Oddly, Australians love their Vegemite — a dark paste made from yeast extract, eaten on toast, that has the taste of briny rat and the consistency of industrial lubricant* (or maybe it's the other way around). Vegemite is the Down-Under version of the equally baffling British food product Marmite. Anyway, despite having fed generations of Ozzies... with no known ill effects, Vegemite is now verboten... on U.S. soil.

The United States has slapped a ban on Vegemite, outraging Australian expatriates there. The bizarre crackdown was prompted because Vegemite contains folate [a vitamin], which in the US can be added only to breads and cereals. Expatriates say that enforcement of the ban has been stepped up recently and is ruining lifelong traditions of having Vegemite on toast for breakfast. [...] Paul Watkins, who owns a store called About Australia in San Antonio, Texas, said he had been forced to stop importing Vegemite six months ago.

I sure am glad the U.S. government is using its might and manpower to protect me from yeast extract.