An Australian man facing life in prison after a murder conviction has sued for the right to Vegemite, the yeasty spread that is treasured in his home country but whose smell is so pungent that prison officials call it a problem for search dogs.
From behind bars, the man, Andre McKechnie, is taking on a nearly two-decades-long ban on Vegemite in prisons in the state of Victoria, local news media reported on Monday. In a suit filed in Victoria’s Supreme Court, he claimed the ban denies his “culture as an Australian,” news reports said.
The lawsuit was condemned by David Southwick, a member of the state Parliament and the minister for police and corrections for the opposition. “Victorians are fed up with frivolous court cases that waste time and taxpayer money,” he said in a statement on Monday. “Violent offenders shouldn’t be treating our prison system like a hotel.”
Mr. McKechnie, who was convicted in a 1994 murder case, said he was refused requests to eat Vegemite in prison, local news reports said. He is seeking declarations from the court, they added, that the state’s corrections department has denied him certain rights under the human rights charter.
The Victoria corrections agency, the State Supreme Court and the Department of Justice and Community Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case has drawn attention to the state’s longstanding prison ban on Vegemite and Australia’s passion for a condiment, made from brewer’s yeast, that is unloved or unknown to much of the world.
Since 2006, Vegemite has been forbidden from being served in state prisons because it is thought to distract drug-sniffing dogs from finding contraband. (Officials have also suggested it could be used to make alcohol, which quickly became a point of debate.)
The spread’s strong, salty taste has made it polarizing at best around much of the world. Barack Obama, while president, called it “horrible.” And when the singer Selena Gomez first tried it, she spat it out, saying, “We love you Australia has nothing to do with you.”
But Australians loyally defend the pantry staple, which is in some 80 percent of Australian households, according to the brand. In 2022, the city of Melbourne recognized it for its “intangible cultural heritage,” and this year, Australia’s prime minister defended the product in a dispute with Canada, calling it a “wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and, indeed, Australian pride, as well.”
Mr. McKechnie has filed complaints in the past for a lack of food options that align with his religious beliefs. In 2021, according to court documents, he began a claim against the State of Victoria that said he had been forced to eat non-Kosher meals, saying he could not eat 90 percent of the food provided to him.
Pranav Baskar is an international reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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