AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
This summer, we're celebrating our favorite meal with NPR's international correspondents - breakfast. And today, we travel with Kristina Kukolja to Australia for a look at their iconic breakfast spread - Vegemite. The sticky, salty condiment is also at the center of an unusual court case. It's also being used in some very untraditional recipes.
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KRISTINA KUKOLJA, BYLINE: At this busy cafe in central Melbourne, lawyers and businesspeople grab a last-minute coffee before heading to the office.
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KUKOLJA: Across the road...
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KUKOLJA: ...The Supreme Court is hearing a case that's making headlines.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A convicted murderer who claims his human rights have been breached because he can't eat Vegemite in prison has been told he won't be served special treatment.
KUKOLJA: The local Nine Network reports an inmate is suing the state of Victoria for his right to eat the savory breakfast spread Vegemite, reportedly banned because it could be used to brew alcohol behind bars. The prisoner argues his rights have been violated because he can't enjoy his culture. For decades, the thick, black condiment made from yeast extract has come to be synonymous with Australia, its intensely salty flavor long the subject of debate of how generously it should be spread on a slice of toast.
JAMIE CALLISTER: You've got to be careful. Too much, if you're a first-time user, is not going to end well.
KUKOLJA: That's Jamie Callister, whose grandfather, food scientist Cyril Callister, invented Vegemite in Melbourne after the first world war when stocks of the imported British yeast spread Marmite ran out. For Jamie, it brings back memories of his childhood family meals at home.
CALLISTER: Much to Mum's horror, she'd make something, and Dad'd be lathering Vegemite underneath it like some people use tomato sauce. So sort of the go-to product.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Singing) We're happy little Vegemites, as bright as bright can be.
KUKOLJA: In the 1950s, this TV jingle made Vegemite a household staple in Australia. More recently, some restaurant chefs have gone further - to experiment by adding it to traditional pasta and curry dishes. At the New Gold Mountain bar in downtown Melbourne, it's being used to create a surprising cocktail...
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KUKOLJA: ...Carefully crafted by bartender Kiamba (ph).
KIAMBA: So I basically just burn a bunch of bread, and then I soak that in the gin.
KUKOLJA: Then in goes something called a Vegemite reduction.
KIAMBA: I boil down Chardonnay until pretty much all of the alcohol content is gone. And then I add a nice hunk and scoop of Vegemite into that until that all melts down into one homogeneous mixture.
KUKOLJA: Like in a scientific laboratory, butter and other ingredients are cooked, strained, cooled and infused...
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KUKOLJA: ...To pour a drink resembling a dirty martini that its creator says evokes a familiar morning ritual.
KIAMBA: It tastes like you're eating Vegemite with butter on toast. So when you drink it, you immediately get that nice, like, yeasty tang of Vegemite.
KUKOLJA: One for the curious, but perhaps not the fainthearted.
For NPR News, I'm Kristina Kukolja in Melbourne, Australia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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