'If someone in Australia says lick my toad, it's not a euphemism'

The application of one's tongue to an Australian amphibian is no laughing matter. Neither, for that matter, are conspiracy theories around the launch of the Raspberry Pi 2 or love/hate reactions to Phil Zimmerman. Yes, it's Comment of the Week time. Opening this week's snorkworthy commentary was Simple Si, who pitched up with …

[Denarius]

of course

lovers of lousy alliterative headlines are legion on ElReg

[Herby]

Marmite?

Please explain further. While I suspect it is something similar to Nutella, we here in the USA don't have much experience with it.

Me? I like peanut butter, Skippy chunk style if you ask.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Marmite?

"Please explain further. While I suspect it is something similar to Nutella,"

Marmite is nothing to do with either nuts or chocolate. It's the sludge left in the bottom of the vat after brewing beer. Someone had the bright idea of putting it in jars and selling it instead of washing it down the drain where it belongs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Marmite?

Marmite is nothing to do with either nuts or chocolate.

Someone always had to go and spoil it. There was I looking forward to seeing the reaction of our American cousins when sampling a nice big teaspoon of "chocolatey" Marmite, and somebody had to go and tip them off. Mind you, it resembles chocolate about as much as Hershey's does, so perhaps they'd have been happy with it.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Marmite?

Marmite was discovered after Justus von Liebig dropped a cheese sandwich in a beer vat he was cleaning, and luckily for generations of Brits decided 'that tastes quite nice'. If he'd binned the sandwich, the beer industry would have to dispose of the yeast sludge in an environmentally sound way. This would obviously increase the price of beer, and affect the brewing industry's sustainability and recycling targets.

Marmite is therefore a public good.

However, some disagree with the flavour, notably Vegemite fans and the Danish. Having experienced what the Danes can do to innocent herrings, I'm suprised they objected to recycled beer products. Marmite is still under attack by it's detractors though. The latest tactic by the 'Hate It' brigade is to try and 'ban this filth' via the EU Salt Reduction Framework. If you love it, protect your Marmite!

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Marmite?

"the EU Salt Reduction Framework"

I hoped you'd made this up. But no, there's no beating the EU at that game.

[Chris G]

Re: Marmite?

Actually Marmite can be prescribed medically for those in need of a salty boost to their diet.

As for not knowing what Marmite is almost made me down vote the poster regardless of the fact he is a johnny foreigner.

I would not contemplate cheese on toast without a layer of Marmitey goodness under the cheese.

It is also considered to be a superfood ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9504293/Marmite-the-latest-superfood.html )

[Solmyr ibn Wali Barad]

Re: Marmite?

"Having experienced what the Danes can do to innocent herrings, I'm suprised they objected to recycled beer products."

Danes are fond of pickled stuff, which isn't quite the same thing. Vinegar kills most of the fermenting processes. But Swedish surströmming fits the description nicely. Fermented herring from hell.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: surströmming

"But Swedish surströmming fits the description nicely. Fermented herring from hell."

I quite like that, and potential nosh challenge? Not sure if my idea of surströmming/tunnbröd wraps would sell well outside Sweden though. My Swedish colleagues defeated me with lutfisk. Cod soaked in drain cleaner is just wrong. For a fish supper from hell, could try this with hákarl as a third course? Best eaten outdoors, tables set downwind and large buckets available.

[Solmyr ibn Wali Barad]

Re: surströmming

Yep, it's quite plausible that some people will actually like surströmming and those other niceties. While my claim about the Danes preferring pickled fish was a generalization, thus nowhere near perfect, it's mostly true. Swedes are often bullying them (and anybody else) with surströmming.

Anyhow, let's agree that Marmite isn't the most controversial treat out there.

[Martin Budden]

Re: Marmite?

Vinegar kills most of the fermenting processes.

Vinegar is the end product of fermentation by Acetobacter ;-)

[Solmyr ibn Wali Barad]

Re: Marmite?

End product of fermentation, and end of fermentation. Well, mostly. Only a select few of the fermenting bacteria can live amidst acids.

[jake]

Re: Marmite?

"about as much as Hershey's does"

You DO know that Hershey is the happy owner of Cadbury, right? Not that I ever eat either, mind. I respect my taste buds.

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Re: Marmite?

"You DO know that Hershey is the happy owner of Cadbury, right?"

And they make Cadbury's chocolate that tastes nothing like the real Cadbury's chocolate. How they managed to take a bar that was parallel to, and practically touching, the ground and lower it considerably to create 'Hershey' I have no idea. Human ingenuity knows no bounds apparently.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Re: Marmite?

There was an article on the PM programme the other day about the burgeoning black market for "real" Cadbury chocolate from the UK or Ireland since Hershey have been granted an embargo on retailers selling the real thing.

I recently was offered some "cadbury" chocolate while in the US. I have eaten Hershey chocolate before and found it fairly unpleasant, but when you take a mouthful expecting the creamy smooth taste of a chunk of Cadbury's and instead get the sickly sweet taste and plasticky texture of Hershey it honestly tastes like you have popped a lump of solidified puke into your mouth.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: Marmite?

instead of washing it down the drain where it belongs

You can't do that with Marmite! Subjecting anyone working in the sewers to something so unimaginably gross is inhumane.

Probably better to burn it, or maybe throw big globs of it at politicians.

[jake]

@(John Brown (no body)) was: Re: Marmite?

"washing it down the drain where it belongs."

Uh ... no. The brewing by-products that we don't use as human food get fed to the hogs ... which in turn become human food. Circle of life & all that.

[jgarbo]

Re: Marmite?

Marmite for Brits, Vegemite for Ockeroons. They, too, demand their vat sludge.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Marmite?

Marmite is about as close to Nutella as 'Skippy chunk' peanut butter is to Kopi Luwak.

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Re: Marmite?

Forget the toad. Lick my Marmite!

That could be a ephemism. It just depends on your stance about being 20 something, gorgeous and with a penchant for filthy old men.

[jake]

@Herby (was: Marmite?)

Skippy? That's not peanut butter, it's a confection, infected with sugar.

Stop demonstrating that Yanks are clueless about food. You're letting down the side.

[Kanhef]

re Golden Dropping

Nice to see an eloquent counter to the "if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" argument. When it's been brought up, many people dismiss it out of hand, but few have been able to explain why it's a bad argument.

[poopypants]

Correction

That's not how you spell Vegemite!

[earl grey]

Marmite?

And here i thought it was marmots, flattened to use as road bed.