Nov 19th, 2023 Sunday Sunny
From our trip to Australia, we brought back a very unique souvenir – vegemite, a food associated with this Southern land.
Vegemite is a thick, dark paste made from yeast extract and mostly used as a spread on toast. Because of its strong flavor – supposedly a concentrated umami but some less sophisticated tasters would just say “super salty” – it has been deemed as a “weird” food that only certain people would accept, let alone love 😉
Despite, or because of, its reputation, I was extremely curious to give it a try. However, it is not nearly as ubiquitous as I imagined. Most breakfast restaurants did not have it on the menu. The few that did charge almost the same price for a piece of vegemite toast as well-made platter with berries, pancakes, sunny-side up or poached eggs, and nuts. I found it hard to justify ordering the toast that I can easily prepare at home at a fraction of the cost in a diner with much more interesting choices. As a result, the attempt to sample vegemite has been put off.
Until the second to last day of our vacation, when I realized that I had to go out of my way to seek vegemite, otherwise I would risk missing the chance of seeing it. I went to a large market, asked a store staff (after walking back and forth among all the aisles in vain), and purchased one bottle.
Knowing that this bottle would last FOREVER if I keep it to myself ? I brought it to a lunch meeting with all my students, as well as a toaster, a loaf of bread, and a stick of butter. It is said that the most typical way to savor vegemite is to spread A LITTLE BIT on a well-buttered toast. All my students followed the instructions and took a bite.
“Aww!” “Why on earth did someone invent this?!” “This is not the only thing we get for lunch, right?” and a sad frowning face were the responses. The few boys who liked to play cool claimed “this is actually tasty” but all said “no thank you, one is enough” upon being offered another slice ?
I hate wasting food. Now that I still have an almost full bottle of vegemite, I need to come up with more creative ways to use it up. So this year, for the same lunch meeting with my students, I decided to make a special dessert – vegemite brownies.
I was skeptical of the recipe, because it asked for a third cup of vegemite (most other vegemite recipes usually do not require more than a tablespoon)! Of course, if it actually works, these brownies would contribute significantly in finishing this bottle sitting in my pantry for a year.
Without telling my students anything, I shared the brownies with them, and watched closely as they ate.
“How do you like the brownies?” I asked.
“Great!” “Really good!” “I love the rich and dark flavor, and it’s definitely not from a box.” Not a single hint of suspicion.
I then let them guess what could be the secret ingredient I had in the brownie. Nobody was even close (avocado, banana, tofu?! And even dirt and “nothing” came up).
When I finally revealed it, the same students who had the vegemite experience one year ago were in disbelief. I wonder whether they would have appreciated the brownie as much had I been more frank about the baking process.
The vegemite was certainly detectable (considering the amount added), even though it was balanced with dark chocolate, brown sugar, and oil. The fact that my students had no repulsive reaction to the brownies highlighted how much of our dining experience may be shaped by preconceptions: we like foods that are generally viewed as likable, and shun away from foods that other people say are bizarre. For those who seem to think of the “weird food” as palatable, we label them as “weird people”.
Perhaps we would be enjoying a more colorful world of delicacies if we could be less judgmental and more open-minded.