My introduction into the savory, bitter world of yeast extracts came by way of an Australian landscape painter named Mike. I was one of half a dozen guests crammed into his camper one night in the desert of northern New Mexico. As we talked over beers, Mike presented us with an odd treat from his homeland: toast smeared with butter and Vegemite. My compatriots cringed at the funky, foreign flavor of Vegemite, but I fell in love. Here was a brown sludge, with the viscosity and visual appeal of crude oil. It was salty and bitter, like a bouillon cube made out of fermented radicchio. It was wonderful.
When I tried to track down my own jar of Vegemite a few months later, it was my turn to cringe. The goo was nearly impossible to find, and when I did locate a few jars in a British specialty shop, the import mark up caused me to balk. It would take several more years of craving before I finally rekindled my love with a jar of Vegemite’s venerable ancestor Marmite.¹
Born in 1902 in Burton-on-Trent, England, Marmite is the grandfather of all yeast extracts. Long before the waste of modern consumerism impelled Americans to forge large-scale recycling programs, the makers of Marmite were recycling the yeast leftover after brewing beer. By breaking down yeast collected from nearby breweries, filtering and concentrating the liquid results, and adding assorted vegetable and spice extracts and a few vitamins Marmite was invented.²
Today, most of Marmite’s yeast is still drawn from nearby breweries, including the Bass brewery. On occassion, though, Marmite’s gone out on a limb, concocting limited editions that use champagne yeast, or the yeast from Guinness.
Recently both Marmite and Vegemite have made headlines as they become the latest victims of Denmark’s drive to ban all food products fortified with additional vitamins, much to the chagrin of Commonwealth expats living there. Of course, such a ban may not be a total loss. Denmark plays home to an array of flavorful fish-based spreads that are sure to satisfy even those most desperate for a little salty funk.
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1. Marmite takes its name from the French word “marmite” meaning a kind pot. The product was packaged until the 1920s in earthenware pots that resemble the French marmite.
2. Of course, one could view such edible efficiency as eating garbage or, more appropriately, rubbish.
For a few years in the first half of the 20th century, Vegemite was renamed ‘Parwill’, which was a strange punning reference to Marmite: its marketing slogan was ‘Marmite but Parwill‘ (Ma might but Pa will). Apparently the new name did nothing to boost sales, and eventually the name Vegemite was restored.