News Flash: Marmite is 100 years old. If you haven't been exposed to British people, you haven't been exposed to marmite, and trust me, you're a happier person for it. Marmite is this fou black yeast spread that Brits put on toast. It tastes like salt and a pot of glue that something nasty died and rotted in for several years. If you grew up with it, you love it -- among the many Marmite proselytizers I have encountered are otherwise sane people such as David and Larissa, my flatmates from Hong Kong, and Paula and James, she a Brit I met in HK and he a South African I met when I went to Australia to visit Paula.
As a side note, my sister Laura asked me to get her some Vegimite, the Australian version of Marmite (which my Brit-leaning friends say is vastly inferior) when I went there in November. I refused to spend any money supporting such a horrible enterprise, but I did get some free Vegimite packets from a B&B I stayed in there. I gave them to her from Christmas. I have no idea if she's tried them. Laura, any reviews?
The only other "What the hell are they thinking?" love it or hate it food I've ever actually tried is the durian, a spikey green fruit from Southeast Asia. I tried one when I was in Malaysia with my sister Amy. I'd try to come up with my own description, but Tim Cahill give pretty much the definitive picture of it when he says it tastes like "an onion-fed mouse crawled inside a mango and died." Bleh. Bleh. Bleh. Those who like it, by the way, call the durian "The King of Fruit."
The only other dish I've heard of that offers a similar love-it-or-hate-it reaction is lutfisk. I've never tried it. I'm fine with that. And I'm not sure it's in the same league as Marmite and durian, as apparently you only eat it once a year.
I'm trying to think of what the equivilent of marminte/Vegimite or Durian or Lutfisk would be here. The closest I can come up with is this: I was in Hong Kong when Ben and Jerry's came out with "Chubby Hubby" ice cream, which is Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels in Vanilla Malt Ice Cream Rippled with Fudge & Peanut Butter. Jane's flatmate was managing a B&J franchise, and Jane sent me the Chubby Hubby t-shirt ("Body by Ben & Jerry's" -- a particular favorite during the AIDS Ride), which described the flavor. People either looked at the description and felt ill, or thought it would be cool. No middle ground. But even that doesn't give you the same feeling -- I mean, you might think an ice-cream flavor sounds gross, but do you have a physical revulsion to it?
So what is the American equivilent of Marmite or Durian? I don't mean just a dish where: If you think about it -- ew. If you just eat it -- yummy -- I mean, I do like scrapple, and that basically the bits of pig that are left over after you make the hot dogs. I mean something that a substanital portion of the population passionatley loves, and everyone else thinks is foul. What would that be here?
As a side note, my sister Laura asked me to get her some Vegimite, the Australian version of Marmite (which my Brit-leaning friends say is vastly inferior) when I went there in November. I refused to spend any money supporting such a horrible enterprise, but I did get some free Vegimite packets from a B&B I stayed in there. I gave them to her from Christmas. I have no idea if she's tried them. Laura, any reviews?
The only other "What the hell are they thinking?" love it or hate it food I've ever actually tried is the durian, a spikey green fruit from Southeast Asia. I tried one when I was in Malaysia with my sister Amy. I'd try to come up with my own description, but Tim Cahill give pretty much the definitive picture of it when he says it tastes like "an onion-fed mouse crawled inside a mango and died." Bleh. Bleh. Bleh. Those who like it, by the way, call the durian "The King of Fruit."
The only other dish I've heard of that offers a similar love-it-or-hate-it reaction is lutfisk. I've never tried it. I'm fine with that. And I'm not sure it's in the same league as Marmite and durian, as apparently you only eat it once a year.
I'm trying to think of what the equivilent of marminte/Vegimite or Durian or Lutfisk would be here. The closest I can come up with is this: I was in Hong Kong when Ben and Jerry's came out with "Chubby Hubby" ice cream, which is Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels in Vanilla Malt Ice Cream Rippled with Fudge & Peanut Butter. Jane's flatmate was managing a B&J franchise, and Jane sent me the Chubby Hubby t-shirt ("Body by Ben & Jerry's" -- a particular favorite during the AIDS Ride), which described the flavor. People either looked at the description and felt ill, or thought it would be cool. No middle ground. But even that doesn't give you the same feeling -- I mean, you might think an ice-cream flavor sounds gross, but do you have a physical revulsion to it?
So what is the American equivilent of Marmite or Durian? I don't mean just a dish where: If you think about it -- ew. If you just eat it -- yummy -- I mean, I do like scrapple, and that basically the bits of pig that are left over after you make the hot dogs. I mean something that a substanital portion of the population passionatley loves, and everyone else thinks is foul. What would that be here?
posted by SAJ at
3:49 PM
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