I cant bring myself to try the new vegemite...I feel like its cheating.

Cheese, Vegemite and Salada are my favorites snacks!! We go through vegemite jars fast here.

When I worked at Kraft, the vegemite cheesestiks were fantastic when they were still warm.....mmmmmm

For us uneducated, culinarily-bereft Americans, can one of our Aussie brethren or sistren please describe the contents and flavor of Vegemite?

Here's the Wikipedia entry on vegemite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite

Probably the closest thing would be like spreading a liquified Maggi stockcube on a piece of bread or a savoury biscuit. There's definitely something about vegemite on bread, toast, crackers that beats any other kind of spread (jam, peanut butter, dulce de leche).

Salty, yeasty, beefy (without beef).
Casi got it mostly though. Don't know a Maggi cude from my old whatsit, but there is a definite stockcube taste.

Which reminds me - the Oxo cube is changing its shape!
Dads said it was just a marketing ploy (it hit all the newspapers and news channels). Mum and I - who have actually used them - agreed it was a good move and would genuinely help the crumbling. He's never had them pop out under his fingers and go all over the hob...

Example of publicity from The Mirror.

Britism alert. I had to look up "hob".

It sounds like a useful change, but will it grab market share from Wyler's (or whoever the competition is over there)?

There is NO competition Dar.
Well, some people use Knorr. Or supermarket own.
But Oxo own the market.

Actually, I switched to liquid stock when I was working.
I have no idea if it was better (I always cooked highly flavoured/ spiced dishes) but I saw it in my culinarily-superior friend's kitchen and figured it was the way to go.

Now I'm low-income again, I'm back to cubes.

This is why my posts are short.

Short as compared to...?

Speaking of, tw hasn't been around in quite awhile... wonder what he's up to.

Therapy, I should hope.

Vegemite has a deeper, more complex flavor than its cousin Marmite, which I've seen labeled as made in Canada. I like the stuff on buttered toast, spread thinly as anyone expert will tell you. A little Vegemite goes a long way with its intense, dark-brown-salty flavor. Too much of it on toast simply overwhelms. Spread it mighty thin. Makes those expensive little jars go farther. It's a pretty good emergency stock base for soup, no more salt needed.

Had its invention as early tech food, intended to supply B vitamins and keep without refrigeration, which is why all the salt in it.

Just home after the South American odyssey and tried the new Vegemite. I'm not completely convinced that it has my vote. I'll try it again in the next couple of days to make sure jetlag is not affecting my tastebuds.

I'll have to check with the other Philly Cellarites, but we might want to exchange a case of our local Kraft foods regional delicacy, Cheez Whiz for a case of the new Vegemite.;)

if it's made in canada, it's probably completely different from the real thing. It's true for bacon, sausages, Heinz beans, cadburys....

I was thinking the same thing, Mon.


[eta] according to google and wiki, there are two varieties of marmite: one manufactured in the UK and one manufactured in Australia and New Zealand. they are slightly different in taste and texture and both are sold worldwide. neither of them seem to be made outside of these two regions but are imported into Canada and the US.

[eta] update: it is now made elsewhere. But apparently with great variance in taste. The Australian/New zealand recipe has sugar in it making it sweeter and weaker than the original. Apparently fans of the original UK marmite describe vegemite as a weaker version of marmite.

I suspect the Canadian variety may be more akin to the New Zealand recipe: slightly sweet and without that strong bitter hit.

I reckon we can expand this thread to discuss the difference in taste between Cadbury chocolate in different parts of the world (or perhaps a new thread is called for). I know that people from England generally don't like the taste of Cadbury made in Australia, but quite frankly, the Cadbury on sale in Chile was APPALLING and after trying a couple of bars, I took a vow to stop purchasing all South American made Cadbury products (and I'm not particularly fussy with my food except for the odd thing like milk and yoghurt)