must have been a slow trip home for me to listen to a doco about it), the main brewing company in Melbourne was trying to find a use for the leftover yeast-based fermentation product in the bottom of the beer vats. The stuff is a massive source of vitamins (B group I think) and had to be worth something, but much effort by the brewers failed to overcome the fact that it tasted truly foul. They handed the problem to a commercial organisation, who solved it by adding other ingredients - principally a massive amount of salt. The product went on the market and was a big hit - possibly because, as the previous poster said, anything that tastes bad enough has to be good for you. In this case the yeast extract was good for you, but the salt considerably less so.

I hadn't heard the stuff had been banned in the US. Seems to me there could be several reasons for that. One is the huge salt content. Another is that a vat-grown yeast extract is conceptually so much like a pharmaceutical product that someone might have classified it as such. An understandable viewpoint, I'd say.

Geoff

[PAT303]

Spread thinly and I mean thinly on fresh bread straight from the bakery or on toast first thing in the morning is the best way to start your day.

[Bigjohn]

We Aussie's have some unusual tastes;

Take Bunaberg Rum O.P.; it is alleged that it will "Tan ya' insides and grow hair on ya' b#m!" and is made from sugar cane products.

Another one is a cough mixture called 'Senega & Ammonia'; now you have to be really sick to take this stuff.

I remember when I had one bad cold ask a chemists assistant for some of this and she asked me if I could handle the taste. I answered something like Yes and her response was Yep, your sick enough for it.

BUT one can be assured that just as we aussie's have our own homegrown product their must be the same in every country, so how about some of you guy's sharing ya little secrets?

:drinks:
John

[omgb]

OK here's a shot list:

Nyquil ...A shotgun style cold remedy. Antihistamine, decongestant, analgesic and fever reducer all rolled into one 40 proof licorice flavored concoction. Tastes nasty. Witht he alcohol and the benedryl it knocks you flat.

Pelon, Pelo Rico ... literally, Baldy head hairy head in Spanish. It's a candy fruit paste made from tamarind seed paste, salt, chili powder and lime juice. You push it up through a tube and it comes out of a buch of little holes like a shower head, hence the name.

Chiterlings or Chitl'ns ..... You take the connective tissue of pork fat, the washed small intestine of pigs, toss in some chicken feet and deep-fat fry it all. nasty stuff but Black folk and some Southern hilbillys love it to death. :redneck:

Rocky Mountain Oysters .... bull or sheep balls, dipped in batter and deep fried. I can't get past what they are. Some folks love them:holysheep



Genos frozen deli pizza ...They sell millions of these things but they taste like ketchup on a paper plate.


Anything by Chef Boyardi ....canned pasta any one? :groner:

[JeffinNZ]

OMGB: I am thinking that the slow incineration of your 'turd' world cigars will more than deal to an lergies that might be lerking around the leaf.....:-D I have never believed, by the way, that they are rolled on the inner thigh of a native virgin girl. More like rolled IN the rolls of the thighs of her grandmother. :groner:

Re the Vegemite, it is no way half as bad as the chewing tobaccy I done tried when I visited a friend in Alabama last year. Now THAT's just plain offensive.

I asked Keith if I could try some and he replied "yes, but wait till we stop cos I don't want you puking in my truck". Very wise man is Keith.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The trouble with most people that try Vegemite is that they spread it on like peanut butter or jam / jelly. Too much, a thin and I really mean thin smear is plenty!

Apparently the reason it is being banned is that it contains foliate. Brekky cereals contain foliate, but that is ok apparently? I don't understand what the problem really is, I just got the info second hand.

If it was bad for you, my second son would be stone dead! He has eaten tons of it, even had a vegemite mug and plate. He would come in every morning when we were cutting his sandwiches for lunch and he'd always ask 'whats for lunch?' The answer was always the same, 'vegemite!' His answer was always the same, 'good!' Mick.

[ron brooks]

Don't forget Boiled Peanuts.

Ron

[toecutter]

Vegemite is a close cousin of marmite. If I remember correctly Vegemite takes some of the material from marmite (yeast protien extract) and combines it into a foul tasting margarine like material. I've had it a few times on account of some kiwis I hang out with frequently. I usually mistake it for butter until I put it in my mouth, and then it is like trying to eat a deep fried gymsock.

Marmite on the other hand is ok, granted in some ways it's foul, but when you're badly hung over from a long night of drinking, a spread of it on some wheat bread with honey does a nice job of making your breath smell more like a brewery than a mexican urinal.

While I'm not sad to see vegemite go, the libertarian in me says ***. I should just go an import a bunch of vegemite (I don't think it's available here anyways) so I can sit around and tell people how much pre-ban vegemite I have.

It's kind of amazing when you think about it. There are so many things besides guns that have similar legislation. My house has pre-ban toilets (the ones that use lots of water, but make turds dissapear), Pre-ban shower heads, pre-ban AR-15's, pre-ban vegemite?!

I wonder if the mexican mafia will now make a killing smuggling in vegemite. What if your vegemite is date stamped, and you get caught with it? Is there an exemption so LE and .mil can still get vegemite?

When you live in a world with full time politicians who are richly compensated for thier time, of course they are going to spend as much time as possible doing what they think they are compensated for. Unfortunately, when all they do is spend time making more laws, and making sure they are even more richly compensated for thier civic duty, what more can you expect than a bunch of poorly written laws, and lots of waste.

[dragonrider]

"Don't forget Boiled Peanuts'

Only way to get salted peanuts in the shell. UUMM UUMM GOOD.

[Bodydoc447]

Spread thinly and I mean thinly on fresh bread straight from the bakery or on toast first thing in the morning is the best way to start your day.

Like eating a worm first thing in the morning. Nothing worse is gonna happen all day.

Doc

[Four Fingers of Death]

Marmite is like vegemite with the taste removed and grycol added, most Aussies wouldn't eat it for a bet.

Boy if you mistaked it for marg, you must have been making sangers in the dark.

Best hangover cure:

TO BE TAKEN BEFORE RETIRING!!!!!!!!!!

4-6 slices of toast with vegemite and lots (LOTS!!!!) of water. When you get up for a pee drinks lots of water (LOTS!!!!!!),more toast and vegemite if you are up to it.

The main problem with grog abuse is dehydration.

Toast: Carbs for energy to recover
Vegemite: Massive dose of Vitamin B to counter grog damage and salt to hydrate your blood.

Water: fights dehydration.

If you can't handle the vegemite, at least drink the water.

I don't drink much, but when I get around the campfire I have been know to lubricate my tonsils for the story telling and while I didn't believe the above cure, by the time bedtime came around the smell of the toast got the juices flowing. I combined it with my old Army trick of chug a luggling heaps of water and woke as fresh as a daisy.

If you are a sook and eat that Marmite stuff, it probably would have the same effect (excpt taste like $%it.) :-) MIck.

[Ricochet]

Vegemite hasn't been banned in the US: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp

I think it's pretty unlikely to be, too. The rationale that the FDA used for years in restricting folate supplementation was that pernicious anemia (usually caused by problems absorbing dietary Vitamin B12) responds to increased intake of folate, which cures the anemia. But it doesn't prevent the progressive peripheral neuropathy caused by B12 deficiency. So taking lots of folate could cause pernicious anemia to go unrecognized until severe irreversible neuropathy had developed. But something like 15 years ago a Swedish study showed that giving reproductive age women 400 micrograms of folate a day significantly reduced the rate of neural tube defects (like spina bifida and anencephaly) in newborns. So now all of our over-the-counter vitamins contain that amount of folate.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Very impressive Richochet. A few of your countrymen report that they are unable to find it on the stupormarket sheves though. I am about to ship some to a firnd over there. Mick.

[walltube]

I get my Austrailian B vitamins from "Coopers", and occasionally a "Fosters" or three.

:drinks:


W'tube :)

[carpetman]

will this australian vegemite make a person hop instead of walk?