Vegemite

Man o' Tea said:

So I guess my question is: Does Vegemite
make you a better swimmer, or just keep
away the fleas? :-)

Not that this has anything to do with swimming, but Vegemite is to
Australia as peanut butter and jelly is to America. It's an integral
part of their culture, and it sounds like the young Aussie did his
homework before leaving. Trying to find the stuff in the States can be
tricky on a good day, utterly futile on most others.

Man o' Tea said:

So I guess my question is: Does Vegemite
make you a better swimmer, or just keep
away the fleas? :-)

Vegemite is very antipodean - it is popular in NZ as well. It is
similar to (but not quite the same) as Marmite in the UK. (We also
have Marmite in NZ, but this is slightly different again).

I like it thinly spread on Vogels bread (another NZ food institution)
with avocado at that just-ripe-but-not-too-ripe stage that it reaches
for a brief period of its life.

My husband is an avid Vegemite eater and often has it on his toast for
breakfast.

Quoted message said:

From the experience of myself (average level masters swimmer,

occasional Vegemite eater) and my husband (reluctant but competent
swimmer, regular Vegemite eater) I would say that there is an inverse
relationship between swimming ability and Vegemite consumption.

And according to some pharmacist friends of ours, only a minority
percentage (I think it was something like 40%) of people who consume
excess vitamin B1 will excrete it through their skin whereby it acts as
an insect repellent. (My husband & I were among those it didn't work
for).

Liz D

I always thought it funny that their advertising campaign is "We're
happy little vegemites..." when it is made from the active ingredient
in beer!

They also advertise vegemite as being one of the world's richest
source of B group vitamins. Is there any research showing that
vitamins help swimming performance?

There is no single way to "look Australian" because Australia is a
country of migrants from all over the world. The one possible
exception would be if he looked like an Australian aborigine. Or
perhaps they are suggesting that he looks like Paul Hogan!

On 8 Jul 2005 10:50:54 -0700, "Man o' Tea" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A coworker's son is quite a good swimmer,
county swimmer of the year, in fact. The
family is hosting a guest swimmer from
Australia, who is about the same age as
their boy. I visited them last night, and
she asked me this morning if he "looked
Australian." How do you look Australian?

She said he actually brought his own jar
of Vegemite, and eats the stuff for
breakfast. Well I looked it up and Vegemite
is made of Brewer's Yeast! I thought it
would be a vegetable paste with peas or
carrots or something.

http://www.vegemite.com.au

So I guess my question is: Does Vegemite
make you a better swimmer, or just keep
away the fleas? :-)

Colin Priest said:

Or perhaps they are suggesting
that he looks like Paul Hogan!

Well, he's pale with curly reddish
hair, so I guess not. I'm giving
him a CD of all these video clips
to bring back to Oz. Except the
ones of Larry, Donald and me. I
don't want to ruin the poor kid!