Happy 100th birthday Vegemite: How the iconic Australian snack spread evolved into a cultural phenomenon

There was a thing called ‘little lunch’ when I was at school, a mid-morning break between the start of the day and lunch. This was the ‘90s, back when 50 Australian cents would still get you a snack at the school canteen.

And I would make a beeline for my favorite nibble: Vegemite on crackers. I loved the salty, slight bitterness of the spread, so much that I eat Vegemite sans butter, although it does go well with smashed avocados.

Vegemite is one of Australia’s most iconic snack spreads. You either love it or hate it—although we all say if you hate it, it’s because you are not eating it right. And no, we Aussies all agree that it is definitely not the same as the UK’s Marmite… It’s better.

Almost everyone I know who grew up in Australia was fed on the nutritious brown spread. And thanks to the jingle ‘Happy Little Vegemites’—which conjures up the brand’s image of happy, active, acrobatic, playing children—children were collectively called ‘little Vegemites’ when we were being good.

However, the Vegemite brand hasn’t always held the status in Australian society as it does now. When it was first engineered a hundred years ago in 1923 by a young food scientist named Dr. Cyril P. Callister, it did not sell well.

Callister was hired by the Fred Walker Company to produce a rival product to Marmite using brewer’s yeast.

My aunt who brought me up would occasionally use a dollop of Vegemite in her cooking, as a salt or soy sauce replacement. I thought this was just a family quirk and it wasn’t until much later that I realized this practice of cooking with Vegemite was common among my peers.

As much as Vegemite was the healthier choice, with less salt and calories and more vitamin Bs, most Australians were too used to Marmite to consider switching.

It took almost 20 years since the product was developed for Vegemite to become a staple in every Australian home—and that was mostly down to its recognition by the Australian Professional Medical Association as better nutrition for patients, and to the Australian military which bought the product in bulk during World War II for its nutritional value.

I learned all of this from the Cyril Callister Museum in the small country town of Beaufort, Victoria, about 90 miles inland of Melbourne. Located in a former 1950s petrol station, the museum celebrates the life and works of the man who invented Vegemite, through historical photographs, Vegemite memorabilia, old packaging and advertisements. Opened in 2022, the museum was born out of the dedication of founder Liza Robinson.

“We all have Vegemite in the cupboard, but does anyone really know the story about the man who invented it?” she wrote in a blog for the museum, describing how it all came about. It was when she moved to Beaufort in 2014 that she learned through a roadside sign that this is where the inventor of Vegemite came from.

Being a PR professional and Vegemite enthusiast, she thought this national icon deserved more than just a meager road sign, so she started on a plan to create a museum to celebrate Vegemite and the man behind it.

What was once just a monthly pop-up now has a dedicated space with street frontage on the main road in Beaufort. Liza has big plans for the museum, which will soon exhibit Vegemite art and interactive elements for an immersive experience, which include commissioned pieces from local artists who will paint three large oil drums into Vegemite jars with labels from different eras. Other than visual works, the museum is also an excellent place to try some sweet Vegemite treats such as biscuits and cakes…

Today, there is a jar of Vegemite in most Australian homes, and it’s also one of the most requested items by Australian ex-pats when friends and relatives visit.

As a child, Vegemite on crackers was the quick and cheap snack I remember munching on. However, the use of Vegemite was not limited to simply being a spread. My aunt who brought me up would occasionally use a dollop of Vegemite in her cooking, as a salt or soy sauce replacement. I thought this was just a family quirk and it wasn’t until much later that I realized this practice of cooking with Vegemite was common among my peers. It’s often said it’s the secret ingredient in ‘spag bol’ in Italian communities, just as it’s sometimes a substitute for soy sauce in Asian communities.

Over the years, Vegemite recipes have become more and more daring. From Vegemite brownies to Vegemite ice cream, there is a recipe for it.

“For years, I’ve added a dessert spoon of Vegemite to my spaghetti bolognese sauce,” says Jennifer Johnston, a travel writer based in Brisbane. “I figured with all that yeast, salt and vegetable extract, it will enhance the sauce flavor and hide the taste of vegetables in the sauce which the kids would normally pick out.”

“Another recipe up my sleeve is the Vegemite twist,” she adds. “Puff pastry spread with a little Vegemite and a little cheese. Twist, bake and serve—it’s a hit with my boys!”

Having said that, it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to me that Vegemite is more widely used in everyday cooking. When Vegemite was first marketed across Australia in 1923, its label read: “Delicious on sandwiches and toast, and improving the flavors of soups, stews and gravies”.

Over the years, Vegemite recipes have become more and more daring. From Vegemite brownies to Vegemite ice cream, there is a recipe for it. Since the museum opened, Sara Kittelty, a local baker and pastry chef, has been supplying the venue with her creations of sweet biscuits and, naturally, believes there’s nothing strange about considering Vegemite as an ingredient for cakes.

“A touch of salt has always been used to enhance the flavors of sweet things,” she tells me. “There’s been such a resurgence in salted caramel, salted vanilla, salted chocolate; it’s just a great culinary match. Vegemite recently collaborated with a chocolate brand in Australia—it was clear people would try a salted caramel Vegemite chocolate biscuit.”

Now, anyone can try cooking with Vegemite. To celebrate a century of this iconic Australian spread, an official cookbook, The Vegemite Cookbook: Favourite Recipes that Taste Like Australia, has been released, with recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Vegemite has been a beloved breakfast spread for over 100 years; fans will agree that it has a versatile flavor that can be added to almost anything,” said Mary Stafford of Bega Group, the manufacturer of Vegemite. “The cookbook showcases great ways to incorporate Vegemite into meals and shares how people have come to love and use the iconic flavor that tastes like Australia.”

Flipping through the cookbook is like flipping through the culinary story of Australia and of my own childhood. As an immigrant nation, so much of our cuisine is influenced by Indigenous and foreign flavors—so the idea of adding a spoon of Vegemite to a tofu stir-fry, as my own aunt did, or to pizza sauce, makes perfect sense now. It’s now time for me to embrace Vegemite in desserts—and I already have my eye on a recipe for Vegemite cheesecake.

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