‘Vegemite’ is a household name in Australia and has sparked copy-cats in other parts of Southeast Asia as well as the UK and the EU. Long the brunt of jokes about what it’s ‘actually’ made of, and why folks love it so much, the ‘meaty’ umami spread is truly iconic…
What is it, really?
For those unfamiliar with Vegemite… Wikipedia describes it as, “a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria, for the Fred Walker Company in 1922 and was first sold in stores on 25 October, 1923.”
“A spread for sandwiches, toast, crumpets and cracker biscuits as well as a filling for pastries, Vege-mite is similar to other yeast-based spreads such as Marmite in the UK and its New Zealand version, Australian Promite, MightyMite, AussieMite, OzEmite, German Vitam-R and Swiss Cenovis.”
Sounds awfully popular for a food that not only sounds pretty awful, but smells – and according to many North Americans – tastes just as … peculiar.
But the product has become indispensable to Brit and Aussie expats around the world. And anytime it makes the news, it’s BIG news.
The definition of umami?
Vegemite aficionados insist that, far from being ‘the paramount example of a waste byproduct’ from the brewing industry, their baby is, in fact healthy, tasty and unique – in as much as it’s been called ‘umami’ on the hoof.
But there’s no beef, or extracts thereof, in it. And while it may contain a lot of salt, it’s not just some kind of compound like bouillon cubes – that’s mainly salt infused with meat flavours.
On the other hand…
It’s not the icon of healthy snacking that its long-established reputation may claim. In fact, it’s for-tified with a number of vitamin and minerals,not the least of which is Vitamin B.
And that’s why it’s currently in trouble with Health Canada (HC) and the Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Canadian regulations place strict limits and prohibitions on such additives, in spite of the good intentions behind them – to bolster the health and well being of consumers. And Vegenite is now suspected of being ‘out of compliance’ with those regulations.
Tempest in a tea pot?
Leighton Walters (see photo, top of page), an Australian-Canadian dual citizen, owns the Found Cof-fee chain headquartered in Toronto. He imports Vegemite in quantity for the multiple locations of his Aussie-themed café and shop. And he claims he’s never had any trouble over it during the past 5 years he’s been doing that. But now, he has more than (C)$8,000 with of the stuff sitting in limbo in a Toronto warehouse, while he and Health Canada try to ‘get the issue sorted’.
Happily, there’s a brighter day on the horizon for Walters and his Vegemite… During his fight to save the brand in Canada, he consulted the Australian High Commission. And through it, gained the sup-port of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Earlier this week, Albanese announced that he and Walters have have reached an agreement with Canadian officials allowing the entrepreneur to put Vegemite back on his menu.
“This is a win for Australian industry, but it’s also a win for those people in Canada who get to enjoy this wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and, indeed, Australian pride as well,” Albanese crowed.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took the opportunity to tweak US President Donald Trump over the latter’s tariffs: “This is the value of strong free trade with reliable partners like Australia — and mutual respect for our cultural treasures,” Carney wrote via his X account.
My take
Here’s a great example of how Canadians and Americans deal with contentious issue in very different ways. If Albanese had been negotiating with US President Donald Trump on the Vegemite issue, to-day’s headlines might well have been more like: “Tariffs on Australian food upped 300 percent!” and “They’re putting Vegemite on cats and dogs in Springfield!”
~ Maggie J.