Marmite, my mate?

M

I started a rather undersubscribed group on Facebook to take the discussion about the dreadful travesty that is the changed Marmite recipe out of the kitchen at work and into the wider world.

This is very obviously a personal rant.

If you are not a Marmite lover then please support my right to Marmite the way I know and love it and not this immitation stuff they made for the squeezy (pah! squeezy, what a nonsense!) jars.

If you are a Marmite lover and have had the disappointment of the new weaker, saltier, less tasty, Marmite then join me.

If you are Marmite. Shame on you.

I have been loving Marmite for a very long time. Memories. Comfort. Why on earth would anyone want to mess with that? Is it worth it, this new coke?

About the author

Ivanka

Ivanka Majic works in technology. She was Head of Design for Ubuntu, service managed Digital Marketplace through to beta, was acting director of digital for the Labour Party. She lives and works in Brighton where she works with the council’s digital first team, does a bit of teaching at Sussex University, and works with her husband on projects like restaurantsbrighton.co.uk and the BRAVOs. She has also started a podcast with her friend Michael which you can listen to at grandpodcast.com.

12 comments

  • I thought I was the only one. I’ve been eating Marmite for 60 odd years and know they have changed it. It is gradually metamorphosing into Bovril, it has reached the honey texture stage. Why are there not more complaints?

  • I have no idea why there are not more complaints. I have a jar of old and a jar of new and there is a distinct difference in taste, colour, texture; one needs more of the new stuff on a slice of toast and it just isn’t right. I am not impressed.

    Maybe Marmite are getting away with it because those of us who love it really do love it so we take that ‘indulgent parent’ view of their bad behaviour?

    I think it is time to send them to their room to think about what they have done!

    Perhaps as the new recipe takes over more people will notice and complain?

  • The year it changed was 2006, according to my collection of marmite bottles. This was around the time of the introduction of the squeezy marmite. I assume this new brown caramel coloured runny stuff for the squeezable marmite replaced the lovely thick black stuff we all loved and remember. It is so weak now I can spread it like jam, and eat it without any difficulty and it is so runny it forms strands as you spread it on your bread/cracker. I rang them when I bought the first ‘defective’ bottle and they flatly denied having altered it. They gace me some rubbish about yest being a natural product and varying. I told them I have be buying and eating it for 35 plus years yet only noticed such variation in 2006 at the time of the squeezy marmite campaign. Well, I still eat it but now I do not love it, I like it, so I supposr that was the purpose of making it weaker, now we can all manage to eat it as it is inoffensive and neutral and must use more of it at a time if we actually like the strong taste of marmite in order to approximate the taste we remember. WELL DONE UNILEVER another British product ruined.

  • I have been eating Marmite ever since I can remember and that’s about 67 years of memory. I, too, was shocked by the squeeze bottle I came across on a recent visit to England. I bought my usual supply of Marmite to take home and it is indeed RUNNY. It was NEVER RUNNY. When I questioned friends and family, I met with the same lethargic “ooh, I don’t know what you mean” response – similar to the one I received, by the way, back in 1972 when I asked them why they had sold England out by voting to join the Common Market. I despair of my fellow countrymen – bad enough we are nobodies in Europe but worse that Marmite has been tampered with.

  • @Janie Good for you! For you, Unilever can make a nice spread called ‘Runny Marmite’.

    I really like the old one and my last jar is about to run out…

  • Hurrah for Marmite!! Marmite XO is the old recipe we all know and love. I bought and had some this evening and it was as delicious and strong and flavoursome as I remember, THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU MARMITE (Unilever)
    It is a limited edition I expect, so buy it while you can! (If you are reading this, Unilever, please don’t limit it, keep selling XO Marmite, it is absoutely gorgeous. Carry on selling that weak and bland squeezy rubbish you have the cheek to call Marmite too if you must, but I will never buy it as I have tasted this XO and I have bought loads for safekeeping too in case you wont sell it again 😛

  • Victoria

    Like you I was overjoyed to discover Marmite XO BUT – our latest pot of XO is full of the ‘runny stuff’! So not only are they (the manufacturers) in denial but they’re actually fraudulent now. No doubt they will deny my allegation but can anyone else confirm our finding?

  • PreshawPete

    This is awful news. I cannot confirm your finding nor can I dispute it: I was s terrified they would stop selling XO I and bought every jar I could lay my hands on from shops within a 20 mile radius and have about three years supply. I do not have the need to buy any further till at least a year or two.

    It would be great if someone reading this could post whether they have tried the XO found it to be good and now note it is changed for the worse.

    Keep up the good work all of you marmiters!!

By Ivanka

About Author

Ivanka

Ivanka Majic works in technology. She was Head of Design for Ubuntu, service managed Digital Marketplace through to beta, was acting director of digital for the Labour Party. She lives and works in Brighton where she works with the council’s digital first team, does a bit of teaching at Sussex University, and works with her husband on projects like restaurantsbrighton.co.uk and the BRAVOs. She has also started a podcast with her friend Michael which you can listen to at grandpodcast.com.

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