Vegemite is 100 years old

or so one of my young neighbours informed me. 

"We talked about it at school and everyone eats Vegemite even our teacher."

Yes, Vegemite. Almost everyone I know eats Vegemite. Vegemite is a peculiarly Downunder thing...or it used to be. It is the only thing I missed in all the years I spent living in London. It was only as I was leaving that I was told "Of course it is available in Harrod's." I suppose if I had thought about it I would have realised it but I did not frequent the food hall of that particular shop.  

But what is Vegemite you ask? Vegemite is part of the national diet. It is as important as the bread, toast and biscuits it is spread on. 

Vegemite is a yeast extract. It is made from leftover brewer's yeast extract. It contains several B vitamins and folate - essential things in a balanced diet. It comes in the form of a very dark brown, almost black paste. It is sticky and salty. Very little is needed on a slice of bread or toast - about a quarter of a teaspoon is enough in our family.

As children we had Vegemite sandwiches to take to school. Many children did. Vegemite sandwiches were cheap and we did not have much in the way of money. (They were the cheapest in the school canteen too. Many of the children I taught ordered those.)

We consumed toast and Vegemite for breakfast. Our after school snack was often a "weetbix" ("weetabix" or similar) with more Vegemite. It was another cheap but tasty snack.

But we started much younger than that. My mother made "rusks" - dried out fingers of bread - and spread very small quantities of Vegemite on those to give some flavour and comfort a teething child. We were fed tiny pieces of bread and Vegemite when we were too small to do it ourselves but wanted more. 

As we grew older toast and Vegemite was comfort food as well. If we were recovering from illness it was our paternal grandmother who gave us "toast and Vegemite" cut into "soldiers". We dunked Vegemite soldiers into our boiled eggs. At Grandma's place we ate cheese and Vegemite sandwiches and homegrown tomato and Vegemite sandwiches. 

Middle Cat and her husband took a camping trip to Europe for their honeymoon - and took a jar of Vegemite with them. My cousin went off to work in London and took the first jar with him "just in case..." My eldest nephew did the same. Friends have packed jars into suitcases for their children.

They have experimented with Vegemite over the years. There is a mixture of cheese and Vegemite. There is now Vegemite for Bolognese and "low salt Vegemite" and "gluten-free Vegemite. 

I have never tried any of these variations. When I finish one small jar my paw goes out for another small jar. I don't need a big jar. It takes a while for one cat to get through a small jar. Even when the Senior Cat was here we only had the middle size jar. It lasts a long time. 

Dieticians may scream at the salt content but Downunderites are going to go on eating it. Vegemite is part of the national diet. It is as essential as pasta is to Italians - and there are even recipes for pasta and pizza which use Vegemite.