Vegemite

Vegemite

On my first trip to Australia, the subject of “Do you like Vegemite” was one of the first things an Australian asked. On a road trip with a fellow Australian adventurer, I was educated about Vegemite as we passed one of the warehouses. Of course, through the course of my stay, I tried the yeast spread. “Not for me.” I was not impressed. “Vegemite” is a dark brown food paste made from yeast extract that is very popular in Australia as a sandwiche spread, or uses on crackers, crumpets, toast, biscuits, as well as pastrie filling. Other variants can be found in other British influenced cultures like the “Marmite” in Britain, New Zealand, and South Africa. Manufactured by Kraft food company from brewer’s yeast extract as a beer manufacure by-product with various vegetable and spice additives. It has a slightly bitter salty taste similar to beef bouillon. Prior to Kraft’s Vegemite, in 1919, the Sanitarium Health Food Company made a competition paste to Marmite in New Zealand and shipped it to Australia. This evolved into the Vegemite invention in 1922 by Dr. Cyril P. Callister after British Marmite importation was disrupted after World War I. This became Vegemite. He took the yeast cells from beer manufacture waste and blended it with onion and celery extracts mixed with salt. In 1923 they did a huge advertising promotion as a product essential to children’s health. From 1928 to 1935 it was called “Parwill” after its slogan “Marmite but Parwill” with “If Ma might … then Pa will …”. Again the advertising attempt failed and it went back to its original name of “Vegemite”. By 1925, the owner established Kraft Walker Cheese company using the success of Kraft Walker Cheese to promote vegemite giving it away with Kraft cheese products by means of coupon redemptions. This became successful and by 1939 it was endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins. It claims to be the world’s richest source of Vitamin B, especially thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid. It became rationed in Australia during World War II and included within the Australian Army rations. By the 1940’s it was found in 9 of 10 homes in Australia. In the 1980’s, the band “Men at Work” made vegemite popular in their song “Down Under”. By 2006 a rumor was spread by Australian media that Vegemite had been banned in the U.S. as Customs was searching for vegemite because it contained folate. They went as far as to blame George W. Bush for the ban encouraging readers to send emails to the white house. This was false however, as Vegemite was never banned in the U.S. The rumor, caused some anti-American sentiment in blogs and newspapers after the incident. However, urban legend or not, vegemite never caught on in the U.S. and was never popular in North America even though available there in the supermarkets. By 2010 it became Kosher. In May of 2011 the urban legend tactic was cycled in Denmark with media rumors that vegemite and marmite was being removed from grocery store shelves in the country – Denmark made announcements it was never banned and only that the respective companies didn’t apply for product marketing licenses in Denmark.

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