January 22, 2011 - Vegemite Anyone?

A Vegemite sample was included with children's goodie bags at a recent Aussie Day event at Seattle Center. Most Americans are probably familiar with the spread from down under from Colin Hay and Men At Work singing about a Vegemite Sandwich in their chart topping song "Down Under", originally released in 1981.

Vegemite was invented in 1922 in Australia and was based on a similar spread, Marmite, that originated in Britain in 1902. Vegemite is made by extracting liquid vitamin from the yeast left over from breweries and combining it with salt and celery and onion to form a sticky black paste. It took several years of significant marketing efforts for the product to 'stick', but by the 1940s was used in a vast majority of Australian homes. Vegemite is one of the richest known sources of Vitamin B. A Vegemite sandwich is typically made with the spread sandwiched between two pieces of buttered bread, lettuce and cheese.

Australia Day, or Anniversary Day, is January 26th and is a national holiday in Australia. It celebrates the proclamation of British sovereignty over what is now New South Wales in 1787. The need for this initial penal colony established by the British government was as a direct result of the loss of some colonies in North America.