Vegemite

[Lemur]

I just learned about this strange substance called Vegemite. According to Wiki:

Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacture, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty - somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter.

Yowza! I guess since I've never been to Oz or NZ, it's understandable why I've never tasted the stuff. Sounds incredibly nasty, but I shouldn't judge before I taste it. After all, if you read about how cheese is made, you'd think it was disgusting too.

So is this really such a popular condiment down under? Do any Orgahs like to wake up to Vegemite and toast? Or is this a sick joke perpetrated on a gullible world?

[Proletariat]

It's one of those things where if you put too much on your toast once you can't have it again for 12 months without being sick, but if you get the butter (or cheese spread) to vegemite ratio right it's fantastic.

[Pannonian]

I just learned about this strange substance called Vegemite. According to Wiki:

Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacture, and various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty - somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter.

Yowza! I guess since I've never been to Oz or NZ, it's understandable why I've never tasted the stuff. Sounds incredibly nasty, but I shouldn't judge before I taste it. After all, if you read about how cheese is made, you'd think it was disgusting too.

So is this really such a popular condiment down under? Do any Orgahs like to wake up to Vegemite and toast? Or is this a sick joke perpetrated on a gullible world?

Or you could try Marmite, the British original.

[Proletariat]

To the uninitiated, Marmite vs Vegemite is like trying to understand the difference between Coke and Pepsi when you've never had anything but water before.

I'm a cultured subject matter expertee though, and I maintain that vegemite is a tantalizing delicacy, while marmite sucks.

[Big_John]

you've just heard of vegimite?

where were you in the 80s?

[Proletariat]

Vegemite was popular in the 80s?

[Big_John]

Vegemite was popular in the 80s?

men at work was.

[Proletariat]

And Crocodile Dundee.

Fortunately for Australia these days are in the past.

[Baby Boomer]

Hehehe...

Over here in Aus I know quite a few people who loved Vegemite.

Put it this way; it was so popular it become one of Australia's trademark things, like the Opera House and a Kangaroo or Koala.

Was until Kraft, that American company bought it, anyway. I never got into the stuff; I had one bite and dismissed it as sour .

[Lemur]

Well, I remember being in middle school when Men At Work was on the radio. (Hey kids, gather 'round, and listen to old gramps tell you about the before-time, when we got our music on harmful rays beamed through the air ...)

The weirdest thing is that Mrs. Lemur, who has cheffed some high-class restaurants in her time, has never fed me Vegemite. Oh, she's served up every other weird food known to man, but not that. Now I'm curious. But I don't want to try it by myself -- as Prole explains, there's a world of difference between trying a new food wrongly and rightly. I'll need a native guide to show me how to eat the stuff.

-edit-

Was until Kraft, that American company bought it, anyway.

According to the Wiki article, Kraft bought into the Vegemite brand in the 1920s. That's one long grudge you're carrying ...

[LittleGrizzly]

If its anything like Marmite its an insult to food!!

[CountArach]

Vegemite is horrible. Period.

But if for some reason people want to try it - spread it VERY thinly over buttered toast. It has a very strong flavour and as such if you spread it like Jam or Honey it will be overpowering.

[Tribesman]

Wasn't this stuff created by a drunk wizard in fourecks doing some drunken cooking .

[Somebody Else]

I like eating marmite with a spoon. Vegemite is insipid.

[Fragony]

Marmite is delicious and very nutritious, it isn't for everybody though.

[Dutch_guy]

Yowza! I guess since I've never been to Oz or NZ, it's understandable why I've never tasted the stuff. Sounds incredibly nasty, but I shouldn't judge before I taste it. After all, if you read about how cheese is made, you'd think it was disgusting too.

Cheese is disgusting, and it doesn't look like this Vegemite is any better.

[naut]

Take it from an Aussie, Vegemite is absolutely vile, disgusting and down-right terrible. It's pretty much the equivalent taste of spreading road-kill on your toast. Do your taste-buds a favour and don't try it.

[Quid]

Both Vegemite and Marmite are the work of the devil. There are no two ways about it. I have seldomly tasted something so repulsive and disgusting...

Quid

[macsen rufus]

It's one of those things where if you put too much on your toast once you can't have it again for 12 months without being sick, but if you get the butter (or cheese spread) to vegemite ratio right it's fantastic.

It's simply not possible to put too much Vegemite on toast, not if you're a seasoned Marmite consumer, anyway. Frankly, Vegemite is Marmite for wussies, got no flavour to it at all, as Somebody Else has said. I don't think the Coke?Pepsi analogy does it justice - it's more like Appletise vs. Scrumpy

That said, the advertising slogan for Marmite is "You either love it or hate it". Personally I love it, eaten by the spoonful it makes your ears burn And it makes brilliant gravy, about the only way to make potatos interesting

[Vladimir]

Sounds like a mineral. Can you find it in the ground or does it just taste like it?

[Husar]

Crocodile Dundee was funny.

This sounds interesting, never seen or tasted it though.
Reminds me to get a toaster sometime...

[Sigurd]

Even though I lived in Australia, I never touched the stuff. Saw it everyday on the shelves when shopping but have no clue as to how it tastes.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

And Crocodile Dundee.

Fortunately for Australia these days are in the past.

Crocodile Dundee is the greatest movie of all time

[Justiciar]

Marmite, Vegemite.. Bovril.. I'm really quite neutral on the subject. I can't claim to hate them or love them. I certainly don't pursue the stuff. Try it if you're feeling bold. Though be prepared to either wet yourself with glee or vomit all over your children.

[pevergreen]

I am horrified to see my fellow Aussies beating down an Australian product (of sorts)

Vegemite is the best spread.

Every morning, 4 pieces of Vegemite toast. Veeery good. On a solo at the 5 week camp I went to, i got a little tub of vegemite. By itself it is a bit strong, but it is sooo nice.

Too much on toast kills it though, i toast the bread lightly, spread a thin layer of margerine then a bit thicker layer of Vegemite, still only covering, not over the top.
Looks almost exactly the same as the original picture.

[Lemur]

I'm a cultured subject matter expertee though, and I maintain that vegemite is a tantalizing delicacy, while marmite sucks.

Prole, I thought you were a Southern girl. What brought you into contact with Vegemite and Marmite?

[spmetla]

men at work was.

I always wondered why the man in Brussels made him a vegemite sandwich before dousing the group in beer. Now I know.

Do you come from the land down under? Where beer does flow and men plunder?

[Beefy187]

I picked up a sandwitch with strange black stuff on it. Took a bite and realised its a vegemite.. Needless to say.. I had to toss away my sandwitch

I hate it with passion

[MilesGregarius]

While travelling once upon a time with an Aussie carrying a big tub of Vegemite and a Brit carrying a little jar of Marmite, myself and another Yank were drafted into doing a blind taste test to settle a debate over the respective qualities of the two. Vegemite won 2-0, though I can see how to more experienced palates Marmite might be preferrable. Unfortunately for the other guinea pig, the Brit was his girlfriend; I don't think he got any for a week.

[Quirinus]

Hee, wasn't there a series of ad a few years back boasting about how "you either love it, or hate it"? Not sure if it's Vegemite, Marmite or Bovril though.