Vegemite is a salty, malty, black yeast extract to spread on bread, sandwiches, and toast – or anything else. It’s a rich source of B vitamins, with no fat, sugar, or animal extracts. The extracts are onion and celery, with gluten.
Cyril Percy Callister of Melbourne, Australia, developed the spread in 1922 for Fred Walker & Co. It was marketed for sale in 1923. In 1925 Walker established the Kraft Walker Cheese Company, which became Kraft Foods Incorporated after a merger with the Kraft company of America in 1930.
Kraft split in 2011 and and one part of the company changed its name to Mondelez International (with confectionary brands such as Toblerone, Cadbury, and Oreo biscuits). The other part of the company continued to produce Vegemite in the Melbourne manufacturing facility in Australia, but was fully owned by the American company.
Vegemite is Australian again, due to a $460 million Bega Cheese deal in 2017. Bega Cheese bought Kraft, which gave it control of Vegemite, peanut butter, mayonnaise and Kraft processed cheese (but not Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese).
I grew up on Vegemite in Australia, and can still remember its commercial jingle:
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.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilisation, and foreign aid audits and evaluations.
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