Vegemite facts for kids

Vegemite is a thick, dark brown food spread from Australia. It's made from leftover yeast from breweries, mixed with different vegetable and spice flavors. Cyril Callister created it in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1922. It first went on sale in stores on October 25, 1923.

People usually spread Vegemite on sandwiches, toast, crumpets, and cracker biscuits. It can also be a filling for pastries. Vegemite tastes similar to other spreads like British Marmite and New Zealand Marmite.

Vegemite has a very strong flavor. It is salty, a little bitter, and tastes like malt. It also has a savory, rich flavor called umami, similar to beef broth. This is because it has a lot of glutamates. Vegemite is good for people with certain diets: it's low in FODMAPs, it's vegan, kosher, and halal. It is also well-known for being high in B vitamins.

In 2017, the Vegemite brand returned to Australian ownership. The Bega Group bought it from Mondelez International, which used to be Kraft Foods Inc..

The Story of Vegemite

How Vegemite Began

After World War I, it was hard to get British Marmite in Australia. So, in 1919, an Australian company called Fred Walker & Co. asked Cyril Callister to create a new spread. He was to use the leftover yeast that breweries usually threw away.

Callister used a special process to break down the yeast cells from the Carlton & United brewery. He then made a clear liquid from it, added salt, and extracts from celery and onion. This created the sticky, black paste we know today.

Fred Walker's company first created and sold Vegemite in 1922.

To name the new spread, the company held a competition. The winner would get £A50. Fred Walker's daughter, Sheilah, chose the name "Vegemite." It was registered as a trademark in Australia in 1919.

Vegemite first appeared in stores in 1923. Early ads said it was good for children's health, but it didn't sell well. From 1928 to 1935, the product was even renamed "Parwill" to try a new advertising trick. This didn't work, and the name went back to Vegemite.

Vegemite's Big Success

In 1925, Fred Walker teamed up with J.L. Kraft & Bros to form the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. This company sold processed cheese. Since "Parwill" didn't work, Walker used the success of Kraft cheese to help Vegemite.

From 1935, they ran a two-year campaign. They gave away free Vegemite with Kraft Walker cheese products. They also held poetry competitions with Pontiac cars as prizes. Sales started to go up! In 1939, the British Medical Association even said Vegemite was a great source of B vitamins.

During World War II, Vegemite was rationed in Australia. It was even part of the Australian Army's food rations. By the late 1940s, nine out of ten Australian homes were using Vegemite.

Recent Years for Vegemite

In April 1984, a 115-gram jar of Vegemite was the first product in Australia to be scanned electronically at a checkout.

Vegemite is still made in Port Melbourne, Australia. They produce over 22 million jars every year! The recipe is almost the same as Cyril Callister's original. Today, Vegemite sells much more than Marmite and other similar spreads in Australia. The billionth jar of Vegemite was made in October 2008.

For over 50 years, Vegemite was also made in New Zealand. However, production there stopped in August 2006.

Vegemite Returns to Australia

The Vegemite brand was owned by Mondelez International for many years. But in January 2017, the Australian Bega Group bought it back. This deal, worth US$460 million, meant Vegemite was fully owned by an Australian company again.

How People Eat Vegemite

A very common way to eat Vegemite is on toasted bread with butter or margarine. You only need a small amount of Vegemite because its flavor is so strong. A Vegemite sandwich usually has two slices of buttered bread and Vegemite. Some people also add other things like cheese, lettuce, avocado, or tomato.

Vegemite can be used as a filling for pastries, like the cheesymite scroll. It can also be used in more interesting dishes.

The official Vegemite website has many recipes. These include using Vegemite in pasta, burgers, pizzas, and even ice cream! It has also been suggested to add Vegemite to soups or two-minute noodles.

Special Certifications

Limited amounts of kosher Vegemite were first made in the 1980s. In 2004, the company decided to stop making it kosher, but changed their minds after many Jewish customers complained. By 2010, all regular jars and tubes of Vegemite had a special stamp from the Kashrut Authority, showing they were kosher. In 2010, Vegemite also received halal certification.

Even though the makers of Vegemite had said it was good for vegans for a long time, it officially received vegan certification on World Vegan Day in 2019. A Vegemite nutritionist said that the spread "had always been a fitting choice for vegans."

Vegemite's Nutrition Facts

Vegemite is one of the best sources of B vitamins. These include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), and folate (B9). Unlike some other yeast extracts, the regular Vegemite does not have vitamin B12. However, the low-salt version has added vitamin B6 and B12.

The main ingredient in Vegemite is yeast extract. This extract has a lot of glutamic acid, which gives Vegemite its rich umami flavor. Vegemite does not contain any fat, added sugar, or animal products. It does contain gluten, because the yeast comes from brewing.

One serving (5 grams) of Vegemite has 173 mg of sodium. This is 8% of the daily recommended amount of sodium. By UK standards, Vegemite is considered a high-salt food.

A low-salt version of Vegemite was released in Australia in September 2014. It has a special pale orange lid and 25% less sodium. This low-salt version also has added vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.

Ads and Branding

At first, Vegemite was advertised as a healthy food for children. During World War II, ads focused on its health benefits. One ad said:

Vegemite fights with the men up north! If you are one of those who don't need Vegemite medicinally, then thousands of invalids are asking you to deny yourself of it for the time being.

At the same time, "Sister MacDonald" wrote in magazines that Vegemite was very important for "infant welfare." Later ads started to talk about how important B complex vitamins are for health.

Vegemite became very popular thanks to advertising campaigns by J. Walter Thompson. These campaigns started in 1954 and featured groups of smiling, healthy children singing a catchy song called "We're happy little Vegemites."

We're happy little Vegemites

As bright as bright can be.

We all enjoy our Vegemite

For breakfast, lunch, and tea.

Our mummies say we're growing stronger

Every single week,

Because we love our Vegemite

We all adore our Vegemite

It puts a rose in every cheek.

The song was first heard on the radio in 1954 and then on television in 1956. This ad campaign ran until the late 1960s. In the late 1980s, the original black and white TV commercial was updated with some color and brought back. This ad was shown on TV from 1991 to 2010. The two young twin girls who sang in the ad were known as the "Vegemite Twins."

In March 2007, Kraft announced they were looking for the eight original children from the campaign. They wanted to celebrate the ad's 50th anniversary and have them in a new campaign. The 1956 commercial was to be remade with the original children, now grown up. The media helped find all eight children in just eight days! This led to many TV shows and interviews in Australia. The 50-year reunion campaign won an award in November 2007.

Different Vegemite jars – National Museum of Australia
Vegemite was first sold in 2-ounce milk glass jars and in tins up to 6 pounds. From 1956, it was sold in clear glass jars.

Different Kinds of Vegemite

Vegemite Singles

In the 1990s, Kraft released "Vegemite Singles" in Australia. This product combined two of Kraft's main items: Kraft Singles cheese and Vegemite. It created cheese that tasted like Vegemite. Kraft hoped to use the huge popularity of Vegemite and cheese sandwiches. However, Vegemite Singles were later removed from the market.

Vegemite Cheesybite

The newer Cheesybite beside the original Vegemite

On June 13, 2009, Kraft released a new version of Vegemite. This new formula mixed Vegemite with Kraft cream cheese. It was easier to spread and had a much milder, less salty taste than the original. Kraft held a competition to name the new flavor. The name chosen was iSnack 2.0. This name was picked by experts to appeal to younger people, like the popular Apple iPod and iPhone.

However, the name was immediately criticized and made fun of across Australia. Within days, people were complaining on social media. After only four days, Kraft decided to drop the iSnack name, admitting it was a mistake. Two days later, Kraft held a new poll on its website. The final name, "Vegemite Cheesybite," was announced on October 7, 2009. Kraft said this name received 36% of the votes.

My First Vegemite

In 2011, Kraft Foods Australia launched "My First Vegemite." This was a special Vegemite for children older than one year. Kraft said the new formula had a "milder taste" and "additional health benefits," like iron and B6 and B12 vitamins, plus 50% less sodium. It was made because customers wanted foods with less sugar and salt. Most people and the media liked the new formula at first. But Kraft Foods Australia stopped selling "My First Vegemite" in 2012 because it didn't sell well.

Chocolate and Vegemite

In April 2015, Cadbury announced they would release a Vegemite-flavored chocolate bar on June 1. This chocolate bar was a Cadbury Caramello block with Vegemite mixed into the chocolate. Some people said it tasted like salted caramel with a nice savory aftertaste. Others had mixed feelings, saying it tasted like a mix of caramel and Turkish delight with a lot of salt, or that it needed more salt. Some found the aftertaste unpleasant.

Vegemite Blend 17

In 2017, a special kind of Vegemite called Vegemite Blend 17 was released for a short time. It promised a "richer, bolder taste" but cost twice as much as the regular product.

Other Vegemite Products

Other products that have Vegemite flavor include Smith's Crisps, In a Biskit, bagel crisps, sausages, and meat pies.

Rumors and Bans

In October 2006, an Australian news company reported that Vegemite had been banned in the United States. They said that US Customs officers were even searching Australians entering the country for Vegemite. This was because Vegemite naturally contains folate, a B vitamin that is only approved as an additive in a few foods in the US, like breakfast cereals.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later said there were no plans to ban Vegemite or remove it from stores. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection also tried to stop the rumor. They stated on their website that "there is no known prohibition on the importation of Vegemite." The story of the "ban" became an urban legend. While Vegemite has never been very popular in the US, you can still buy it in supermarkets that sell imported foods.

In May 2011, newspapers reported that Vegemite and Marmite were banned in Denmark. This made many fans upset, and they started Facebook groups. In response, Denmark's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries said that neither spread had been banned. Instead, the companies just hadn't applied for licenses to sell their products in Denmark. In 2004, Denmark had passed a law that stopped the sale of foods with added vitamins, saying they could be a health risk.

Vegemite is banned from Victorian prisons in Australia. These bans started in the 1990s. The reason was to stop prisoners from trying to make alcohol using the paste's high yeast content. However, Vegemite does not contain live yeast. Similar bans were suggested in 2015 for some remote communities in Australia, but they were not put into action.

See also

• List of spreads
• Vegemite wars
• Bonox, Bovril (beef extracts)
• Guinness Yeast Extract (yeast extract)
• Oxo (beef and yeast extract)
• Shelf-stable food