I’m an American (sorry for ruining the world) and i just tried Vegemite. I was surprised to find that i neither love it or hate it. From the way people talk about it I thought it was this EXTREME thing that supposedly you love or hate. It’s certainly a strong flavor, but it’s not like wasabi level intense. To me it tastes very similar to the burnt bits stuck to the pan after cooking a burger.
I tried it straight and the first taste made me say “huh” out loud. The best thing I’ve tried it on is croutons (because i didn’t have bread to toast). I’ve tried it with a few other random foods and it doesn’t seem to improve anything.
Is it unusual for someone to have a neither love or hate opinion of it?
Is there any specific food you recommend to use it with?
I don’t understand people who use it as anything other than a spread. There is always a better alternative. Like ketchup, it really only has one job and anything else is just wrong. I do like it with lots of aussie butter on bread or crumpets. It would probably be disgusting to someone raised on a diet of HFCS, bleach and preservatives. And kind of meh to someone exposed to decent home cooked food.
There are at least 20 things I would rather be having for breakfast if time, money and opportunity allowed which they generally don’t.
We grew up with as kids so for most Aussies we are familiar with it from an early age. On toast, in soup, in a cup of hot water, a casserole etc. There are a lot of ways to eat it but I prefer it in a homemade vegetable soup.
It’s nice on buttered toast, but personally I prefer Marmite, which is similar, but less bitter.
Vegemite is useful as a vegan beef bullion replacement, but I prefer marmite in that context as well.
It’s just a pungent salty umami flavour. Like miso, doenjanj, or furu.
Some people have palates that enjoy intense flavours, some people prefer mild flavours. It’s not better or worse than anything else one might add to a dish or spread on bread to accompany breakfast.
I prefer the flavour of furu personally, although the texture and smell are intense enough that vegemite often becomes the default by convenience.
As australia has no culture people just get up in arms about the little things. You could read about schismogenisis if you wanted a broader overview of how similar peoples amplify little things to differentiate themselves.
Shism what now ? Is that like MixingMaToasties ?
Do try to be interesting.
X
No, it’s not unusual. I actually don’t know a single Australian who loves or hates it. Vegemite is just one of many spreads we eat and not particularly special.
Australians have a very bad habit of performing to foreigners, whether that’s random people in online spaces like reddit or Hugh Jackman on Conan. They play up stereotypical “Aussie” traits and culture because it gets them attention. Foreigners interpret this fake behaviour as genuine and it reinforces all kinds of completely false narratives about Australian people.
Another one is that we are constantly swearing and casually dropping very offensive words like the C-word. Also completely fake. This is just began culture, normal Australians would find this word offensive in most situations.
Cunt is not highly offensive. Let’s not neuter ourselves so carelessly.
Just be different circles. Even my mother says cunt in a loving way.
The cunt one I think is highly contextual. There are certain specific contexts where I would not be shocked to hear it used casually, but it definitely is not as normalised as Internet culture would have you believe. I think one thing that is always true is that it does not carry nearly the same level of stigma as it does in other countries. In Australia, it would not be unusual to say “you fucking cunt” to someone who, for example, cut you off in traffic. In America, that response would generally sound far harsher than is appropriate in that circumstance. It’s vulgar and avoided in polite company either way, but not to nearly the same degree.
Vegemite though? I fucking love that shit. I’m boring as hell and the only way I’ll have it is with butter/margarine on bread/toast. No cheese. No scrolls.
Oh, I guess I will also have it scooped up by the finger.
The one that bothers me is the “dropbear” joke. It’s boring and worn out at this point. And the doubling down and making the lore around them ever more increasingly detailed just worsens it.
Is there any specific food you recommend to use it with?
Toast, with butter, and not too much! Melt some cheese over the top is good too!
See also the ‘Vegemite scroll’, which is commonly available at chain bakeries and supermarkets:
Hot toast, heaps of quality butter and a scrape of Vegemite. Can spruce it up by throwing on a slice of cheese and grilling it a bit. Ripper brekkie when paired with a hot brew and a durry.
This is the way. It’s still an acquired taste but each variant of *mite and from different countries is a different take.
I’ve seen videos of Americans who slap on the *mite like Nutella - they’re gonna have a bad time even if they love the stuff.
they’re gonna have a bad time even if they love the stuff.
Typical minding hard there. Loads of people eat it that way
Toast, butter, Vegemite (thinly spread) and avocado (very thickly spread). Add a couple of cherry tomatoes, halved, and a grind of pepper.
The Vegemite should be thicker than a cheese slice otherwise the drop bears will get you
Try it on grilled cheese. Spread a thin layer on one side of the bread.
You need it to be relatively “diluted” for the secondary flavours to be tasteable (ie thick dollops mean the primary caramelised salt taste overwhelms everything else).
Hot buttered toast is the traditional way to eat it - warmed by the toast and with melted butter mixed in you get primaries of fats, salts and umami. Cold bread works but isn’t as good in my opinion.
Lightly toasted bread. Generous slathering of butter or margarine. Then, if you’re a noobie, a very thin spread (but if you’re an Aussie, an extremely thick spread) of Vegemite.
To me it tastes very similar to the burnt bits stuck to the pan after cooking a burger
It’s not exactly the same thing, but it basically is that. It’s the bits stuck at the bottom of a fermentation vat at a brewery.
I’ve been eating generous scoops of it with my finger, so i think I’m already in the deep end hah. The taste does grow on you
You were in the love it camp but didn’t realise lol
Medium hot toast with a lot of melted butter and then a thin layer of Vegemite is the way to go.
Some god damn patriotism that’s what!
It’s very much an acquired taste kinda thing. I feel that most people use it wrong; spreading it way to thick or eating it out of the jar (good god). I think Vegemite is too strong/overpowering on its own and really meant to almost be a garnish.
I’m German, so not really certified to talk about it but I do like Vegemite. You toast some toast, spread butter on it, then a thin layer of Vegemite and then add a slice of cheese.
I like to do a peanut butter and Vegemite sandwich, from time to time - the creaminess of the peanut butter helps bring out some of the more complex flavours within it.
Avocado and/or cream cheese also work to augment the flavour in a similar way - so basically anything with a good dose of fat should do the trick!
We also had a limited edition Cadbury chocolate block with Vegemite here a few years back - I think the general consensus was that it was loathed, but I dug it.
