The part of the beer that you didn't drink

One test of your "English-ness" is how you feel about Marmite, a yeast-extract spread similar to the Australians' Vegemite. Those of you familiar with mid-1980s popular music will remember the song by the Australian popsters Men At Work called Land Down Under, which had a verse:

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich

I've sampled Vegemite, which is possibly the foulest foodstuff that has ever touched my tastebuds. But I'm here to embrace a culture, so I picked up a jar of Marmite.

Wikipedia's entry on Marmite calls it a "sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful taste." Another site, which compares Marmite and Vegemite, notes:

The stuff which leaves the brewery is the scrapings from the bottom of the fermenting tank. Like solidified froth it goes off in open topped barrels to the Marmite factory. Each barrel is filled no more than 1/3 full because if the stuff gets damp it starts frothing like mad as the yeast is reactivated. The horses in the brewery love it and some of the old draymen liked a taste too.

The serving suggestion is to spread toasted bread with butter first, then Marmite thinly on the bread.

It's not bad. It's kind of like a salty, slightly bitter peanut butter. I remember Vegemite as being extremely bitter by comparison.

Perhaps Aussie Sarah and I can do a Marmite-Vegemite exchange and compare the qualities of our adoptive lands' favorite condiments.