MELBOURNE, Australia — A prisoner is challenging an Australian state’s ban on inmates eating Vegemite, claiming in a court suit that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread that most of the nation reveres 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 released to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

While more than 80% of Australian households are estimated to have a jar of Vegemite in their pantries, inmates in all 12 prisons in Victoria are going without.

McKechnie is suing Victoria’s Department of Justice and Community Safety and the agency tha

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