Thanks to Pat Woolford I was sent this site where you can send President Bush an email objecting to the exclusion and ban of vegemite from the USA. http://www.amazingaustralia.com.au/v...n_campaign.htm

I urge all Australians to read this and those who have been shown the benefits of vegemite and who are not Australian but who feel that by banning this substance Mr Bush's Federal Agencies have just gone too far.

I know I have seen vegemite at three different stores in the past week. (I live in Minnesota.) Is this a recent ban?

Found an article "US govt denies it's banned Vegemite"

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=155019

A small jar sells for $5.15 here-- but I brought a jar home with me from Sydney last week!

At the risk of seeming un-Australian, Liz, if I were to start sending emails to George W. Bush it would be over matters rather more weighty than Vegemite. What about the confiscation of my bottle of amaretto by the Homeland Security Department at SFO? Let's keep a sense of proportion here!

A vegemite ban is just too bizarre to get my head around - I have my doubts that's its true. Certainly our government has more important things to worry about...

Now, confiscating a man's amaretto, well, that's just wrong!

Had I known about your bottle of amaretto Neil I most certainly would have included it in my email, I mean to say that that is just getting the thin endge of the wedge. Apart from the fact that out of the three flavours ( Sambucca, Galiano and Amaretto) it is the lessor of those, in my view, it still would have got a big mention. As it says on the site, retribution should include the following:
1. Australia should withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans can sort out their own mess there, we have fought in many wars with them and do not deserve to be stabbed in the back like this.

2. The next Australian federal election will depend on the resolving of this crisis, the politician that convinces George Bush to lift the ban stands to gain a huge big lot of votes.

3. We will boycott McDonalds and,( although we do not encourage this on this website), there is a chance that volatile elements in our society may set fire to Mc Donalds outlets.

4. No more shagging in Aussie brothels for American navy.

5. Yanks can pack up their Pine Gap base.

6. To be announced......

Our Vegemite is sacred to us and as you see it must be sacred to Liz of "Tim and Liz" too so the fondness is spreading, as is our ire over this ban of folate, no less!

Fighting words, Liz.

My own silly fault over the booze - after all those warnings about taking liquids on board I completely forgot to transfer it to the checked baggage. The security staff were very nice about it, especially after I made them promise to donate it to the Homeland Security Christmas party rather than pour it down the sink.

Personally I wouldn't shed tears of blood if Vegemite was banned in Australia, never mind the US, but it looks like the ban story was a furphy anyway. That shouldn't stop us pulling out of Iraq, of course, as it's bleeding obvious that's exactly what Bush and Blair are plotting as we speak. With a bit of luck we can beat them by 3 months, as we did when we pulled out of Vietnam in 1973.

As for the brothel ban, I'm not sure that the regular patrons would be thrilled to have the police checking their i.d. on the way in. But as one of the girls once said, "There are so many amateurs doing it for nothing these days that it's hard for us pros to make an honest quid."

I am impressed with you superior knowledge of brothels Neil, " But as one of the girls once said, "There are so many amateurs doing it for nothing these days that it's hard for us pros to make an honest quid."
and I do sympathise with your loss of Amaretto but really I do think you are being harsh about our vegemite, although since being taken over by an American firm I don't have the same "aussie ownership feeling" about it as I once would have. Would be just as heart rending if they took over making Tim Tams now wouldn't it?
I do think though that you should be with us in our stand against World Corporatization of iconic items in Australia.

I am very relieved to hear that the ban is an urban legend. I love the sticky brown stuff, and after extensive head-to-head comparison testing I can report that I like Vegemite a little better than Marmite (at least the Canadian-made version). I hope my English friend will start speaking to me again soon.

Amaretto I can live without, but I'd be happy to see Bundaberg rum for sale here. I can get Tim Tams at a nearby pub called "Kangaroos and Kiwis" -- at an absolutely shocking price, though (about five times as much as in a standard Aussie shop).

Neil have you contacted Alexander Downer? I am sure he could use diplomatic channels to plead your cause?
A serious discussion on ABC today told us Vegemite is illegal in US because it contains folate which is only allowable there in bread!

Oops sorry Liz, I should have read the article first!

fnarff, a friend who's recently returned from UK reports on the ultimate heresy, and cause of great concern there; Marmite is to be packaged in tubes. We already have that option in Oz with Vegemite, but its just not the same!

Here's a site to check whether something is a hoax (or not)
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp

snopes.com is a terrific site. I strongly recommend it for those occasions when you receive stories with that unmistakeable "urban legend" smell, like the one about the golfer eaten by an American crocodile in Florida. Or a US ban on Vegemite...

Snopes is an internet legend. In addition to his (or should I say their) great work on Urban Legends, he was one of the great early internet trollers.

One time, on Usenet, he very nearly shut down the internet when he casually posted a message about some science-fiction movie being completely inaccurate in its depiction, "because everybody knows light doesn't travel in a vacuum". Millions of keyboards burst into flames with the wave of furious responses from scientists who took the hook.

Another time, he sent a letter to the makers of Snapple complaining about their terrible shampoo -- wouldn't lather, glass bottle dangerous in shower, etc. Snapple is of course a juice drink. Their bewildered reply was pretty funny reading, as I recall.

I heard this story reported on the CBC uesday and at that point it was being reported as fact. It played a musical accompaniment by " Men at Work"

cheers

A/D

Hate to tell you this LIz but Tim Tams is an Arnott's brand and if my memory serves me correctly is now an American company.
Could be wrong - someone please verify??

Yep-1997 taken over by Campbells- nothing is sacred!!!

True that Arnotts was taken over but at least they kept the recipes for Tim Tams I believe. However I am not sure if the chocolate that used to be used is the same and that was the secret of course.
No nothing is sacred unfortunately.

You could just tell yourself that the culture of a country resides not in its corporations but in its people and the stuff they make. So Tim Tams and Vegemite are still Australian, as they are still made there, regardless of where the boardroom is. Just like my Toyota, which was made in Fremont, California, is an American car.