No Vegemite Here, Mate!
Australians in the US are outraged -- the US has banned the import of Vegemite because it contains folates, which for some reason can only be used in the US if it is in bread or cereal.
No, I don't know why folate (a vitamin) is only allowed in cereals and breads in the US. Don't really care, either. But this story is funny on a couple of levels.
First is the outrage and angst of Aussies in the US who can't get this vile salty brown paste (made from yeast extract, yum yum) to smear on their toast for breakfast.
Second, as one commenter on the Courier Mail article noted, this doesn't hurt Australian profits. Vegemite is now owned by American megacorporation Kraft! But Kraft has been krafty enough not to try to convince American consumers to try that yeasty glop on their bagels.
Finally, complaints about the US keeping food out for health or sanitary reasons are rich coming from a country with by far the world's strictest quarantine and sanitary/phytosanitary standards.
How strict are they? Here's an example. Australia has a complete ban on banana imports, probably because they are afraid that foreign poisonous killer banana spiders will come in and try to kill Australia's native poisonous killer spiders. Well, a few months ago Cyclone Larry blew through Queensland and flattened a huge chunk of Australia's banana crops. And since then, with no imports to take up the slack even in these circumstances, banana prices have skyrocketed. At my grocery store, they are AU$11.98 a kilo, that works out to US$4.05 a pound, something like 7 times the price I was paying for bananas in Northern Virginia. I've only eaten one bunch of bananas since getting here -- I didn't look closely at the till I got home and found that I'd paid US$6 for a half-dozen bananas!
Anyway, free-trading Australia also restricts or completely bans imports of things like chicken and wheat, on health reasons. Not to mention the strict quarantine on cats and dogs and other live animals.
So buck up mates about not being able to get Vegemite in the States; at least your pooch could come in easily! My recommendation -- try peanut butter.
No, I don't know why folate (a vitamin) is only allowed in cereals and breads in the US. Don't really care, either. But this story is funny on a couple of levels.
First is the outrage and angst of Aussies in the US who can't get this vile salty brown paste (made from yeast extract, yum yum) to smear on their toast for breakfast.
Second, as one commenter on the Courier Mail article noted, this doesn't hurt Australian profits. Vegemite is now owned by American megacorporation Kraft! But Kraft has been krafty enough not to try to convince American consumers to try that yeasty glop on their bagels.
Finally, complaints about the US keeping food out for health or sanitary reasons are rich coming from a country with by far the world's strictest quarantine and sanitary/phytosanitary standards.
How strict are they? Here's an example. Australia has a complete ban on banana imports, probably because they are afraid that foreign poisonous killer banana spiders will come in and try to kill Australia's native poisonous killer spiders. Well, a few months ago Cyclone Larry blew through Queensland and flattened a huge chunk of Australia's banana crops. And since then, with no imports to take up the slack even in these circumstances, banana prices have skyrocketed. At my grocery store, they are AU$11.98 a kilo, that works out to US$4.05 a pound, something like 7 times the price I was paying for bananas in Northern Virginia. I've only eaten one bunch of bananas since getting here -- I didn't look closely at the till I got home and found that I'd paid US$6 for a half-dozen bananas!
Anyway, free-trading Australia also restricts or completely bans imports of things like chicken and wheat, on health reasons. Not to mention the strict quarantine on cats and dogs and other live animals.
So buck up mates about not being able to get Vegemite in the States; at least your pooch could come in easily! My recommendation -- try peanut butter.
posted by just another guy @ 5:37 AM
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