Light On Dark Water

Marmite Sighting

Monday night my wife and I were watching one of the new Inspector Lewis mysteries (The Gift of Promise). There was a scene of a woman fixing breakfast, spreading something on a slice of toast. It was already past when I exclaimed "That's it!", hit rewind (or whatever it should be called now), and watched the scene several times.  Yes, there it was: a knife spreading a thin layer of brown stuff (I would have assumed something sweet, like apple butter) over butter on toast. And then, backing up a little further, I could see a little brown jar with a yellow top. 

Marmite

I found the web site of the shop here in town that specializes in English imports. They have a food page but I don't see Marmite listed there. (And when did scones get to be meat?!) That doesn't necessarily mean they don't have it, though. Maybe I'll stop in this weekend. I have become very curious about this stuff.

Maclin Horton

11 responses to “Marmite Sighting”

  1. ex pat

    There’s quite a few places on line which do English exports/imports. I became desperate for suet in the middle of term and foolishly bought some. The prices for the products are reasonable, but the postage is exorbitant. If you really want Marmite I will bring some back from England after christmas and post it to you for a couple of dollars.

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  2. Marianne

    The only product they stock that I’d wholeheartedly recommend is that Robertson’s Lemon Curd; it’s yummy. My son-in-law is mad for Branston Pickle (not Pickles) — he spreads it on cheese sandwiches. It’s a tasty blend of pickled vegetables; unfortunately, it’s brown, like the dreaded Marmite.

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  3. Mac

    So is apple butter, so that’s not a big impediment. I’ve had lemon curd (are there multiple brands?) and did indeed think it was yummy.
    Thanks, ex pat. I might take you up on that. I’ll check around town first–in addition to the store I linked to, there are others that specialize in imported foods.

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  4. ex pat

    The offer is open. I will be checking online less after I get back to GB (leaving 18th, arriving 19th), because I won’t have access, esp after I go to my mothers on roughly the 22nd.

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  5. Mac

    Thanks much. I hope I won’t need to take you up on it. I just remembered the existence of a chain called World Market, which has a location here. I googled “world market marmite”. I was gratified to find that Google auto-completed the phrase after ‘marm’. So they do carry it at least sometimes.

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  6. godescalc

    Proper pickle is awesome, goes well with harder cheeses. Easier to get the hang of than marmite, which is very much an acquired taste.
    Other things hard to get outside of the UK are malt vinegar and decent marmalade. Mercifully there’s a Marks and Spencers out here which supplies such things.

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  7. Mac

    That sounds promising (the pickle thing). I tend to like strong flavors. Last night, my wife being out, I had cheese (cheddar) toast topped with anchovies for supper. My wife can hardly bear the sight or smell of anchovies but I love them on pizza, so this was sort of a very crude approximation.
    There are restaurants here which serve purportedly authentic fish and chips and supply malt vinegar with it (them?).

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  8. Mac

    Well, here’s a surprise: I just emailed that little shop, The Church Mouse, asking if they have Marmite. They said they happen to be out of it at the moment but that some local grocery stores like Publix carry it! So, ex pat, thanks, but I guess I don’t need to special order from England.

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  9. godescalc

    Proper fish and chips are hard to get outside the UK, so if that’s true, you’re in luck. Fish and chips can sometimes be found on the continent, but it’s not the same and the fish usually comes in stingy proportions (and there’s seldom any kind of vinegar available.)

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  10. Mac

    I don’t know how proper they are. There is or was a chain–H. Salt–that opened in the late ’60s or early ’70s and had fish and chips as its basic menu item. I liked them but have no idea how they compared to the original. They provided the allegedly correct vinegar. I haven’t seen an H. Salt for decades so if it still exists there’s not one around here.
    As it happens I recently had some at a restaurant which claimed that fish and chips was their signature item. I didn’t think they were especially good: the batter was really thick and rather soggy. Of course here on the Gulf coast you can get the basic concept of fried fish and fried potatoes at any seafood restaurant, and in general I love it, but again I don’t know how like the English they are.

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  11. Janet

    A couple of days ago, Becca and I were shopping in a Kroger in an upscale part of town. She had gone off to get something, while I was standing at the end of an aisle waiting for her. I happened to glance up and saw digestive biscuits on the shelf in front of me. From this I deduced that I was in a section that had imports from England, and that they might also have Marmite. Well, they did. So, now I have a jar sitting on my kitchen table, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to open it yet. I’m still trying to screw up my courage.
    AMDG

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