A Short History - Marmite

Marmite – my hero!

Marmite, in all its salty, malty sweetness, is made by Sanitarium – who, by the way have a blanket policy of no GE or GMO materials in any of their products. This of course includes Marmite.

Personally, I got into Marmite when I was about eight. After having had it at a friend’s place, I grumped and nagged and groused about having to have Vegemite at home until my beleaguered mother gave in and started buying Marmite for me while continuing to get Vegemite for my younger brother. Since she couldn’t tell the difference, though, my brother and I got into the habit of cautiously sniffing our sandwiches before we took them to school, to make sure we hadn’t been given the wrong ones.

Historically, Marmite is the first ever yeast spread, and also the first to grace New Zealand’s fair shores. Back in the day, people used to eat it in sandwiches with lettuce. Now, however, the general populace has apparently come to its collective senses – one of the most popular childhood sandwiches I ever encountered was a Marmite and chip roll. In fact, its one of the recipes recommended on the Marmite website.

As Vegemite’s elder sibling, Marmite kicked off as a beer making by product too, and was invented by – you guessed it – The Marmite Food Extract Company, first formed in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1902. However, you many be interested to know that Marmite in general has grown and changed since then…