Magazine
17 October 2012 Last updated at 23:05 GMT
Vegemite
started as a wartime substitute for Marmite, but it's now as symbolic
of Australia as Sydney Harbour Bridge and the koala. How did this salty
spread become so popular?
What's the link between German U-boats, the beer industry, processed cheese and the Men At Work's 1983 hit, Down Under?The answer is, they all played a part in turning Vegemite from a humble yeast spread into an Australian icon. Stop any Aussie on any street, anywhere in the world, and they will have a view on Vegemite - for, or against.
Now, on the eve of its 90th birthday, the first official history has just been published. The Man Who Invented Vegemite is written by Jamie Callister, grandson of the man who created it.
"My grandfather Cyril created something that all Australians associate with their childhood. It never leaves you," he says.
Vegemite's inventor Cyril Callister
The story really begins in the late 19th Century, when an edible by-product was first extracted from the yeast used by brewers to make beer. In 1902, Britain's Marmite Extract Food Company came into being, taking its name from the French word "marmite", for large pot.
Marmite was sent around the world, including to Australia. But during World War I, those exports were badly interrupted by German U-boats attacking merchant ships.
"Supplies of Marmite all but dried up, leaving Australians desperate for the spread that many had come to love," says Callister. "They needed to find an alternative."
That's where Cyril Callister comes in.
Born in 1893 in rural Victoria, he was a clever child who went to college and became a chemist. He lived an exciting, unorthodox, life, travelling the world and ending up as a scientist at a munitions factory in Scotland.
After an explosion at the factory, Callister returned to Australia, where he met an entrepreneur called Fred Walker, who was trying to develop a Marmite substitute.
Walker had already seen one local
brewer try to come up with its own version of Marmite, called Cubex.
But this thick, bitter sludge was a culinary and financial disaster.
Walker put Callister on the case in 1923, and by the end of
the year, the pair were confident they had a finished product. Walker
decided to launch a competition so the public could name it and claim a
£50 prize. Hundreds entered and it was Walker's daughter Sheila who
pulled the word Vegemite out of a hat. Like the product itself, the name stuck. But sales were sluggish.
Walker had heard about an ingenious Canadian called James Kraft, who had perfected what came to be known as processed cheese. It was a sensation, as it allowed people who couldn't afford fridges to store cheese for much longer periods.
In 1924, Walker met Kraft in Chicago. The two men got on well and Walker persuaded Kraft to grant him rights to sell his cheeses in Australia.
In a stroke of marketing genius, he offered Vegemite alongside the cheese. By the mid 1930s, Vegemite was, if not quite a runaway success, certainly a moderately well-established family staple. But it took a professor of human physiology to transform its fortunes.
Kraft's involvement marked the beginning for Vegemite's success
Cedric Stanton Hicks worked at the University of Adelaide and
he was commissioned by the Australian government to ensure troops
marched on full stomachs.Vegemite - chemical weapon?
- Anecdotal evidence that Vegemite itself played a part in WWII
- Soldiers pierced tins to allow in botulism, then left them for unsuspecting Japanese soldiers to eat
After extensive research, Hicks
concluded that Vegemite, a rich source of vitamin B, should become the
basis of soldiers' ration packs along with blackcurrant concentrate and
margarine.
"Hicks sent Vegemite to war and that transformed its status," says Jamie Callister.As World War II unfolded, Vegemite became associated with the national interest. Posters put up in Australia had pictures of it with the slogan, "Vegemite: Keeping fighting men fighting fit."
For Vegemite, the war was a turning point, marking its entry deep into the hearts and consciousness of the Australian public.
In 1949, Cyril Callister died. A sign of his and Vegemite's importance came when Robert Menzies, a past and future prime minister, turned up to his funeral.
The spread of yeast spreads
- First developed by German scientist Justus von Liebig
- Process based on autolysis, where yeast cell structure is broken down with enzymes
- Versions produced in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Switzerland
- Supplies of NZ Marmite - same name, different taste - are drying up after damage to factory in 2011 Christchurch earthquake
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