Vegemite: Sticky Black Goo or Ambrosia&;#063;

Anybody who knows an Australian has heard of Vegemite. It is usually
described as a thick, black, sticky, salty yeast spread for bread.
Sounds horrendous, doesn't it?

The history of this product is rather interesting, and is, in many
ways, a snapshot of Australian culture. Introduced in 1922 by a fellow
named Cyril Callister, Vegemite was created in an attempt to figure out
what to do with brewery waste. That's right, folks, Vegemite is what's
left over after brewing up beer.

Vegemite was not a very big hit in Australia until the Great Depression
smacked into the world in 1929. When the depression hit, parents were
concerned about how to pack the most nutrition into the most people for
the least amount of money. Vegemite provided a solution, being very
high in B vitamins and very inexpensive. It could be spread on toast or
crackers, it could be used as a soup base, it even turned out that it
made for a marvelous seasoning mixed in with ground beef (which Aussies
refer to as 'mince'). All in all, it was a miracle food, good for the
kids, good for the budget, and sales began to truly take off.

At some point in the 1930's, Walker Cheese Company, which manufactured
and distributed Vegemite, was purchased by the American corporation,
Kraft Foods. An interesting point here is that although Kraft is a US
company, it has never marketed Vegemite in America.

By the time World War II came along, Vegemite was in such high demand
by the populace that preference in distribution was given to Aussie
troops, often leaving the people back home without their Vegemite toast
in the mornings.

In 1954, The Happy Little Vegemite jingle was heard for the first time.
This jingle is as much a part of Australian culture as Waltzing Matilda
or the kangaroo. There isn't an Aussie alive who can't sing it, and
very few who don't crack a grin when they hear it. I'm not sure, but I
think this may be the longest running jingle in advertising history, as
it is still being heard in advertisements today.

In the early 1970s, Vegemite introduced the slogan "Pass the Vegemite
please, Mum", which became a popular catch phrase throughout Australia
and can still be heard in use today.

Today, Vegemite is found on every breakfast table in Australia.
Restaurants pass out small packets of the tarry black ambrosia the way
that American restaurants hand out packets of jelly or catsup. And,
with the size of the world shrinking down to next to nothing, Vegemite
now enjoys worldwide notoriety of a sort that it had never before
experienced.

I am a flag waving American girl, and my own introduction to Vegemite
came through chat room discussions with Aussies on the net. They would
wax poetic about this strange sounding stuff, and I would respond that
it sounded hideous to me, thankyouverymuch!

Little did I know that I would end up falling in love with, and
becoming engaged to, an Australian. After a few years, I went with him
to visit Australia. We went to Brisbane to
hang out with mutual friends so that I would not have to run the future
in-law gauntlet on my first trip to the Land of Oz. Of course, there
was Vegemite in our hotel suite. And of course, I refused to touch it.
Touch it? Hell, I wouldn't even KISS Isaac after he had eaten it.

A few days into our trip, a half dozen friends were visiting us in the
suite, and Isaac decided that now was the time. He made some toast,
buttered it, scraped a thin layer of Vegemite onto it, and forced me to
taste it. Amidst an uproar of laughter from beer guzzling Aussies, I
promptly stood up and spat it out the window!

And a few hours later, I was thinking about that strange taste, and
woke Isaac from a sound sleep. "Lover?" I said. "Will you make me some
more Vegemite toast?" I was well and truly hooked.

Terry Pratchett put it best, when he wrote about it in his Discworld
book, The Last Continent. He described it as being burnt beer soup with
a ton of salt in it, and that it tasted dreadful, but was bonzer stuff
on bread, Mate.

Pratchett was right.

For the uninitiated, there is a right way and a wrong way to eat
Vegemite. The wrong way is to treat it like jam or peanut butter. This
is NOT something to spread thickly, at least, not for the novice. Make
some toast, butter it liberally, and then scrape a very very thin
coating of Vegemite onto it. You want to see the bread through the
Vegemite, or you've put far too much.

Of course, some of us (ME!) spread it like peanut butter. We also order
it from the sole US distributor by the 5 pound tub, which lasts the
true Vegemite connoisseur about 6 weeks.

And finally, since everybody needs to at least see these brilliantly
lyrical lines, The Happy Little Vegemite Song!

"We're happy little Vegemites
As bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our Vegemite
For breakfast, lunch and tea.
Our Mummies say we're growing stronger every single week
Because we love our Vegemite.
We all adore our Vegemite.
IT PUTS A ROSE IN EVERY CHEEK!
We're growing stronger every week."

Try it, spit it out, and try it again. You'll like it.