Posted on 03/20/2012 3:36:48 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- It's a sticky black sandwich spread that much of New Zealand adores, though detractors liken it to axle grease. And when it runs out, it's Marmageddon.
The manufacturer of Marmite says its supplies of the yeast-extract product ran out this week, four months after earthquakes forced it to close the only factory that made New Zealand's version.
"Don't freak. We will be back soon!" the company, Sanitarium, says on the Marmite website. But there are signs of freaking in this country of 4.4 million people, which eats its way through 640 metric tons of the savory spread every year.
"I can confirm there was a rush on Marmite yesterday," Antoinette Shallue, spokeswoman for the grocery chain Foodstuffs, said in an email. "Clearly Kiwis took the news of the impending shortage very seriously!"
Some are calling the crisis "Marmageddon." Others are auctioning their supplies of Marmite online. Even the country's leader sounds concerned.
"I'm going to have to go thin I'm afraid. I have a very small amount in my office and once that runs out I'm obviously aware that supplies are very short," Prime Minister John Key told television station TV3 on Tuesday.
At the risk of angering Marmite fans, Key went on say that he could also eat Vegemite, a rival spread that is made in Australia.
Both Marmite and Vegemite are made from yeast extract. Marmite was launched in England and, at first, was imported into New Zealand. But by 1919, New Zealand had come up with its own version, which differs in taste significantly from the English version.
As a result, importing English Marmite simply won't work, said Pierre van Heerden, Sanitarium's general manager.
"People have grown up with Marmite. It's an iconic New Zealand brand," van Heerden said. He's advising people to use their remaining supplies sparingly: for instance, by spreading Marmite on warm toast, so that it goes further, or on just one side of the bread in double sandwiches.
The problem traces back to a series of earthquakes in the city of Christchurch that last year killed 185 people and destroyed many buildings. In November, Sanitarium decided the quake damage was severe enough it needed to close its Christchurch factory, the only one that makes the New Zealand style of Marmite. This week, it ran out of supplies.
Supermarkets still have some jars left, but they're going fast.
"We anticipate running out of stock of Marmite in the next two to three weeks across all our stores, and unfortunately we have no control of the situation," Murray Johnston, general manager of merchandise at grocery chain Progressive Enterprises, wrote in an email.
Van Heerden said he has kept the 25 people who make Marmite on the payroll and hopes to resume production by July -- when either the factory will be repaired or the production line will be moved.
In the meantime, one would-be entrepreneur has listed a jar of Marmite for a minimum bid of 3,500 New Zealand dollars ($2,900) on the auction site Trade Me, admitting that: "Seal broken, had to take a couple of toasts worth just to say goodbye to my prized Marmite."
Nobody has placed a bid.
Well no
My ancestors were Loyalists and left here...
Thanks a lot...
Now my mouth is watering..
OK I’ll keep shopping. How much for a R/T ticket? i would love to try out a fly rod on one of those streams.
Dont know..
NZ perfected it...
Nector of the gods...
I’ll bet you like white bait too huh? (barf)
Use to be big trout in NZ..
the little ones 1 foot long or so get thrown back in to grow...
Oct 1 through March 31 used to be the season for trout...
Spring and summer..
Oh yes...
Whitebait fritters...
I used to take them cold to school as sandwiches too...
White bait patties,mmmmmmm.
A substitute?
Aye ???
Your post read like you used to eat it for breakie so I was offering up a substitute. Hopefully ... :)
Disgusting:
Consulting the web, the most important thing to know about Marmite is apparently that it is NOT Vegemite. So what is it? Basically, it’s beer yeast crap. Or more precisely, salty beer yeast crap.
To quote the site IloveMarmite.co.uk: “We are reliably informed that Marmite is made by adding salt to the waste-product produced by the yeast in the brewing process. The salt messes with the yeast cells and causes a reaction, resulting in the brown gloop called marmite.”
So the yeast, um... leaves waste... in a big vat. The brewer adds salt and a couple other ingredients, and bottles the resulting brown sludge into a jar to sell to happy Brits and Kiwis and insane Americans who write for food web sites.
http://www.toomanychefs.com/archives/000022.php
Yes
Most days we had Weetbix with enough hot water poured on them to make them warm and soft, milk and sugar
Eggs sunny side up and bacon
Toast and butter and Marmite (or Mum’s homemade jam)
A cup of hot tea with milk and sugar..
That lot was my school mornings breakfast..
(Weetbix bricks are still made about the same as I had them. 1 inch X 1/2 inch X 3-4 inches. We would have 2 of them.)
Is Marmite anything like Vegamite?
Didnt hurt me one lick...
:)
NO
Yes Marmite is the real thing...
Like Coke and Pepsi
:)
I just threw up in my mouth a little thinking about white bait in a sandwich. 8[
I only know Vegemite from that Men At Work song.
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