International food incident during high school class visit: Australia's Prime Minister Gillard hails Vegemite as delicious, salty and "addictive;" President Obama proclaims it "horrible"Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia paid her first visit to President Obama at the White House today. After a morning of Oval Office bilats and a news conference in which the President trumpeted the 60th anniversary of the US-Australia alliance, and declared that the two countries are "great mates," they decamped to Wakefield High School in Arlington,Virginia, for an unannounced visit in a tiny classroom with 25 eleventh graders. (Above: The President and Prime Minister in action)
The school is where President Obama delivered a live national address to students on September 8, 2009, in a video stream that was beamed, amidst a bit of controversy, into schools all over the US (ObFo was at Wakefield; a post about it is here). As he was then, President Obama was today accompanied by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The President led the students in a rousing round of "Happy Birthday" for AP History teacher Collette Fraley, a 2011 Virginia Teacher of the Year. After, as the President and Gillard took questions from the kids, they admitted there had been morning Oval Office hijinks.
"She brought me an Australian football. She was kicking it in my office," President Obama joked. "Almost broke a bust of Lincoln." The President added he was "just making that up," to laughter.
Then talk turned to Vegemite, a vegetable spread that is one of the foodie icons of Australia. It is apparently one thing the White House Chefs will not be attempting to hand-craft for the President."My family and I have been wondering for a little while, what is Vegemite?" asked a student.
"Right," Gillard said to laughter. "This is also a little bit of a division between the President and I. I love Vegemite, and --"
"It’s horrible," President Obama joked, to more laughter. He's acquainted with Vegemite: He'd earlier told the students that he'd visited Australia when he was eight years old, en route to Indonesia, where he'd spent four years living with his mother as a boy.
"It’s actually a byproduct of making beer, apparently. That’s how the story goes. It’s a yeast paste. I’m making this sound really good, aren’t I? It’s black, and it’s quite salty," Gillard explained.
The President is a well-known fan of beer, homebrewed and otherwise, but apparently he finds things made with brewers yeast entirely unappealing. Kraft foods, which exports Vegemite around the globe, bills it as a vitamin-rich superfood, crucial to childrens' nutrition.
"The beginner’s error with Vegemite is to put too much on a piece of bread or piece of toast. You don’t put it on like jam or anything like that," Gillard said. "You’ve got to do it very lightly, spread it very thinly. And it’s good."
"So it’s like a quasi-vegetable-byproduct paste that you smear on your toast for breakfast," President Obama said, and turned to the kids. "Sounds good, doesn’t it?"
"But we’ll get some sent over and you can have a try," Gillard said. "It’s addictive. Once you’ve had some when you were small, you’ll crave it when you’re an adult."
"All right. Fair enough," President Obama said.
"You’ve got to start eating it when you’re young, though," Gillard added.
So perhaps daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, will be the Obamas who consume Gilard's diplomatic foodie gift, though reducing the salt content in processed food is one of the First Lady's goals with the Let's Move! campaign. Look for Kraft to shortly launch an ad campaign in protest of the President's pronouncement.
Talk continued on to the recent devastating floods in Australia, and whether or not there is basketball in Oz, then turned to what the kids are covering in their class: The 20's era, jazz, and Prohibition.
"Has there been a debate in class about prohibition?" President Obama asked.
"Not quite," was his answer. But the kids all love Ms. Fraley, and cheered her.
"Look at all these folks sucking up to her. Good grief," President Obama said before departing. He and the Prime Minister arrived back at the White House by 12:55.
Vegemite is perhaps the only thing the two leaders disagree on, as their White House meetings covered upcoming trade agreements, the hope for "major progress" at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hawaii to be hosted by the President next November, and the Prime Minister's announcement of $3.3 million in Australian financing to help build a Vietnam Veterans Education Center on Washington's National Mall.
On Tuesday, Gillard will address the US Chamber of Commerce, and meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator John McCain (R-AZ). She will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, which President Obama called "a unique honor."
*Photo by Getty/pool; Vegemite photo by Kraft; White House video
