Vegemite ban in Oz prisons

A PRISONER in Melbourne, Australia, is, according to the Associated Press, challenging a ban on inmates eating Vegemite — which sounds similar to some of our own spreads such as Marmite — claiming in a lawsuit that withholding the yeast-based spread breaches his human right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.”

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Andrew McKechnie, 54, serving a life sentence for murder, took his battle for the salty, sticky brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Most Australians revere Vegemite as an unfairly maligned culinary icon, and more than 80 percent of Australian households are estimated to have a jar in their pantries. But inmates in all 12 prisons in Victoria are going without.

McKechnie is suing Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety and the agency that manages the prisons, Corrections Victoria. The case is scheduled for trial next year.