Fall Asleep While Learning About Vegemite

Tonight, settle in as we explore the fascinating world of Vegemite and the science of umami. From its humble Australian beginnings to its reputation as a salty, savory spread, Vegemite has sparked both love and debate. But what exactly makes it so uniquely flavorful? That’s where umami—the so-called “fifth taste”—comes in.

Join us as we unravel the chemistry behind umami and its presence in foods worldwide. Whether you’re a fan of Vegemite or just here for the sleepy facts, this episode is sure to satisfy your curiosity (and hopefully send you off to dreamland).

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is a collection of two Wikipedia articles.

The first is Vegemite,

And the second is Umami.

Vegemite is a thick,

Dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewer's 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 it was first sold in stores on October 25,

1923.

A spread for sandwiches,

Toast,

Crumpets,

And cracker biscuits,

As well as a filling for pastries,

Vegemite is similar to British Marmite,

New Zealand Marmite,

Australian Bromide,

Mighty Mite,

Ozzie Mite,

German Vitam R,

And Swiss Cenevis.

Vegemite has a strong flavor.

It is salty,

Slightly bitter,

Malty,

And has an umami flavor similar to beef bouillon because it is rich in glutamates.

It is low FODMAP,

Vegan,

Kosher,

And halal.

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.

However,

In 2017,

The brand returned to Australian ownership when the Vega Group purchased it alongside other assets from Mondelez International,

Formerly Kraft Foods,

Inc.

In 1919,

Following the disruption of British Marmite imports after World War I,

The Australian company Fred Walker and Company gave Cyril Callister the task of developing a spread from the used yeast being dumped by breweries.

Callister had been hired by the chairman Fred Walker.

He used a tolosis to break down the yeast cells from waste obtained from the Carleton and United Brewery.

Concentrating the clear liquid extract and blending with salt,

Celery,

And onion extracts formed a sticky black paste.

Following a competition to name the new spread with a prize pool,

Vegemite was selected by Fred Walker's daughter,

Sheila,

And it was registered as a trademark in Australia in 1919.

The name of the person who coined the name is not known.

Vegemite first appeared on the market in 1923 with advertising emphasizing the value of Vegemite to children's health,

But it failed to sell well.

Faced with growing competition from Marmite from 1928 to 1935,

The product was renamed Parwill to make use of the advertising slogan,

Marmite,

But Parwill,

A two-step pun on the new name and that of its competitor,

I.

E.

,

If Ma,

Mother,

Might,

Then Pa,

Father,

Will.

This attempt to expand market share was unsuccessful and the name reverted to Vegemite,

But it did not recover its lost market share.

In 1925,

Walker had established the Kraft-Walker Cheese Company as a joint venture company with J.

L.

Kraft and Bros.

To market processed cheese,

And following the failure of Parwill,

In 1935 he used the success of Kraft-Walker Cheese to promote Vegemite.

Following the death of Walker in 1935,

The Fred Walker Company was absorbed by Kraft-Walker Cheese Company,

A subsidiary of Kraft Company.

In a two-year campaign to promote sales,

Vegemite was given away free with Kraft-Walker Cheese products with a coupon redemption,

And this was followed by poetry competitions with imported American Pontiac cars being offered as prizes.

Sales responded,

And in 1939 Vegemite was officially endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins.

Rationed in Australia during World War II,

Vegemite was included in Australian Army rations and by the late 1940s was used in 9 out of 10 Australian homes.

In April 1984,

A 115 gram jar of Vegemite became the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout.

Vegemite is produced in Australia at their Port Melbourne Manufacturing Facility,

Which produces more than 22 million jars annually.

Virtually unchanged from Callister's original recipe,

Vegemite now far outsells Marmite and other similar spreads in Australia.

The billionth jar of Vegemite was produced in October 2008.

Vegemite was also produced in New Zealand for over 50 years,

But as of August 2006 New Zealand production has ceased.

The New Zealand-specific version of Marmite remains successful there.

The Vegemite brand was owned by Mondelas International until January 2017,

When it was acquired by the Australian Bega Group in a $460 million agreement for full Australian ownership,

After Bega would buy most of Mondelas International's Australia and New Zealand grocery and cheese business.

A common way of eating Vegemite is on toasted bread with a layer of butter or margarine.

Only a small amount of Vegemite is required due to its strong flavor.

A Vegemite sandwich consists of two slices of buttered bread and Vegemite,

But other ingredients such as cheese,

Lettuce,

Avocado,

Or tomato may be added.

Vegemite can be used as a filling for pastries,

Such as the Cheesy Mite Scroll,

Or it may be used in more exotic dishes.

The official Vegemite website contains several recipes using Vegemite in foods such as pasta,

Burgers,

Pizzas,

Casseroles,

And even ice cream.

It is also suggested using Vegemite as an additive to soups or two-minute noodles.

Limited quantities of kosher Vegemite were first produced in the 1980s.

A 2004 decision to cease certification was reversed after a backlash from Jewish consumers.

Around 2009,

Kraft contracted with the Kashrut Authority in New South Wales for their Kashrut supervision services,

And by 2010,

All jars and tubes of ordinary Vegemite were labeled with the Authority's stamp.

In 2010,

Vegemite also received halal certification.

While the makers of Vegemite have long claimed that Vegemite was suitable for vegans,

It was not until World Vegan Day 2019 that it received vegan certification from the Vegan Australia Certified Program.

A Vegemite nutritionist said that the spread had always been a fitting choice for vegans.

Vegemite is a source of B vitamins,

Specifically thiamine,

Riboflavin,

Niacin,

And folate,

B1,

B2,

B3,

And B9 respectively.

The base version contains no vitamin B12,

Although both vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are added to the low-salt formulation.

The main ingredient of Vegemite is yeast extract,

Which contains a high concentration of glutamic acid,

A source of Vegemite's umami flavor.

Vegemite does not contain any fat,

Added sugar,

Or animal content.

It contains gluten,

A composite of storage proteins,

As the yeast is derived from brewing.

One 5-gram serving contains 173 mg of sodium,

Which is 8% of the recommended daily intake of sodium.

Australia only defines low-salt foods,

But by UK standards Vegemite is classified as a high-salt content food.

A low-salt version of Vegemite was introduced in September 2014.

It has a 25% reduction in sodium content.

The low-salt version is also fortified with vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.

Originally promoted as a healthy food for children,

During World War II advertising emphasized its medicinal value.

Vegemite fights with the men up north.

If you are one of those who don't need Vegemite medicinally,

Then thousands of individuals are asking you to deny yourself of it for the time being.

At the same time,

Sister MacDonald insisted that Vegemite was essential for infant welfare in magazines.

Later advertisements began to promote the importance of the B-complex vitamins to health.

Vegemite's rise to popularity was helped by the marketing campaigns written by J.

Walter Thompson advertising that began in 1954.

Using groups of smiling,

Healthy children singing a catchy jingle titled,

We're Happy Little Vegemites.

Here are the words from the jingle.

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.

First aired on radio in 1954,

The jingle was transferred to television in 1956.

This advertising campaign continued until the late 1960s,

But as it was targeted to children,

It was discontinued in favor of ads promoting the product to all ages.

In the late 1980s,

The original black and white television commercial was remastered,

Partially colorized,

And reintroduced.

This commercial was to be broadcast periodically from 1991 to 2010.

The two young twin girls who sang this advertising jingle were known as the Vegemite Twins.

In March 2007,

Kraft announced that they were trying to trace the eight original children from the campaign to celebrate the advertisement's 50th anniversary and to take part in a new campaign.

The 1956 commercial was to be remade with the original children now grown to forge a link between the new generation and the old ad.

The media took up the search on Kraft's behalf with all eight children identified in eight days and resulted in many TV specials and interviews in the Australian national media.

The 50-year reunion campaign won the Arts,

Entertainment and Media Campaign of the Year Award at the November 2007 Asia-Pacific PR Awards.

During the 1990s,

Kraft released a product in Australia known as Vegemite Singles.

It combined two of Kraft's major products,

Kraft Singles and Vegemite,

Into one thus creating Vegemite-flavored cheese.

This extension of the Vegemite product line was an attempt by Kraft to capitalize on the enormous popularity of Vegemite and cheese sandwiches made by placing a slice of cheese into a Vegemite sandwich.

Vegemite Singles were later taken off the market.

On the 13th of June 2009,

Kraft released a new version of Vegemite.

The formula combines Vegemite and Kraft cream cheese,

Spreads more easily and has a considerably less salty and milder taste than the original.

To coincide with the release of the new recipe,

Kraft ran a competition to give the new flavor a name.

The new name was announced during the broadcast of the 2009 AFL Grand Final as iSnack 2.

0.

The name was chosen by a panel of marketing and communication experts to appeal to a younger market,

Capitalizing on the popularity of Apple's iPod and iPhone.

The choice immediately drew universal criticism and ridicule within Australia.

Within days,

Opinion columns and social networking sites were flooded with derision and vitriol.

And after only four days,

Kraft released plans to abandon the iSnack name,

Admitting that it may have been a mistake.

Two days later,

Kraft opened a new poll on its website,

And the final name was announced on the 7th of October 2009 as Vegemite Cheesy Bite,

With Kraft claiming that the name had received 36% of the 30,

357 votes that were cast for a name option,

Or approximately 10,

900 votes.

It was noted that the popular suggestion Cheesy Bite,

Long associated with the popular Cheesy Bite scroll,

Was already trademarked by other organizations.

The product has been renamed Vegemite and Cheese,

Under Vega's ownership.

In 2011,

Kraft Foods Australia launched My First Vegemite,

A special formulation of original Vegemite for children aged older than one year.

According to Kraft,

The new formula has a milder taste and additional health benefits,

Including iron,

B6 and B12 vitamins,

As well as 50% less sodium,

And was designed in response to consumer demand for foods with lower sugar and salt content,

Plus additional health benefits.

Immediate reaction and media reports regarding the new formula were largely positive,

But Kraft Foods Australia discontinued the My First Vegemite product line in 2012 due to poor sales performance.

In April 2015,

Cadbury announced that it was to release a Vegemite-flavored block of chocolate on the 1st of June.

The chocolate block is Cadbury's Caramello block,

Updated by mixing Vegemite with the chocolate.

Critics described the taste as similar to salted caramel with a pleasant umami aftertaste.

Criticism varied from love it to tastes like they mixed the caramel and Turkish Delight filling with a lot of salt,

To needs more salt,

With several tasters commenting that they thought the aftertaste was unpleasant.

In 2017,

A premium variety,

Vegemite Blend 17,

Was released for a limited time.

It promised a richer,

Bolder taste,

But at double the price of the standard product.

Other commercial products with Vegemite flavor include Smith's Crisps,

In-a-Biscuit,

Bagel Crisps,

Sausages,

Meat Pies,

And Arnott's Shapes.

In October 2006,

An Australian news company reported that Vegemite had been banned in the United States,

And that the United States Customs Service had gone so far as to search Australians entering the country for Vegemite because it naturally contains folate,

A B vitamin approved as an additive in the United States for just a few foods,

Including breakfast cereals.

The U.

S.

Food and Drug Administration later stated that there were no plans to subject Vegemite to an import ban or withdraw it from supermarket shelves.

The United States Customs and Border Protection tried to dispel the rumor,

Stating on its website that there is no known prohibition on the importation of Vegemite,

And there is no official policy within CBP targeting Vegemite for interception.

A story of the ban later took on the status of urban legend.

While Vegemite has never been popular in the U.

S.

,

It can still be purchased at supermarkets that stock imported food items.

Following newspaper reports in May 2011 that Vegemite and Marmite had been banned and were being removed from shelves in Denmark,

Outraged fans set up several Facebook groups.

In response,

Denmark's Ministry of Food,

Agriculture and Fisheries stated that neither spread had been banned,

But that the respective companies had not applied for licenses to market their products in Denmark.

In 2004,

Denmark had passed legislation prohibiting the sale of food products fortified with vitamins as a danger to health.

Vegemite is banned in Victorian prisons,

With the bans beginning to come into effect from the 1990s to prevent inmates from brewing alcohol using the paste's high yeast content,

Even though Vegemite contains no live yeast.

Similar bans were proposed in 2015 for a number of dry communities in outback Australia,

But they were not enacted.

In popular culture,

The Australian rock band Men at Work referred to a Vegemite sandwich in the second verse of their 1981 hit song,

Down Under,

From their debut studio album,

Business as Usual.

Umami,

Or savoriness,

Is one of the five basic tastes.

It is characteristic of broths and cooked meats.

People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and nucleotides,

Which are widely present in meat broths and fermented products.

Glutamates are commonly added to some foods in the form of monosodium glutamate,

MSG,

And nucleotides are commonly added in the form of disodium guanylate,

Inosine monophosphate,

IMP,

Or guanosine monophosphate,

GMP.

Since umami has its own receptors rather than arising out of a combination of the traditionally recognized taste receptors,

Scientists now consider umami to be a distinct taste.

Foods that have a strong umami flavor include meats,

Shellfish,

Fish,

Including fish sauce and preserved fish,

Such as Maldives fish,

Katsuobushi,

Sardines and anchovies,

Dashi,

Tomatoes,

Mushrooms,

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein,

Meat extract,

Yeast extract,

Kimchi,

Cheeses,

And soy sauce.

A loanword from Japanese,

Umami can be translated as pleasant,

Savory taste.

This neologism was coined in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikune Ikeda from anomalization of umai,

Delicious.

There is no English equivalent to umami.

However,

Some close descriptions are meaty,

Savory,

And broth-like.

Scientists have debated whether umami was a basic taste since Kikune Ikeda first proposed its existence in 1908.

In 1985,

The term umami was recognized as the scientific term to describe the taste of glutamates and nucleotides at the first Umami International Symposium in Hawaii.

Umami represents the taste of the amino acid L-glutamate and five ribonucleotides,

Such as guanosine monophosphate,

GMP,

And inosine monophosphate,

IMP.

It can be described as a pleasant brothy or meaty taste with a long-lasting mouth-watering and coating sensation over the tongue.

The sensation of umami is due to the detection of the carboxylate anion of glutamate and specialized receptor cells present on human and other animal tongues.

Some 52 peptides may be responsible for detecting umami taste.

Its effect is to balance taste and round out the overall flavor of a dish.

Umami enhances the palatability of a wide variety of foods.

Glutamate in acid form,

Glutamic acid,

Imparts little umami taste,

Whereas the salts of glutamic acid,

Known as glutamates,

Give the characteristic umami taste due to their ionized state.

GMP and IMP amplify the taste intensity of glutamate.

Adding salt to the free acids also enhances the umami taste.

It is disputed whether umami is truly an independent taste because stand-alone glutamate without table salt ions is perceived as sour.

Sweet and umami tastes share a taste receptor subunit with salty taste blockers reducing discrimination between monosodium glutamate and sucrose.

And some people cannot distinguish umami from a salty taste.

Monosodium L-aspartate has an umami taste about four times less intense than MSG,

Whereas ibodnic acid and tricholomic acid,

Likely as their salts or with salt,

Are claimed to be many times more intense.

Glutamate has a long history in cooking.

Fermented fish sauces,

Garum,

Which are rich in glutamate,

Were used widely in ancient Rome.

Fermented barley sauces,

Muri,

Rich in glutamate,

Were used in medieval Byzantine and Arab cuisine.

And fermented fish sauces and soy sauces have histories going back to the 3rd century in China.

Cheese varieties are rich in glutamate and umami flavor.

In the late 1800s,

Chef Auguste Escoffier,

Who opened restaurants in Paris and London,

Created meals that combined umami with salty,

Sour,

Sweet,

And bitter tastes.

However,

He did not know the chemical source of this unique quality.

Umami was first scientifically identified in 1908 by Kikune Ikeda,

A professor of the Tokyo Imperial University.

He found that glutamate was responsible for the palatability of the broth from kombu seaweed.

He noticed that the taste of the kombu dashi was distinct from sweet,

Sour,

Bitter,

And salty,

And named it umami.

Professor Shintaro Kodama,

A disciple of Ikeda,

Discovered in 1913 that dried bonito flakes,

A type of tuna,

Contained another umami substance.

This was the ribonucleotide IMP.

In 1957,

Akira Kuninaka realized that the ribonucleotide GMP present in shiitake mushrooms also conferred the umami taste.

One of Kuninaka's most important discoveries was the synergistic effect between ribonucleotides and glutamate.

When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides,

The resulting taste intensity is higher than would be expected from merely adding the intensity of the individual ingredients.

This synergy of umami may help explain various classical food pairings.

The Japanese make dashi with kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes.

The Chinese add Chinese leek and Chinese cabbage to chicken soup,

As do Scots in the similar Scottish dish of kakaliki soup,

And Italians grate the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on a variety of different dishes.

Umami has a mild but lasting aftertaste associated with salivation and a sensation of furriness on the tongue,

Stimulating the throat,

The roof,

And the back of the mouth.

By itself,

Umami is not palatable,

But it makes a great variety of foods pleasant,

Especially in the presence of a matching aroma.

Like other basic tastes,

Umami is pleasant only within a relatively narrow concentration range.

The optimum umami taste depends also on the amount of salt,

And at the same time,

Low-salt foods can maintain a satisfactory taste with the appropriate amount of umami.

One study showed that ratings of pleasantness,

Taste intensity,

And ideal saltiness of low-salt soups were greater when the soup contained umami,

Whereas low-salt soups without umami were less pleasant.

Another study demonstrated that using fish sauce as a source of umami could reduce the need for salt by 10-25% to flavor such foods as chicken broth,

Tomato sauce,

Or coconut curry while maintaining overall taste intensity.

Some population groups,

Such as the elderly,

May benefit from umami taste because their taste and smell sensitivity may be impaired by age and medication.

The loss of taste and smell can contribute to poor nutrition,

Increasing the risk of disease.

Some evidence exists to show umami not only stimulates appetite,

But also may contribute to satiety.

Many foods are rich in amino acids and nucleotides imparting umami.

Naturally occurring glutamate can be found in meats and vegetables.

Inosine IMP comes primarily from meats and guanosine GMP from vegetables.

Mushrooms,

Especially dried shiitake,

Are rich sources of umami flavor from guanolite.

Smoked or fermented fish are high in inosinate and shellfish in adenolate.

Protein in food is tasteless,

However processes such as fermentation,

Curing,

Or heat treatment release glutamate and other amino acids.

Since all umami taste compounds are sodium salts,

The perceptual differentiation of salty and umami tastes has been difficult in taste tests and studies have found as much as 27% of certain populations may be umami hypotasters.

Furthermore,

Single glutamate with no table salt ions elicits sour taste and in psychophysical tests,

Sodium or potassium salt cations seem to be required to produce a perceptible umami taste.

If umami doesn't have perceptual independence,

It could be classified with other tastes like fat,

Carbohydrate,

Metallic,

And calcium,

Which can be perceived at high concentrations but may not offer a prominent taste experience.

Reviews

I don’t think I want to try this stuff! I only heard a few minutes of this before drifting off though. 😁

PS..eeewww Benjamin, that sounds gross! 😂😂

I was left wondering about vegemite...fell asleep too quickly.

Didn’t learn much about vegemite, except that it doesn’t sound at all appealing, because I fell asleep quickly. Didn’t make it to umami. Thanks Benjamin.