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.
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.
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).
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.
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!
