Posted on 07/03/2004 11:01:14 PM PDT by Jane_N
MELBOURNE'S Jewish community are unhappy little Vegemites.
After 20 years of producing it, Kraft has scrapped kosher Vegemite.
Hundreds of families have been scouring supermarkets for the last kosher jars of the famous spread. One mum bought 75 jars in one shop.
Jewish kosher certification group Kosher Australia has received at least five complaints a day since Kraft confirmed the end of production a few months ago.
KA general manager Yankel Wajsbort said Kraft had been producing kosher Vegemite for at least 20 years.
Mr Wajsbort said batches of kosher Vegemite had been made at Kraft after processing machines were cleaned, as meat products were also made on the machines.
He said KA received a statement from Kraft saying the company had stopped production because of changes in its manufacturing processes.
The Chaskiel family are unhappy at the idea of life without Vegemite.
All five members of the Caulfield North household had it for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner.
Dad Mark Chaskiel said the family have run out of kosher Vegemite after panic-buying 35 jars. "I was brought up on Vegemite," Mr Chaskiel said.
"I can sacrifice lobster and prawns for kosher but I can't give up Vegemite. It's an Australian birthright."
Mickey Chaskiel, 9, used to love thickly spreading the stuff on his toast in the morning. "I am a bit upset about it," he said.
State Opposition spokesman for multicultural affairs Murray Thompson is organising a petition to Kraft.
Kraft Foods Australia failed to respond to several phone calls from the Herald Sun yesterday.
Sounds like a business opportunity to me...
"Sounds like a business opportunity to me..."
Which part? (sorry just finished a 10 hr nightshift so my brain's fallen asleep) :)
never had heard of Vegemite until that song "Land Down Under" by Men at Work... "i said do you speaka my language... she just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich."
To make a vegemite product. There's obviously a market for it...
Get some sleep soon! :)
oops.. it should be "he just smiled..."
Wait . . . . . . . people eat that crap?
Have you tasted it? Actually to be honest, most people that aren't raised on it tend to hate it at first. It's a taste you need to get used to, let it grow on you so to speak. It's also "one of the world's richest known sources of vitamin b". Kraft have a neat and handy new travel pack version of it which is great for when travelling or transporting it overseas (their glass jars tend to break when sent through ordinary post as has happened to me on several occassions. Anyway if you want to read about it a little they do have a webpage: www.vegemite.com.au
The last "6 Foot 4 and fulla muscle" *she* I remember seeing was a Soviet shotputter back in the 80s...
I had marmite in Hungary. It was like eating fecal matter mixed with sawdust into a paste the consistency of vomit.
hehehehehe
What is in Vegamite?
I see you've never partaken.
I have but I've never read such a vivid description before... this is a site for you :)
http://www.ihatemarmite.com/marmite/default.asp
From the vegemite webpage:
"In 1922, a Melbourne man called Fred Walker (who started the Fred Walker Company which eventually became Kraft Foods Limited in Australia) had the bright idea of using yeast extract left over from the manufacture of beer to create a wonderful source of vitamin B and a tasty new spread that every Australian will grow up with."
Oh, well now that I know it's made from left over beer...that's very different. They probably supply NZ, too. Bet they change back.
At least, that is what we tell ourselves because it is impossible to believe that this putrid blend of microbes was not at some time something good and holy, unlike the spawn from the bowels (this is not a metaphor) of hell that it is.
Somehow marmite is the epitome of the notion that if it tastes bad, it must be good for you. If that were the case, then a regular marmite eater would be immortal.
It is not just an unpleasant taste but it is an aggressively bad taste. Unlike a vegetable which may be bland to a child's palette, but can improve with salt, butter or, in extreme cases, ketchup, marmite seeks out the tastebuds for destruction, causing the eater to attempt to bypass the tongue altogether. Marmite is not just bad-tasting, but it is aggressive about it, lingering on the tongue and on the mind, daring you to think if there is a singularly more unpleasant experience than consuming this diabolical residue.
Marmite is a penance, its consumption is a special virtue all its own. The only explanation for someone eating it is that they believe there will be a special place in heaven (or, more appropriately, Valhalla) awaiting them in the afterlife and a bottomless supply of palette-clensing sorbet sitting on the armrest.
Marmite is listed at least 3 of the Geneva conventions as a device of torture. Saddam would only give it to the worst of his dissidents. It has a radioactive half life. It is pure, concentrated evil. Or, at the very least, it is the waste product of pure, concentrated evil.
Maybe it should be given to Saddam for breakfast ;-)
But why are they stopping production?
If it's so beloved then it would seem a bad business decision. Or is it not really that good a seller.
I'm so confused. What's going on here?
Saddam is a demented, sadistic, murdering, vicious sociopath. Even he doesn't deserve marmite. What kind of monster are you?
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