Marmite Vs Vegemite

[CalicoConsulting]

Yee-haa!

I'm from North Carolina, where the national dish is country ham and grits. Yummy yum yum and hush my puppies.

Back in early 2000, I was in Hong Kong, and a lovely Australian lady introduced me to Vegemite. I've always heard that Merkins are supposed to hate that stuff, but I thought it was excellentamundo.

Back in early 2002, we moved to mainland China. (Yes, we're plural now.) No Vegemite there.

You know, when you move from your home country to some very different place, you find out what foods you missed? Well, I don't really miss any Merkin food, except country ham, and I'm gonna ask hel_l's Kitchen here in Chiang Mai about that real soon. But I have missed Vegemite.

In 2003 or 2004, I forget which, we visited Penang, in Malaysia, and the stores had Marmite. Um, it's a bit weak and watery, innit? Vegemite's better, innit? I mean, I was desperate for the flavor -- no, the flavour -- and about as receptive as humanly possible. But Marmite's weak. Weak as water, Ms Slocombe, weak as water.

Oh, and a last nobody-cares-aside, my family shipped some country ham and grits to me in Hong Kong. I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and say no Aussie will ever like grits. Yep, based on the opinion of only one. I'll do that. If you've eaten both grits and Vegemite, and you haven't, you'll understand.

Meanwhile, I cede the floor to our esteemed British colleagues. Explain Marmite to me. I think it's just watered-down Vegemite. HP Sauce totally rules, but Marmite I don't get.

[Nawtilus]

Well you know how mingy the brits are. When they found vegemite they took the contents and cut it in half, then cut that in half and then half again.

They put this into single jars and added water, corn flour to thicken it and black food colouring to darken it.

And there you have marmite.

[OneeyedJohn]

England has had Marmite longer than you have had Australia

[Jai Dee]

[Nawtilus]

England has had Marmite longer than you have had Australia

So thats where the black plague started.

But you used to call it tar back then did'nt you ?

Edited August 22, 2006 by Nawtilus

[Mr Jones]

Rabbit pie and vegemite, the staple diet of Oz.

[leisurely]

There is no competition. It is marmite all the way for Brits. Leave the Vegeshite to the convicts

Love the picture by the way Jai Dee

[CalicoConsulting]

[withnail]

When I was in Australia all the locals would tell me how Vegemite was better than Marmite. I found this interesting as you can't get real Marmite in Australia and most of them had never left the country.

You can get a version of Marmite in Australia: Don't eat this it's awful.

Real Marmite looks like this:

A fellow Brit told me that he actually imported a real tub of Marmite and even the Aussie guy that tried it admitted it was superior.

Read the facts here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

Edited August 24, 2006 by withnail

[TRIPxCORE]

It's so hard for me to believe how so many Brits, and now an American, clamor for this stuff. It's not a whole food or a meal unto itself. It's simply a condiment. A spread. This is the thing you cant live without? What does it taste like? Is it salty or sweet? Do you eat strictly at breakfast on toast and thats it? I dont get it.

By the way, what the he** is Merkin?

[CalicoConsulting]

Vegemite is most definitely not sweet. Quite salty. A bit like eating yeast. And Merkin is allegedly how LBJ pronounced the word American. It also has another meaning you can find in your dictionary, but it's too obscene to get past the filters here.

[eddy-ham]

Bovril, thats a MANS spread..................

[CalicoConsulting]

When my wife and I were teaching in China, one of her students compared Vegemite to solid soy sauce.

And coming next week, I'll try to explain to a Yankee what grits taste like...

[Niloc]

I live in Pai, just up the hill from Chiang Mai, where in CM can I buy my beloved Vegemite? I know I can get it in BKK, I can also finance a friend over for a holiday on condition he brings a tub but where can I go and buy some in Chiang Mai?

[CalicoConsulting]

Niloc,

In Chiang Mai, the main Rimping and the new Meechok Plaza both have Vegemite in 235g jars. Kasem on Neimenhammen has those, and they also have the big ole 455g jars that populate my house. I haven't checked the other Kasem yet.

Cheers!

P.S. When I lived in mainland China, and a friend visited from Indonesia, I made him bring all his local grocer had. "But it'll expire in one month," he said. "No worries, mate, it won't last that long." (I didn't use those exact words, though, because I'm American and he's Chinese.)

[jingjoe]

There is no comparison.

If aussie kids had been eating marmite, we'd have a sporting reputation to match the English.

You wouldn't wish that on us would ya?

[Nawtilus]

I feel cheap and dirty.

The shop where I buy my vegemite had run out, they only had marmite, I decided to try it as I had not had vegemite on toast for over a week.

Really wish I had not, finally found my vegemite and threw the contents of the marmite onto the worm pit.

Even the worms would not eat it, they ate all around it and left a black pile of <deleted> in the middle of the patch.

Oh and the proof is in the pudding, while I had the marmite jar in the fridge unopened, when I brought the vegemite home, the kids opened it and got into it straight away, left black stains all over the sofa, the kitchen and the cat.

[CalicoConsulting]

I'm really enjoying this thread. But not as much as I enjoy having Vegemite every day. First I got hooked on it in Hong Kong, then I moved to a place that didn't have it and lived there for almost five years. Oh, the horror! I still wake up screaming.

[OneeyedJohn]

................the kids opened it and got into it straight away, left black stains all over the sofa, the kitchen and the cat.

Sounds like they treat it like Play- Do.....No Respect

Nuff said

Marmite Rules !!

Don't the US marines chant something about Marmite when they go on forced marches ??

[geoffphuket]

The Brits were eating Marmite before Australia was discovered wern't they

Just brought back 4 huge bottels of genuine British marmite from Penang. The Australian 'copy' labeled as marmite, is just Vegemite re-bottled

Edited August 27, 2006 by geoffphuket

[geoffphuket]

For those that don't know what marmite is:-

http://www.accomodata.co.uk/marmite.htm

[Nawtilus]

................the kids opened it and got into it straight away, left black stains all over the sofa, the kitchen and the cat.

Sounds like they treat it like Play- Do.....No Respect

Nuff said

Marmite Rules !!

Don't the US marines chant something about Marmite when they go on forced marches ??

Yeah, something like .......'here we go here we go here we go, if I eat that <deleted> anymore I'm gunna throw'

Also, my missus said to me one morning when we had run out of vegemite and only had the bottle of marmite in the fridge.....'we out of vegemite and only have that smelly <deleted>, you dont want that muck do you'.......she refused to try it on the kids, so even the Thais prefer the good stuff and we know that Thaialnd is much more taste bud oriented than those morons that created some 'pudding' that you eat with roast dinners.

[geoffphuket]

Nawtilus, I bet you've never tried genuine Marmite. The stuff from Oz labeled as marmite is dreadful - as 'withnail' posted on the first page of this thread.

[CalicoConsulting]

I know I had the real Marmite. Looked just like the picture here. Got it in Penang, Malaysia. I should've left it there.

[withnail]

Nawtilus, I bet you've never tried genuine Marmite. The stuff from Oz labeled as marmite is dreadful - as 'withnail' posted on the first page of this thread.

They never listen do they geoff?

[kat]

I've tried Marmite (yes, the real thing), and that stuff is disgusting The Brits have absolutely no standing in denigrating anyone else's cuisine with that stuff about

Never again. I've never tried vegemite, but why would I Who wants to eat vegetable-flavoured yeast extraction? I'll stick with peanut butter and jam.

[jingjoe]

Kitty...

Get yourself some nice hot toast, and spread it with real butter... add a smear of vegemite and a slice of coon cheese... HEAVEN!!!

(seppo's be warned... this stuff is to be smeared, and not spread thickly like Peanut Paste).

[geoffphuket]

Babies, are often intoduced to Marmite at an early age in the Uk. I certainly was, and grew up with it. My Thai son here loves it - and he's only 10 months old.

It's like anything unusual, you get used to the taste and then hooked - Beer's a good example of that. I remember my first pint, and thinking never again...it took three years and a good lady to break me of that habit

[OlRedEyes]

Bovril, thats a MANS spread..................

Shhhh... don't tell 'em. They haven't discovered the REAL spread yet, they're still fighting over their crappy marmite and vegemite

If they discover Bovril, the price will go through the roof...

[Chantal]

Bovril, thats a MANS spread..................

Now you are talking - much better than marmite or vegemite! Does not hurt the gums as marmite does. Try smearing one side of bread with bovril (when making closed toasted sandwiches) topped with grated strong cheddar cheese (my preference feta cheese), slice of tomato and onion, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.