IT IS brown, salty and spreadable, it is known to Britons only from an obscure and irritating 1980s pop song*, and it is as defining a part of Australian culture as marsupials and Bondi Beach. And the Americans want to ban it.

The near-100,000 Australian and New Zealand expatriates in the US are up in arms at attempts to deprive them of their beloved Vegemite, a vegetable spread vaguely analogous, sources suggest, to Marmite. Vegemite has fallen foul of an obscure US dietary law that bans folate, one of its ingredients, from anything other than bread and cereals.

Like British expats smuggling in Earl Grey tea, Aussies and Kiwis have circumvented the ban by bringing in supplies from visits home. But they are now finding, according to reports in the Australian press, that these shipments are being blocked at the border by over-zealous US officials.

The US Food and Drug Administration is not aware of attempts to bar imports, but Australia is in uproar. Daniel Fogarty, a Geelong man who now lives in Calgary, Canada, told The Courier Mail that he was asked by a border guard if he was carrying any Vegemite. “I was flabbergasted.”

Paul Watkins, who owns a store specialising in Australian products in Texas, said he had been forced to stop importing the spread some months ago.

Postings on the paper’s website are largely split between indignant Australians and supportive Americans. Natalie Howden of Central Coast, NSW, says: “This from a country who (sic) thinks eating dounuts (sic) for breakfast is a good thing!” From Alan Rose of Canberra: “What the hell is wrong with you Yanks, you wouldn’t know good taste if it bit you on the butt.”

And from “Tamryn of USA”: “Yes, the boarder (sic) guards do ask about things that are banned, no matter how idiotic it sounds. There is nothing too outragious (sic) that is beyond comprehension for the Amerikan (sic) government.”

Nancy Reyes of Gapan City, Philippines and a doctor, gives a medical justification for the ban, claiming excessive folate consumption can mask the signs of dementia. The Australian Embassy in Washington is investigating the reports. By an irony, the manufacturer of Vegemite in Australia is an American firm, Kraft Foods.

Some Americans are unmoved by the furore. “What the heck is Vegemite?” asks “Lindsey of Michigan”.

* “I said, Do you speak-a my language? He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.” Down Under, 1982, Men At Work.

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