Marmite

If you're British you know what Marmite is. It's a spread with a strong, salty flavour that is often served on toast, with butter. A yeast extract, Marmite is by-product from the process of brewing beer. I've read that Marmite is to British children as peanut butter is to American children, and Nutella is to French children: it's part of the fabric of life.

When I mentioned this assessment to my friend Gavin, he told me that he and his children absolutely love Marmite, but that his (Slovenian) wife Mateja absolutely hates it. This is apparently not an uncommon assessment -- Marmite's slogan is Love it or hate it. They get pretty creative in their adverts, as with http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Marmite-Kiss-Marmite/29606.

Gavin was really curious to see whether we might like Marmite, so a week or so back he bought us a small bottle (photo above). The next evening, as we sat down to dinner, Kim put out a piece of buttered toast, with a thin layer of Marmite spread on top, sliced into four triangles.

First up: me. I like it! Very salty, strong flavour.

Next up: Tim. He takes a bite, contemplates, and says "Tastes like soy sauce." I think that's a fair assessment (this observation is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article). He takes a couple of more bites but does not finish.

Next up: Kim. She is skeptical, but takes an aggressive chomp. (She is committed to showing Anne that trying a new food should be a positive experience.) But then: Eeeww! She contorts her face and sets it down. A decided vote against.

At this point, Anne and Colin are scared off, so they don't even try it.

So in total, we have about 1.5 votes in favor, 1 vote against, and 2 abstaining.

Since the taste test, I've been the only one to eat the stuff. Yum!