We’re happy little Vegemites ... as bright as bright can be!

The company Fred Walker & Co. was best known for creating Vegemite, a breakfast product that went on to become an “Australian cultural icon”. I am normally a bit wary of that expression. But I know that as soon as the men came home from WW2 and rationing ended, my own break­fast every day was a soft boiled egg in an eggcup, a slice of bread with Vegemite and yellow cheese, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

So how did it all start? Justus Freiherr von Liebig (1803–1873) was a German chemist who rev­olutionised agricultural chemistry in Hesse. He also founded the Liebig Extract of Meat Co. that produced the world's first beef bouillon cube. von Liebig had discovered that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten, a technique that led to the product that was later to become Marmite.

In 1902 the Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in Staffordshire with Marmite as its main product. The by-product yeast needed for the paste was supplied by a local brewery. By 1907 the product had become successful enough to build a second factory in London.

Marmite vs Vegemite

And why did Australians, possibly the most loyal ex-colonials in the entire British Empire, not eat Marmite for breakfast? It appears that Marmite HAD been the yeast spread of choice across Australia from Edwardian days. But supplies imported from Britain were imperilled in WW1 shipping accidents. Even once shipping became safe again from 1919 on, Marmite was hard hit by the changes in world trade. 

So it was not until 1923 that Fred Walker (1884-1935) hired the chemist Dr Cyril P. Callister to develop a yeast extract product specifically for Australian fam­il­ies. After months of laboratory tests in Melbourne, the yeast could be concent­rated, processed and refined, thus becoming a very rich source of Vitamin B. Vegemite was manufactured in a two ounce amber glass jar shaped like a lighthouse, capped with a seal to keep the contents fresh. Labelled “Pure Vegetable Extract”, Vegem­ite was first sold in 1924 and quickly competed well with the very similar Marmite from Britain.

Walker began a partnership with American businessman James Kraft  to manufacture processed cheese in 1925. By 1928 Marmite was outselling its Australian rival and Walker decided to change the name of his product to Parwill. The name had been invented so that a new advertising campaign could be mounted based upon the slogan 'If Marmite, Parwill!' The name Vegemite was quickly brought back!!

By 1930 Walker was chairman of Kraft Walker Cheese Co, a slightly separate company from Fred Walker & Co. He was good at keeping the best staff by providing workers with a social club, morning tea breaks, first aid & canteen facilities.

Being a by-product of beer manufacture, Vegemite might not have been the basis for a great advertising campaign. But that did not matter - it was the taste that made Vegemite so appealing! This yeast vegetable extract was recognised as one of the world's highest food sources of vitamin B.

When Fred Walker sadly died in 1935, the American Kraft Co. absorbed its Australian co-partner. That could have been the end of catering to Australian tastes, but Kraft Foods understood the significance of Vegemite to Australians.

My breakfast throughout the 1950s - soft boiled egg and Vegemite soldiers

Luckily for Kraft, Vegemite was officially endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins in 1939. It must have been – the company began advertising in the British Medical Journal!

Just as WW2 erupted in 1939, Vegemite was included in Australia’s army rations! Its marketing strategy put Vegemite in 90% of Australian homes in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, emphasising the value of the spread to children's health. Leftover brewer’s yeast with vitamins became Our Favourite Food Product.

We’re happy little Vegemites
As bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our Vegemite
For breakfast, lunch and tea.
Our Mummies say we’re growing stronger
Every single week
Because we love our Vegemite.
We all adore our Vegemite.
IT PUTS A ROSE IN EVERY CHEEK!
We’re growing stronger every week!

This Vegemite ad  first appeared in 1954 on radio and is remembered by every Baby Boomer in the entire nation. Note that TV did not arrive in Australia until November 1956!

In the sophisticated C21st, Vegemite is still produced at Kraft Foods’ plant in Port Melbourne, creating and selling 22 million jars per year. Largely unchanged from Callister’s original recipe, Vegemite still far outsells Marmite. And I assume a small bottle of Vegemite is still carried in the suitcases of Australian travellers, whenever they go abroad.

New Zealanders also love Vegemite. Vegemite was made in New Zealand for 50 years (until 2006), and although New Zealanders eat less of it than Austr­al­ians, the spread is very popular. However many New Zeal­an­ders still prefer Marmite, made at the Sanitarium factory in Christchurch.

A fortnight ago, before I wrote this post, most of my grandchildren were together, behaving well and watching tv. I was delighted and said to them “you all look like Happy Little Vegemites”. How nostalgic is that?

**

Here is that iconic Australian song Land Down Under, sung by Men At Work (1981).

Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six-foot-four and full of muscles
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

The song went to #1 in Australia in December 1981, topped the New Zealand and Canadian charts in 1982 and reached #1 in the USA, UK and Ireland in 1983.