Vegemite Sandwich
Vegemite (morgueFile)
Yesterday we were fortunate enough to enjoy a holiday party that included a great group of people, a variety of good food, and more than one dancing chicken?! (Perhaps, we’ll cover that in a future blog post).
One of the food items we sampled was a vegemite sandwich. Anyway, while we were eating an interesting question was brought up…
What is the history of vegemite?
Here’s what we found…
Vegemite is a nutritious concentrated yeast extract used as spread.
Vegemite is made from brewers yeast which is processed, concentrated and refined. The resultant dark coloured spread is an extremely rich source of vitamin B, being four to five times more concentrated than yeast, the natural source of the vitamin B complex.
Vegemite was developed in 1922 by food technologist Dr Cyril P. Callister for the Fred Walker Company, a Melbourne-based manufacturer and distributor of processed food products. (The company was later bought by Kraft.) The spread was released the following year under the brand name Vegemite, but made little market impact. It was relaunched in 1928 under the new brand name Pawill, a word play on the name of a rival spread – ‘if Marmite…then Pawill’. Public acceptance, however, remained slow. Walker returned to the original name and with a vigorous promotion campaign eventually set Vegemite on the road to success.
(Source: History Reference Center)
Interested in a good recipe that features vegemite?
Vegemite on Toast (Appetizer)
One of the easiest recipes around, it simply constitutes toasted bread with a Vegemite spread. This condiment is quite salty, so just use a small amount of Vegemite (or the more liquid, but similar, Marmite) and spread very thinly over toast with a generous amount of butter. Melted cheese, tomatoes, and eggs are common accompaniments.
Recipe Serving: Serves 1
Ingredients
2 slices bread
1/8 tsp (.5 g) Vegemite
1/2 tsp (2.5 g) butter
Instructions
Toast your favorite type of bread (white bread is traditional), butter it generously, and spread a thin layer of Vegemite on it. Cut into wedges and eat.
(Source: Global Road Warrior)
And of course, you can always visit the official vegemite web site, for more information on vegemite. (If you want to evaluate this web site, use our Evaluating Web Resources guide.)
~RG
