Vegemite
Vegemite on toast | |
| Product type | Food spread |
|---|---|
| Owner | Bega Group |
| Country | Australia |
| Introduced | 1923 |
| Previous owners | Fred Walker Company |
| Website | vegemite.com.au |
Vegemite (/ˈvɛdʒəmaɪt/ VEJ-uh-myte)[1][2] is a brand of a thick, dark brown[3] 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, Vegemite 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.
Vegemite has a strong flavour. It is salty, slightly bitter, malty and has an umami flavour similar to beef bouillon (because it is rich in glutamates). It is low-FODMAP, vegan, kosher and halal.[4] It is known for being high in B vitamins.
Following the death of Fred Walker in 1935, the Vegemite brand came under the ownership of the American company Kraft Foods.[5] However, in 2017 the brand returned to Australian ownership when the Bega Group purchased it alongside other assets from Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc.).[6]
- ^ Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2005). Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-876429-14-3
- ^ vegemite Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House. 4 May 2009.
- ^ "On this day: The birth of Vegemite". Australian Geographic. 7 November 2013. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ "FAQs – Start with Vegemite". vegemite.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- ^ Farrer, K. T. H. "Fred Walker (1884–1935)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
- ^ "Vegemite bought by Bega from US food giant Mondelez International". ABC News. 19 January 2017. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2017.