Vegemite ( ) is a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers'

yeast extract Yeast extracts consist of the cell contents of yeast without the cell walls; they are used as food additives or flavorings, or as nutrients for bacterial culture Growing media, media. They are often used to create savoury flavors and umami tast ...

with various vegetable and spice additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, 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. It is salty, slightly bitter,

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

y and has an

umami Umami ( from ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and nucleotides, which are widely present in me ...

flavour similar to beef bouillon (because it is rich in glutamates). It is low FODMAP,

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

and

halal ''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...

. It is known for being high in

B vitamins B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in Cell (biology), cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. They are a chemically diverse class of compounds. Dietary supplements containing all eight are referr ...

. Following the death of Fred Walker in 1935, the Vegemite brand came under the ownership of the American company

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

. However, in 2017 the brand returned to Australian ownership when the Bega Group purchased it alongside other assets from

Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...

(formerly Kraft Foods Inc.).

History

Beginnings

In 1919, following the disruption of British Marmite imports after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Australian company Fred Walker & Co. gave Cyril Callister the task of developing a spread from the used yeast being dumped by

breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

. 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 (), "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 A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

on the new name and that of its competitor; i.e. "If Ma othermight ... then Pa atherwill." This attempt to expand

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

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 The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

as a rich source of

. 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 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 Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

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

(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

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 (also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...

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

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".

Nutritional information

Vegemite is a source of B vitamins, specifically

thiamine Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin – an Nutrient#Micronutrients, essential micronutrient for humans and animals. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosp ...

riboflavin Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved in ...

, niacin and

folate Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

(B, B, B and B, respectively). The base version contains no

vitamin B B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. They are a chemically diverse class of compounds. Dietary supplements containing all eight are referred to as a vita ...

(cobalamin) although both

(pyridoxine) and vitamin B are added to the low-salt formulation. The main ingredient of Vegemite is

, which contains a high concentration of

glutamic acid Glutamic acid (symbol Glu or E; known as glutamate in its anionic form) is an α- amino acid that is used by almost all living beings in the biosynthesis of proteins. It is a non-essential nutrient for humans, meaning that the human body can ...

, the source of Vegemite's

flavour. Vegemite does not contain any fat, added sugar or animal content. It contains

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

(a composite of storage proteins) as the yeast is derived from brewing. One 5 gram serving contains 173 mg of sodium, which is 8% of the recommended daily intake of sodium. Australia only defines low salt foods, but by UK standards Vegemite is classified as a high salt content food. A low-salt version of Vegemite was introduced in September 2014. It has a 25% reduction in sodium content. The low-salt version is also fortified with vitamin B and

Advertising and branding

Originally promoted as a healthy food for children, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

advertising emphasised its medicinal value:

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 A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

MacDonald" insisted that Vegemite was essential for "infant welfare" in magazines. Later advertisements began to promote the importance of the B complex vitamins to health. Vegemite's rise to popularity was helped by the marketing campaigns written by J. Walter Thompson advertising that began in 1954, using groups of smiling, healthy children singing a catchy

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

titled "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. First aired on radio in 1954, the jingle was transferred to television in 1956. This advertising campaign continued until the late 1960s but, as it was targeted to children, it was discontinued in favour of ads promoting the product to all ages. In the late 1980s the original black and white television commercial was

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed, partially colourised and reintroduced. This commercial was to be broadcast periodically from 1991 to 2010. The two young twin girls who sang this advertising jingle were known as the "Vegemite Twins". In March 2007, Kraft announced that they were trying to trace the eight original children from the campaign to celebrate the advertisement's 50th anniversary and to take part in a new campaign. The 1956 commercial was to be remade with the original children, now grown, to forge a link between "the new generation and the old ad". The media took up the search on Kraft's behalf with all eight children identified in eight days and resulted in many TV specials and interviews in the Australian national media. The 50-year reunion campaign won the ''Arts, Entertainment & Media Campaign of the Year'' award at the November 2007 Asia Pacific PR Awards. Vegemite jars timeline

Variations

Vegemite Singles

During the 1990s, Kraft released a product in Australia known as Vegemite Singles. It combined two of Kraft's major products, Kraft Singles and Vegemite, into one, thus creating Vegemite-flavoured cheese. This extension of the Vegemite product line was an attempt by Kraft to capitalise on the enormous popularity of Vegemite and cheese sandwiches (made by placing a slice of cheese into a Vegemite sandwich). Vegemite Singles were later taken off the market.

Vegemite Cheesybite

On 13 June 2009, Kraft released a new version of Vegemite. The formula combines Vegemite and Kraft

cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Cream cheese is not naturally matured and is meant to be consumed fresh, so it differs from other soft cheeses such as Brie and Neuf ...

, spreads more easily and has a considerably less salty and milder taste than the original. To coincide with the release of the new recipe, Kraft ran a competition to give the new flavour a name. The new name was announced during the broadcast of the 2009 AFL Grand Final as ''iSnack 2.0''. The name was chosen by a panel of marketing and communication experts to appeal to a younger market, capitalising on the popularity of Apple's

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

and

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

. The choice immediately drew universal criticism and ridicule within Australia. Within days, opinion columns and social networking sites were flooded with derision and vitriol; and, after only four days, Kraft released plans to abandon the ''iSnack'' name, admitting that it may have been a mistake. Two days later, Kraft opened a new poll on its website, and the final name was announced on 7 October 2009 as "Vegemite Cheesybite", with Kraft claiming that the name had received 36% of the 30,357 votes that were cast for a name option, or approximately 10,900 votes. It was noted that the popular suggestion "Cheesymite", long associated with the popular Cheesymite scroll, was already trademarked by other organisations. The product has been renamed "Vegemite & Cheese" under Bega's ownership.

My First Vegemite

In 2011, Kraft Foods Australia launched "My First Vegemite", a special formulation of original Vegemite for children aged older than one year. According to Kraft, the new formula has a "milder taste" and "additional health benefits including iron, B and B vitamins as well as 50% less sodium", and was designed in response to consumer demand for foods with lower sugar and salt content plus additional health benefits. Immediate reaction and media reports regarding the new formula were largely positive, but Kraft Foods Australia discontinued the "My First Vegemite" product line in 2012 due to poor sales performance.

Chocolate and Vegemite

In April 2015,

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

announced that it was to release a Vegemite-flavoured block of chocolate on 1 June. The chocolate block is Cadbury's Caramello block updated by mixing vegemite with the chocolate. Critics described the taste as similar to salted caramel with a pleasant umami aftertaste. Criticism varied from "love it" to "tastes like they mixed the caramel and

turkish delight Turkish delight, or lokum () is a family of confectionery, confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often fl ...

filling with a lot of salt" to "needs more salt", with several tasters commenting that they thought the aftertaste was unpleasant.

Vegemite Blend 17

In 2017, a premium variety, Vegemite Blend 17, was released for a limited time. It promised a "richer bolder taste" but at double the price of the standard product.

Other products

Other commercial products with Vegemite flavour include Smith's Crisps, In a Biskit,

bagel A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. ...

crisps, sausages,

meat pies A meat pie is a pie baked with pastry with a filling of meat and often other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide. Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep-fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Mail ...

, and Arnott's Shapes.

Bans and rumours of bans

In October 2006, an Australian news company reported that Vegemite had been banned in the United States, and that the

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal in ...

had gone so far as to search Australians entering the country for Vegemite because it naturally contains

, a B vitamin approved as an additive in the United States for just a few foods, including breakfast cereals. The U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

later stated that there were no plans to subject Vegemite to an import ban, or withdraw it from supermarket shelves. The

United States Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border guard, border ...

tried to dispel the rumour, stating on its website that "there is no known prohibition on the importation of Vegemite" and "there is no official policy within CBP targeting Vegemite for interception". The story of the "ban" later took on the status of

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

. While Vegemite has never been popular in the US, it can still be purchased at supermarkets that stock imported food items. Following newspaper reports in May 2011 that Vegemite and Marmite had been banned and were being removed from shelves in Denmark, outraged fans set up several Facebook groups. In response, Denmark's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries stated that neither spread had been banned but that the respective companies had not applied for licences to market their products in Denmark. In 2004, Denmark had passed legislation prohibiting the sale of food products fortified with vitamins as a danger to health. Vegemite is banned from Victorian prisons, with the bans beginning to come into effect from the 1990s, to prevent inmates from brewing alcohol using the paste's high yeast content—even though Vegemite contains no live yeast. Similar bans were proposed in 2015 for a number of dry communities in outback Australia, but they were not enacted. In 2025, the owner of an Australian-themed cafe in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

was informed by the

Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; ) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The age ...

(CFIA) that, due to its added Vitamin B content, Vegemite is not permitted to be sold in Canada. After an intervention from the Australian government, the CFIA clarified that the "level of risk to human health from the added vitamins present in the product is low" and permitted its sale again.

In popular culture

The Australian rock band

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band that was formed in Melbourne, 1979. They were best known for breakthrough hits such as " Down Under", " Who Can It Be Now?", " Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and ...

refer to a "Vegemite sandwich" in the second verse of their 1981 hit song " Down Under", from their debut studio album '' Business as Usual''. Australian band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have a song called "

Vegemite Vegemite ( ) is a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice Food additive, additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, for ...

" on their 2014 album Oddments.

References

External links

*
BBC News article: "The slow spread of Vegemite"

Happy Little Vegemites
a
Australian Screen Online
{{Australian cuisine 2017 mergers and acquisitions Australian companies established in 1923 Food and drink companies established in 1923 Products introduced in 1923 Australian brands Australian condiments Brand name condiments Condiment companies of Australia Culture of Australia Australian cuisine Food paste National symbols of Australia New Zealand cuisine Umami enhancers Vegan cuisine Yeast extract spreads