MELBOURNE, Australia: A prisoner is challenging an Australian state’s ban on prisoners eating Vegemite, claiming in a court suit that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread that most of the nation revers as an unfairly maligned culinary icon breaches his human right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.” Andre McKechnie, 54, serving a life sentence for murder, took his battle for the salty, sticky, brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of Victoria, according to documents the court registry released to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Andre McKechnie argues the Vegemite ban in Victoria's jails denies him the right to "enjoy his culture".

MELBOURNE, Australia: A prisoner is challenging an Australian state’s ban on prisoners eating Vegemite, claiming in a court suit that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread…

The spread -- which Barack Obama once called “horrible" -- is banned in some Australian prisons with officials saying it “interferes with narcotic detection dogs.”

Il condimento noto per il sapore pungente è considerato nel Paese parte dell’identità nazionale sin dagli anni ‘20. Andre McKechnie protesta, mentre le autorit…