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Vegemite (Australian Marmite) Could Be Banned Because People Are Using it to Make Moonshine
Metro UK ^ | Sunday 9 Aug 2015 | Carri-Ann Taylor

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS: alcohol; marmite; moonshine; vegemite
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To: nickcarraway

Any fruit could also be used to make booze.
Ban fruit.


41 posted on 08/09/2015 6:40:36 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: DemforBush

Pruno, that’s it. And, like you, ain’t no way I want any. I’ve made hooch with Fleischmann’s and good grape juice, and it’s funky-tasting enough, even after siphoning and refrigeration. But it’s quick and dirty!


42 posted on 08/09/2015 6:40:56 PM PDT by W. (Get a rope. Now.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I guess he really did speak your language.


43 posted on 08/09/2015 6:42:27 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Sasparilla

It’s similar to Vitameatavegamin.


44 posted on 08/09/2015 6:43:30 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Couples? Same-sex COUPLES?! Don't be such a narrow-minded hate-filled clusterphobe.)
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To: nickcarraway

Australian Marmite — Now with more marmot.


45 posted on 08/09/2015 6:44:37 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Couples? Same-sex COUPLES?! Don't be such a narrow-minded hate-filled clusterphobe.)
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To: MrEdd

Sugar, potatoes, corn, etc.


46 posted on 08/09/2015 6:45:20 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Couples? Same-sex COUPLES?! Don't be such a narrow-minded hate-filled clusterphobe.)
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To: naturalman1975

Folks will always find a way. In New Mexico, some of the reservations have restricted the sale of hairspray because it is used to make a drink called “Ocean” that is high in alcohol.


47 posted on 08/09/2015 6:46:49 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tax-chick

You can spread it on toast, but it tastes like . . .


48 posted on 08/09/2015 6:47:04 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Couples? Same-sex COUPLES?! Don't be such a narrow-minded hate-filled clusterphobe.)
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To: knarf

I forgot the capital “D”. She’ll likely never speak to me again.


49 posted on 08/09/2015 6:47:22 PM PDT by CrazyIvan (I lost my phased plasma rifle in a tragic hovercraft accident.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

This seems to be one of those agenda 21 things, doesn’t it?
Or a stupid bureaucrat.


50 posted on 08/09/2015 6:48:34 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
restricted the sale of hairspray because it is used to make a drink called “Ocean”

Ocean Spray?

51 posted on 08/09/2015 6:50:20 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Couples? Same-sex COUPLES?! Don't be such a narrow-minded hate-filled clusterphobe.)
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To: nickcarraway

When did Oz turn into such a nanny state?


52 posted on 08/09/2015 6:50:52 PM PDT by Wilderness Conservative
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To: nickcarraway
But Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, said its sale should be restricted in remote communities where alcohol is banned.

Just like every other drug problem these people take a prohibitive approach to the problem which is destined from the outset to failure.

As can be seen from the Vegemite issue people are creative by nature and will find a way to satisfy their desires.

One of reasons that alcohol is a problem in these communities is that the people living there largely unemployed and on public assistance. They have huge amounts of unproductive time to fill and alcohol is one way to numb an under used mind.

Cut their public assistance payments to the bare minimum and their underutilized minds will find more productive things to do that drink themselves in to a stupor.

53 posted on 08/09/2015 6:52:18 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: nickcarraway

when Vegemite is banned...only outlaws will have it.


54 posted on 08/09/2015 6:52:52 PM PDT by spokeshave (If an illegal alien is undocumented immigrant a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmacist)
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To: W.

“I’ve made hooch with Fleischmann’s and good grape juice”

Heh, I did that once myself, back in high school. Not exactly vintage port, but it did the trick!


55 posted on 08/09/2015 6:52:56 PM PDT by DemforBush (Ex-Democrat, and NotforJeb. Just so we're clear.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Yes, and White Rain.


56 posted on 08/09/2015 6:53:14 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: dfwgator
I used to always think that Men At Work lyric was "He just smiled and I gave him a bit of my sandwich."

What does this Vegemite taste like anyhow?


57 posted on 08/09/2015 6:57:19 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: naturalman1975

“And, yes, such a ban can also be applied to baking yeast, if that is an issue.”

Could they ban water, sugar, and grains too? Because all are also used to make alcohol.


58 posted on 08/09/2015 7:00:23 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: aposiopetic
It’s a yeast extract, right?

Yep, I believe so. Looks remarkably like wheel bearing grease, though.

59 posted on 08/09/2015 7:02:09 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: DemforBush
Oboy, primo vintage day-before-yesterday!
60 posted on 08/09/2015 7:03:58 PM PDT by W. (Get a rope. Now.)
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