I’ve just watched a YouTube video of an American vlogger encountering Marmite for the first time. Most of these videos do show the vlogger spreading it on toast. The HFCS laden bread does not help but spreading it like peanut butter is the big downfall. After a nervous start trying it neat, he actually liked it properly spread in tiny amounts. There was proof that even in the USA Marmite is marmite. The word has entered British English as both the French cooking pot and, because of a clever marketing campaign, as something people either love or hate e.g. TFG. I am of course not comparing a former president with a dark smelly goo.
For those unfamiliar with Marmite or its coarser Australian cousin, Vegemite; these are concentrated reductions of excess yeast from brewing cooked with different mixes of vegetables that makes their taste and texture slightly different. Both are very salty and have a strong umami flavor. The very similar Bovril is made from beef extract to produce the same umami flavor. During WWII’s meat shortages the “Bovril” was actually Marmite. Both were originally marketed not as a spread but a concentrate to make “beef tea”.
As well as a source of umami flavor, Marmite provides an excellent source of zinc because of the yeast it is made from. I became more aware of this micro-nutrient more recently because of the important part it plays in the health of the immune system. One joke was I took zinc supplements because I don’t eat enough Marmite.
Watching the video also brought back to mind a guest lecture I’d seen at college. The speaker was Edward de Bono, who was explaining his “lateral thinking”. He had a novel solution to Middle East conflicts.
The celebrated master of lateral thinking is promoting supplies of the yeast extract spread as the means to resolve the region's seemingly intractable problems.
The logic, briefly, is this. A lack of zinc makes men irritable and belligerent. You get zinc in yeast, which is fine for your average lover of Mother's Pride. But in the Middle East, the bread is unleavened. Ergo, the great man says, Marmite is the answer to easing the way to peace
“Mother;s Pride” is a British brand of sliced white bread using the Chorleywood method, which has spread worldwide. It is one reason why the assertion that the British are not affected has become out of date. It assumes the modern baking method’s short proving allows the same amount of zinc to be produced as by traditional methods. For adults, there has been a move from traditional cask ales and London porters like Guiness and to pasteurized and filtered lagers, wines and spirits. There is also a lot less preservation by pickling or fermentation than previously. All of this means that there are generally low levels of zinc in people in Britain, lower than the reporter assumes.
I learned during the pandemic that the US also generally suffers similar low levels of zinc now. So using De Bono’s logic, could Marmite reduce people being “irritable and belligerent” and thereby lower deaths from gun violence in the US?
Now there would be problems. Marmite is after all marmite. I’ve addressed one possible drawback by picturing the low(er) salt version. Perhaps marketing the PB&M as the adult version of a PB&J ? Jars of peanut butter and Marmite mixed are sold in the UK, as are special Marmites made from Guiness yeast.
OK, Marmite would be a bit difficult but adding zinc supplements to common foods like flour to reduce violence may be worth a (lateral) thought.