ABOUT

I started Foodies simply to share my impressions of food that I encounterd in Japan and other countries.
I hope to inspire people to savour and enjoy the time they spend preparing and eating food. I also hope to reveal the rich diversity and importance of food within the cultures of different countries. I believe that understanding food and culinary culture of different countries is one of the easiest and fastest ways to know and understand the people. Food is one of the most essential things in the human life and the culinary culture of a country embodies the country’s own history, spirit and joy.
I hope you too can discover and enjoy the different tastes of food from other countries and gain an insight into the people and places it's from.

2010/05/05

VEGEMITE





Everyone who visits Australia has been faced with vegemite.

I first encountered vegemite in 1983, when I was an exchange student in Australia.

The jar was bright and cute with its yellow cap and red label. When I opened it, I saw a dark brown, almost black paste. "It looks like chocolate," I thought, "hmm...yum!" I immediately tried it.



I was so surprised to discover it wasnt sweet at all but salty with a very, very unusual taste.

In fact, it tasted awful! "How can people eat this?" I thought. And it seems Im not the only one who thinks this. Visitors from other countries have had the similar experience. When I was on the bus trip with exchange students from 20 different countries, not one person like it. Vegemite must be the most famous Australian food detested by foreigners.



I too, was once like those 'vegemite-detesting' foreigners. But, then one month into my stay in Australia, it happened - Vegemite turned into my favorite food. How did this happen?



It happened because I was homesick and vegemite became my Japanese comfort food.


One day I was having my breakfast at my host familys house and was feeling rather homesick but trying to hide it, when suddenly the smell of soy sauce wafted by. I turned in the direction of the smell only to discover my host brother eating a piece of toast with plenty of vegemite on it. Vegemite is more like soy sauce than chocolate? As soon as I realized the truth of this, it changed my experience. Vegemite became delicious!



I began to see further evidence of the connection between vegemite and soy sauce. When my host mother was making curry and fried rice, I found out she would put in a pinch of vegemite to bring out the good flavor, much the same way soy souse is used.


A few weeks after my epiphany, I learnt vegemite also includes the same ingredient as a Japanese popular medicine for the stomach called Ebiosu.



More than 25 years have past since I have eaten vegemite in Australia, yet I still love it. Now I buy vegemite at the supermarket here in Japan, and it's always on my breakfast table.


I recommend vegemite on toast with rich butter.