You either LOVE IT OR YOU HATE IT. Husband dearest loves it, I hate it. What is it?
MARMITE.
That horrible gooey brown-black substance that, ok, may well be full of vitamins but still tastes awful. And don't even begin to get me started on the texture - yuk.
However
Writer Maggie Hall is proud of her first book ....... even though half of all readers will probably hate it. (Yeah, we're getting the picture, Marmite - you either love it or hate it.)
That's because she's penned a dictionary devoted entirely to Marmite - the black goo we all either love or hate. (Here we go again.)
The former Fleet Street journalist, of Whitby, North Yorkshire, uncovered all manner of ridiculous facts about 'the tar in a jar' while writing the book.
Maggie, 68, said "I love Marmite ...... I'm not obsessed with it, although people will think I am now.
"The idea for the book has actually been in my mind for about 12 years, when I saw that one of the very first silver lids for a Marmite jar had sold for £65.
"Then when I started looking into it I learned all sorts. For instance, I had no idea it came from the waste yeast of the brewing industry.
"I've always had a feeling I had to get this book out - it haunted me a little bit that someone else might get there first." (I somehow doubt anyone else out there had such a burning desire to write a book on Marmite of all things but, then, you never know.)
The resulting book , THE MISH-MASH OF MARMITE: AN ANECDOTAL A-Z OF TAR IN A JAR, contains a mix of bizarre (never!!!!), fascinating, zany and amusing gems of information on the yeast treat which was first created in the 1900s."
SOURCE: An edited version of an article by Coreena Ford reporting in the Evening Chronicle.
MARMITE FACTS.
* The jar is brown because exposure to light destroys some of the vitamin B's that make Marmite a health-giving product.
* Ali Fearon got a BA 2:1 degree in history, from Lancaster University, after writing her dissertation on Marmite.
* Saltburn-born NASA astronaut Dr Nicholas Patrick took Marmite into space as his 'comfort' food.
* A back-packers' lodge in South Africa is collecting empty Marmite jars to build a garden wall.
* Marmite is reputed to have such health-giving properties that it was originally sold in chemists and advertised using images of doctors and nurses.
9 comments:
We are a Marmite loving family. I must get through a big jar a week.
I HATE Marmite with a passion! I knew that it was made from the left over yeast from brewing beer, but just the thought of it turns my stomach! And what were those thin stick biscuits called that were covered in the stuff?
It had to be medicinal, it's too gross for pleasure
There was a big discussion not long ago about this stuff on an Aussie blog I read. Never had it, but not sure I really want to from what many of you say!
btw... I see you've been playing with the "translator" on your comment blurb!
Twiglets Alice.
My stomach is turning just reading about Marmite. Thank you.
Some love it, some hate it, and foreigners don´t understand that anyone eats it ;)
Well said Dorte.
Hey, thanks for the great 'plug' - now you all know what to buy for the pal, who hates it, and you love to taunt! Check it (and me) out on: Mish-Mash-Marmite.blogspot.com Thanks, Maggie Hall.
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