This Day in History ( June 13 )
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| The True Story |
Australia sees the
introduction of Vegemite.
June 13th, 1923
June 13th, 1923
Vegemite is the registered brand name for a dark brown, salty food paste
made from yeast extract, mainly used as a spread on sandwiches and toast. It is
popular in Australia and is known as one of Australia's national foods. The
iconic Australian spread was first developed in 1922 by food technologist Dr
Cyril P Callister when his employer, the Australian Fred Walker Company, had
him develop a spread from brewer's yeast after World War I had disrupted the
supply of imported yeast spreads.
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| Chants & Rhymes |
A trade name competition was held to find a name for the new product, and the
winning name of Vegemite was chosen from the entries by Walker's daughter
Sheilah, by being picked at random out of a hat. The product was introduced to
the Australian public on 13 June 1923. Initial interest and sales were slow,
but the product endured through a name change to ‘Parwill’, (to compete with another product called 'Marmite') then later returning to ‘Vegemite’
in 1935. Largely an acquired taste, Vegemite is notorious for the dislike it
generates amongst some foreigners.
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| Fun for Kids |
Vegemite
has been described by many non-Australians trying it for the first time as
having an extremely unpleasant taste. You only have to look at the face of any non-Australian trying it for the first time to understand that words are not
necessary to express their delight! However, it is today still found in 90% of Australian homes, and to
the many Australians who have grown up with Vegemite, it will always remain
part of our lives and an Aussie icon. We just love our Vegemite!
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| Life down under! |
That famous Vegemite jingle is perhaps one of the most memorable songs of our lives growing up. If you want to re-visit the original ad from 1959, though rather dated and corny now... visit the link below, but please don’t blame us if you end up singing it for the rest of the day!
