I rode down to the English shop to replenish my Vegemite, as there’s barely enough to scrape in the jar I have.
But the shop was closed. It wouldn’t open for another 45 minutes. Ye Olde King’s Head is right next door, and I couldn’t resist. After being on the Atkins diet for a month, I had to get the English breakfast. The English back bacon was okay for me to eat. The eggs? No problem. The banger? Well, it did have bread crumbs in it. Cheating a bit there. The grilled tomato slices were probably okay, not being packed with carbs. But the baked beans probably blew my carb allotment for the whole day. And then there were the two slices of fried toast! Well, if you’re going to cheat, cheat big!
As long as I was there, I may as well get a black YOKH T-shirt to go along with my grey one.
The shop opened, and I couldn’t resist the tea. Four tins of it – Ceylon, Darjeeling, English Breakfast and Earl Grey. I thought I might have damaged my teapot, so I got another one. I’ll take my old one to work. (I wonder if it’s microwave-safe?)
And what’s this in the fridge? Cheshire and Caerphilly cheeses! Yum.
Forgive me for being picky, (I don’t post often so this may seem snarky), but Vegemite is Australian, how come they sell it in a British shop. Admitedly they do have Marmite too but I don’t get why the Vegemite. I understand that Australians live in the US but why is it in a British food stuffs type shop.
They did carry Marmite (in bigger jars, too), but Vegemite is better.
I remember when Olivia Newton-John had a chain of Australian stores – Koala Blue, I think they were called. I never went to one. But Australian stores seem not to have caught on here. We do have a large English ex-pat community, though, and I think that’s why English shops are so popular. They must stock the Vegemite because of all of the Australian visitors. And I assume Brits like Vegemite as well.
Johnny, I gotta say, that there have been a few times recently that I preferred a dab of marmite over vegemite.
Now I’m a guy who went thru a 1 kilo tub of Vegemite in under a year, and I’m still serving it up to all and sundry. Why, just today, I introduced my nephew and his friend to it, on english muffins with butter, aged cheddar, somersausage and onions.
But I’m not sharing my marmite. I use it when simplicity is best, such as just muffin and butter and marmite. And I’d never use it by the double tablespoon, in my soups or stews or sauces, like I do my vegemite.
So what do you think it means? I’m not much of an anglophile, so I don’t think I’m getting an attitude of snobbery. I see it more as a difference between using a quality extra-virgin olive oil for both cooking, and dipping breadstuffs versus using the extra-fancy extra-virgin olive oil for the pure taste treats.
When I first started coming to this board, I remember distinctly the first thread I ever read. It was a thread about Vegemite and Marmite. I swear I’ll never forget that thread, people going back and forth about it and I still have no idea what either of them are (I’m guessing some kind of spread or jelly).
