Aussies! I just had my first taste of Vegemite!

[BigPhi84]

Wow, so a little back story for you. Tonight was a crazy night. One of my fraternity brothers had his 21st birthday a couple days ago (legal drinking age in America), so we threw him a little house party tonight to celebrate his "coming of age." Plenty of drinking games were played and people quickly started dropping like flies. At the end of the night, only a few of us were awake and sober, including this one mate named Dave.

Dave is an Australian that has spent a large portion of the last two years traveling the globe. He found us from a website called CouchSurfing.com. He happened to be traveling up the Eastern Coastline of America and decided to stop in Savannah, Ga for a few days.

Dave is a keen guy. We spent the whole night talking about politics and cultures from all around the world. I was really curious to see his view about all facets of life and asked him random questions like, "What are drop bears, really?" and "What's the most ignorant thing you've heard an American say?".

Dave's a guitarist, so we talked awhile about Australian luthiers and I even brought up SS.org and told him that the Aussies were my favorite members of the board. I remarked about how us SS.orgers joke around that "Only Aussies can use the word, '....', in a friendly manner. He told me that "gash" is an offensive version of .... in Australia.

I discussed the cuisine of Australia and asked him about Vegemite and its supposed prevalence in the Australian diet. He asked me if I had ever tried it, and I answered, "No." He asked me if I wanted to try it, and I replied, "Wait, you actually have some with you?"

Apparently, Dave had gotten a care package from the home country this week, and in the cardboard box was a tube of Vegemite. He warned me that I would probably not like it, so he recommended that I try a small amount on toast, and that's what I did.

"Soy Sauce"... that was my first reaction. It tasted like soy sauce to me. Being an Asian American, soy sauce is a common ingredient in every day meals. I was surprised that I actually liked the stuff since I had heard so many stories of people retching just from smelling the dark brown goo/paste.

I don't know if there are any areas around the South Eastern United States that stock Vegemite, but I'd love to find some and figure out some recipes using the stuff. Do you Aussies have any special way of eating it?

[Daemoniac]

Vegemite is the devil's urine - it is Australia's troll-food

Seriously though, there aren't many recipes I'm aware of that use it (read: none), but I'm sure someone around the place would use it in something... maybe... if they like the taste of yeast-infected salt sauce...

[Stealth7]

And you lived to tell the tale!?

Vegemite on toast the morning after a big night on the piss = Best hangover cure EVER! I don't personally know of any recipes that would use it.. Maybe try google and see what you can find.

Also I've never known 'gash' to be classed as offensive.

[Fiction]

Gash is another word for vagina, but it is definitely not worse then ..... I mean .... is a derogatory term in itself, but its almost lost complete meaning over here. As for the vegemite, its delicious on a crumpet, with LOTS of butter.

A fair few people have vegemite with cheese on bread or crackers.. thats just ....ed up haha.

[Harry]

I've never heard anyone ever say 'gash' before and I live in the second most populated city in the country I actually thought that was more of a British thing to say (I see British people using it on forum boards, never any Aussies), weird.
Anyway, yeah, born here and lived here my entire life and I absolutely despise Vegemite to be honest

[Fiction]

Oh I've never heard it used here that much, but it has been tossed around a few times.

[Bloody_Inferno]

You need REAL Aussie cuisine:





Put that between 2 slices of bread >>>> Vegemite. Winning.

Originally Posted by Harry

I've never heard anyone ever say 'gash' before and I live in the second most populated city in the country I actually thought that was more of a British thing to say (I see British people using it on forum boards, never any Aussies), weird.
Anyway, yeah, born here and lived here my entire life and I absolutely despise Vegemite to be honest

We used to say it a fair bit circa 95-97. Man, that was ages ago.

[Prydogga]

Vegemite is only delicious in a 1:3/4 ratio with the butter it shares the toast with, IMO.

I've never heard the word 'gash' used by an Australian before, and generally the crowd that use '....' don't find any words offensive.

[Greatoliver]

I actually prefer Marmite, quite a bit. Bovril is way too strong, and not nice. Vegemite is nice, but does have the nice consistency of marmite, nor does it have as much richness, and tastes a bit watery in comparison.

It is great stuff tho.

[MFB]

Originally Posted by Bloody_Inferno

You need REAL Aussie cuisine:





Put that between 2 slices of bread >>>> Vegemite. Winning.

Do want.

[TheSixthWheel]

Some Americans I've spoken to have expected it to be a chocolate spread when they see the colour. Maybe it's partly because there's an abundance of chocolate based spreads in the US? Dave sounds like a champ, though I rarely hear the term "gash", it's all C-bombs in these parts. Vegemite is so rich in Vitamin B that, like already mentioned, it's a great hangover cure and all around badass breakfast in general. I go through a big jar of it once every few weeks, due to eating about 4-8 slices of vegemite toast for breakfast. Those people out there who are about to try Vegemite for the first time shouldn't try it by itself really. It's a vegetable based, yeast rich concentrated spread which is meant to be diluted by other foods or drinks. It even says "concentrated yeast extract" on the front label. People try it for the first time by itself, there's no wonder they don't react well a lot of the time.

I'd recommend buttering a slice of toast, then adding a thin layer of Vegemite if you're trying it for the first time. If that's not interesting enough, grab that same bit of toast and cover it with tasty or cheddar cheese. Slap it under the grill for a minute. Best breakfast ever.

More Vegemite recipes!
Lunch Recipes

[SchecterWhore]

Perhaps "Dave" is just a sneaky lazy con artist that masquerades as an Australian national and carries around a jar of "vegemite" (think back: was the label written in marker?) so that he seems interesting enough for people to trust him to crash in their pad, hence the consensus between Australians on this board that "gash" is about as relevant to modern speech as Esperanto.


(Retroactive spoiler alert: if you see "shocking ending" in a video's title and don't want the movie given away for you, then use some common sense.)

I've had marmite chips, and those are... tolerable. Vegemite just makes me think of Rocket Power.

[CD1221]

Vegemite is mana from heaven.





people use it in casseroles and the like in place of stock. so much salt. so much awesome.

[TheSilentWater]

Vegemite sandwiches for the win! I brought a big ol' tub of it back with me when I went to Oz. Can't decide if I prefer the British Marmite, though. They're similar but with slightly different textures and I think Marmite is a tad stronger, so you use less of it. As a vegetarian, it's a great source of vitamin B (among other things) for me!
Damn, I'm gonna have to go get some Marmite on toast now.
EDIT: Oh and I'm pretty sure my mum has a Marmite cookbook.

[C2Aye]

In Scotland, the word gash can be used instead of 'bad'. For example:

"That band was bad/awful/shit."

becomes

"That band was pure gash and that man."

The word '....' is acceptable for any just about any occasion.

My friend came back from a year abroad in Oz and told of the love of vegimite. He thought he could never have it again, until I told him that you can get it pretty easily in the UK. A girl I lived with loved her vegimite on toast.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Authentic aussie food is prison meals or toasted salamander.

[Fiction]

Go drink some maple syrup

[Stealthdjentstic]

Ill have you know I ride a polar bear to work!

[Fiction]

I'll have you know I sit at home receiving free government funding, a few more checks and I can finally afford myself a kangaroo

[hutchman]

My mate had a band called "Gash Rash".

[SamSam]

Is it any different to marmite we get in the uk? Sounds pretty much the same.

[BigPhi84]

Originally Posted by SamSam

Is it any different to marmite we get in the uk? Sounds pretty much the same.

I think marmite is stronger in flavor and a different texture.

[TheSilentWater]

Originally Posted by BigPhi84

I think marmite is stronger in flavor and a different texture.

Bingo!

[in-pursuit]

when making the journey between watering holes on a Friday night, young Australian females are often commanded to "flash their gash" by passing motorists (bogans in commodores). I don't get out much anymore, but you'd hear that sort of thing a fair bit around where I live. you'd be surprised how often it works haha!

[Fiction]

I'll try that next time haha;

The more common one around here is 'Tits out for the boys' its usually yelled out by a large amount of guys and chanted with lots of fist pumping!