Sadly, we only have 3 days left in Melbourne. We leave early on Saturday morning to fly to Brisbane, where we'll spend a few days seeing the city before traveling on to the Whitsundays. We've been taking the photos off the fridge, doing laundry, reading the last of the library books, and enjoying our favorite restaurants one more time. I'm going to miss this place, despite longing for our home in Portland.
Last night I decided to give being an Aussie one final go (as they would say here)...yep, I tried Vegemite, a barley spread well-known by Aussies, used mostly on toast or sandwiches. It looks like dark chocolate, but let me assure you, it tastes nothing like it. Perhaps tar would be a better visual description. From the website, "in 1922, a Melbourne man named Fred Walker had the bright idea of using yeast extract left over from the manufacture of beer to create a wonderful source of vitamin B and tasty new spread that every Australian will grow up with. But it took many years for the product to become a success..." (Really? I wonder why.) You can read more about it here. The word that came to mind while trying it was "powerful"...but not in a good way. An article I read likens it to "salty diarrhea", which is closer...Let's just say I'm leaving vegemite behind for the Aussies to enjoy. In 2006, there was a rumor that vegemite was banned in the United States, and Australians entering the country were being searched for it. This led to anti-American comments in the press, but it turned out to simply be a rumor: "The U.S. FDA later stated that although it is technically illegal in the U.S. to add folate to food products other than bread or cereal, there were no plans to investigate whether Vegemite contains folate..." (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite)
Last night I decided to give being an Aussie one final go (as they would say here)...yep, I tried Vegemite, a barley spread well-known by Aussies, used mostly on toast or sandwiches. It looks like dark chocolate, but let me assure you, it tastes nothing like it. Perhaps tar would be a better visual description. From the website, "in 1922, a Melbourne man named Fred Walker had the bright idea of using yeast extract left over from the manufacture of beer to create a wonderful source of vitamin B and tasty new spread that every Australian will grow up with. But it took many years for the product to become a success..." (Really? I wonder why.) You can read more about it here. The word that came to mind while trying it was "powerful"...but not in a good way. An article I read likens it to "salty diarrhea", which is closer...Let's just say I'm leaving vegemite behind for the Aussies to enjoy. In 2006, there was a rumor that vegemite was banned in the United States, and Australians entering the country were being searched for it. This led to anti-American comments in the press, but it turned out to simply be a rumor: "The U.S. FDA later stated that although it is technically illegal in the U.S. to add folate to food products other than bread or cereal, there were no plans to investigate whether Vegemite contains folate..." (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite)
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