Vegemite ( VEJ-ə-myte) is a brand of a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria, for the Fred Walker Company in 1922 and was first sold in stores on 25 October 1923. A spread for sandwiches, toast, crumpets and cracker biscuits as well as a filling for pastries, Vegemite is similar to other yeast-based spreads such as Marmite in the UK and its New Zealand version, Australian Promite, MightyMite, AussieMite, OzEmite, German Vitam-R and Swiss Cenovis. Vegemite has a strong flavour and is typically eaten in small amounts. It is salty, slightly bitter, malty and has an umami flavour similar to beef bouillon (because it is rich in glutamates). It is low-FODMAP, vegan, kosher and halal. It is known for being high in B vitamins. Following the death of Fred Walker in 1935, the Vegemite brand came under the ownership of the American company Kraft Foods. However, in 2017 the brand returned to Australian ownership when the Bega Group purchased it alongside other assets from Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc.).
History
Beginnings
In 1919, following the disruption of British Marmite imports after World War I, the Australian company Fred Walker & Co. gave Cyril Callister the task of developing a spread from the used yeast being dumped by breweries. Callister had been hired by the chairman Fred Walker. Callister used autolysis to break down the yeast cells from waste obtained from the Carlton & United brewery. Concentrating the clear liquid extract and blending with salt, celery and onion extracts formed a sticky black paste. Following a competition to name the new spread with a prize pool of £A50 (equivalent to A$4,449 in 2022), "Vegemite" was selected by Fred Walker's daughter Sheilah, and it was registered as a trademark in Australia in 1919; the name of the person who coined the name is not known. Vegemite first appeared on the market in 1923 with advertising emphasising its value to children's health, but it failed to sell well. Faced with growing competition from Marmite, from 1928 to 1935 the product was renamed "Parwill" to make use of the advertising slogan "Marmite but Parwill", a two-step pun on the new name and that of its competitor; i.e. "If Ma [mother] might ... then Pa [father] will." This attempt to expand market share was unsuccessful and the name reverted to Vegemite, but it did not recover its lost market share.
Commercial success In 1925, Walker had established the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. as a joint venture company with J. L. Kraft & Bros to market processed cheese and, following the failure of Parwill, in 1935 he used the success of Kraft Walker Cheese to promote Vegemite. Following the death of Walker in 1935, the Fred Walker Company was absorbed by Kraft Walker Cheese Co., a subsidiary of Kraft Co. In a two-year campaign to promote sales, Vegemite was given away free with Kraft Walker cheese products (with a coupon redemption) and this was followed by poetry competitions with imported American Pontiac cars being offered as prizes. Sales responded and in 1939 Vegemite was officially endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins. Rationed in Australia during World War II, Vegemite was included in Australian Army rations and by the late 1940s was used in nine out of ten Australian homes.
Recent years In April 1984, a 115-gram (4.1 oz) jar of Vegemite became the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout. Vegemite is produced in Australia at its Port Melbourne manufacturing facility, which produces more than 22 million jars annually. Virtually unchanged from Callister's original recipe, Vegemite now far outsells Marmite and other similar spreads in Australia. The billionth jar of Vegemite was produced in October 2008. Vegemite was also produced in New Zealand for over 50 years, but as of August 2006 production had ceased. The New Zealand version of Marmite remains successful there.
Acquisition by Bega Cheese The Vegemite brand was owned by Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc. until 2012) until January 2017, when it was acquired by the Australian Bega Group in a US$460,000,000 agreement for full Australian ownership after Bega would buy most of Mondelez International's Australia and New Zealand grocery and cheese business.
Consumption A common way of eating Vegemite is on toasted bread with a layer of butter or margarine. Only a small amount of Vegemite is required due to its strong flavour. A Vegemite sandwich consists of two slices of buttered bread and Vegemite, but other ingredients such as cheese, lettuce, avocado or tomato may be added. Vegemite can be used as a filling for pastries, such as the cheesymite scroll, or it may be used in more exotic dishes. The official Vegemite website contains several recipes using Vegemite in foods such as pasta, burgers, pizzas, casseroles, and even ice cream. It has also suggested using Vegemite as an additive to soups or two-minute noodles.
Kosher and halal certification Limited quantities of kosher Vegemite were first produced in the 1980s; a 2004 decision to cease certification was reversed after a backlash from Jewish consumers. Around 2009, Kraft contracted with the Kashrut Authority in New South Wales for their kashrut supervision services, and by 2010, all jars and tubes of ordinary Vegemite were labelled with the authority's stamp. In 2010, Vegemite also received halal certification.
Vegan certification While the makers of Vegemite have long claimed that Vegemite was suitable for vegans, it was not until World Vegan Day 2019 that it received vegan certification from the Vegan Australia Certified program. A Vegemite nutritionist said that "the spread had always been a fitting choice for vegans".
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