Benjamin Ady, a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, went to VicRoads in Carlton at about 1pm on Wednesday for a licence renewal wearing the kitchen item.

Members of the church - known as Pastafarians - say they wear the colanders as religious headwear.

Counter staff at VicRoads found the colander claim strained credibility and initially refused his request, in what he describes as a "traumatic experience".

The 41-year-old was eventually allowed to get his photo taken.

"Pastafarianism is important to me and I wanted to proudly have my religion symbolised in my driver's licence photo as an important part of who I am," he said.

"It says on [VicRoad's] website that religious headgear is allowed provided that it doesn't obscure your face. My colander clearly met those provisions."

Mr Ady, who was a Christian before he joined the church about six years ago, said he became upset when a couple of the workers told him his religion was not real and that the organisation didn't recognise it.

"I have to tell you, I felt very much discriminated against," he said. "I had to really go and bat for my religious rights."

The matter was referred to a manager, who told him she wasn't allowed to discuss his religion with him.

"I asked her if a Sikh or Muslim person came in and the person taking the photos said to them 'take off your religious headgear', would you take the same tact with them as you have with me," Mr Ady said.

The manager ended up letting him get the photo, but told him it was likely to be rejected.

Mr Ady's wife filmed the incident on her iPhone and uploaded the videos onto YouTube.

Originally from Seattle in the United States, Mr Ady said he did it in part to see whether Victoria was "enlightened" enough to recognise all religions.

He said he only wore the colander to "formal occasions".

The church was sparked 10 years ago by a satirical letter written to protest Kansas schools teaching intelligent design, an alternative form of creationism.

However, Mr Ady remained straight faced as he spoke with The Age and denied the church was purely satire.

"I think a lot of Pastafarians appreciate the satire associated with our religion but we also have a serious side," he said.

The church's website says it is "backed by hard science".

"Anything that comes across as humour or satire is purely coincidental," it says.

Philosopher and editor of 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists Russell Blackford said Pastafarianism was a satire on "more ordinary religions".

"I assume that he was insisting on being photographed with the colander to satirise accommodations given to other religions," he said.

"It's all a bit silly, but there are serious points underneath about how far the law should bend over backwards to accommodate religious sensibilities."

Mr Blackford said his own view was that there was a limit to how far society should be prepared to do this if a law had a secular purpose.

"For example, I don't think someone should be able to insist on wearing a veil when being photographed for their licence," he said.

Earlier this week, an American woman won the right to wear a colander in her licence photo in Massachusetts.

VicRoads licensing practice director Helen Linder said in a statement that only recognised religious groups could request to wear headwear in a licence photo.

She said VicRoads could not discuss individual cases for privacy reasons.

"But [we] will continue to balance the religious beliefs of Victorians whilst maintaining the integrity of this important form of identification," she said.