Vegemite turns 100: here are 18 fascinating facts about the good tar-looking stuff…
Vegemite is as Australian as kangaroos and flip-flops and this year the brand celebrates its 100th anniversary. A much venerated part of Aussie culture, just about everyone in Australia has enjoyed a Vegemite sandwich, and these days the good product is used to spruce up everything from your morning toast to various international dishes.
Originally starting out as a post-war replacement for Marmite (before World War I, Australia was a Marmite-loving nation) troubled shipping lanes during the war meant getting Marmite from Britain was a difficult thing. In February 1923, food manufacturer Fred Walker enlisted food technologist Cyril Callister to create an Australian-made version of the spread.
Obsessed with the food preservation process, Callister fused techniques similar to champagne- and bread-making to come up with the thick recipe that hasn’t changed to this very day.
What makes Vegemite stand out from other spreads is its falling into the ‘umami’ category of food tastes. Not bitter, not sweet, not sour, nor too salty, umami foods correspond to the flavour of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate. Otherwise known as MSG, the flavour enhancer often added to restaurant foods, it’s no wonder a teaspoon of Vegemite does wonders to adding flavour to a Bolognese sauce or a Chinese sweet-and-sour dish.
No one quite recalls who came up with the name Vegemite, but the familiar black-red-and-yellow packaged product is found in just about every supermarket and deli across Australia and in many an antipodean outlet overseas.
Let’s give a toast, then (see what I did there?) to an Australian icon that only gets better with age. Or at least up to its best-before date.
Here are some fascinating facts about the good tar-looking stuff:
01. Vegemite was once rebranded as ‘Parwill’ whose slogan read: “If Marmite… Par-will.” Rightly so, the name didn’t catch on.
02. In a clever move to make the Vegemite brand a permanent fixture in kitchens, its manufacturers encouraged consumers to recycle the jars for egg cups, conserve pots and even salt and pepper shakers. Considering they were doing this in 1930, they were way ahead of the eco trend to recycle.
03. From 1940, Vegemite was added to ration packs for Australians fighting in World War II.
04. In 1954, the ‘Happy Little Vegemite’ radio jingle first aired and has been reimagined multiple times in subsequent eras. The jingle was eveb reconceived as a TV ad that was broadcast alongside the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956. That’s when the world started to take notice of it.
05. In 1980, Vegemite really hit the international big time with the release of the Men At Work song Down Under featuring the famous line: “He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.”
06. In 1987, (pre-prime minister) John Howard was quoted in the New York Times as saying he doesn’t like Vegemite – in fact, he referred to himself as a “non-Vegemite Australian”. The shame! In retaliation, then prime minister Kevin Rudd boasted that he was a Vegemite-on-toast guy.
07. By the end of the 1990s, Vegemite got banned from some Victoria prisons, due to fears inmates could ferment the paste and turn it into alcohol (in the end, they couldn’t).
08. Still on the subject of government leaders, in 2011 US president Barack Obama called Vegemite “horrible” while visiting a school in Virginia with prime minister Julia Gillard. Gillard did the right thing and instructed students to never put too much on your bread or toast.
09. In 2015, TV talk show host Jimmy Fallon said he thought Vegemite “was not good”; subsequently actor Hugh Jackman appeared on the show to defend Vegemite’s honour, telling Fallon he “didn’t eat it in the right way”, putting just the right amount on a piece of toast, giving to Fallon who said it was “much better”.
10. Amazingly, a scientist has used Vegemite to conduct electricity – apparently it’s a good conductor because it contains ions and water.
11. American celeb Miley Cyrus actually got a Vegemite tattoo in honour of her husband Liam Hemsworth.
12. Reaching into the publishing arena, ‘Learn With Vegemite’ was a series of children’s books released in 2021. In one book, ‘Vegemite the Dog’ dips his paws in jars of the stuff and would leave tracks of it all over the house.
13. Vegemite has been exhibited in Sweden’s Disgusting Foods Museum, alongside witchetty grubs and musk sticks.
14. Australian artist Heather Mitchell once hosted an exhibition featuring Australian actors’ portraits painted with Vegemite on toast: Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett are flattered, and a little freaked out.
15. In 2019, Dumbo Gelato opened in Perth with a Cheese-and-Vegemite flavoured ice cream.
16. In 2021, renowned chef Nigella Lawson admitted she prefers Vegemite to Marmite, and three quarters of England were suddenly in shock.
17. For this year’s 100th anniversary celebrations, the brand unveiled a new version of the ‘Happy Little Vegemites’ campaign. To appear in the ad, more than 10,000 children auditioned. Making it in, too, was 71-year-old Trish Cavanagh, the girl who marched to the to of a big Vegemite jar in the original ad when she was just seven.
18. A commemorative lot of coins has been released this year, with the ‘Vegemite Centenary’ set going for a fairly friendly 33 bucks. There are also rare 1oz and 3oz silver mini jars available for hardcore lovers at upwards of a thousand dollars a pop.
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