I was shopping this evening for my insolent minion (“the Boy”) who has requested a German chocolate cake with almonds instead of pecans for his 15th birthday. While searching in vain for Dutch-processed cocoa[1], I was stunned to find jars of Marmite in the baking aisle.
(You don’t bake with Marmite, except as a flavoring. It is not live yeast. It won’t make bread rise. It doesn’t belong anywhere near baking yeast. Urgh.)
But I bought some anyway, and then got to thinking about what the Marmite-eating public does with Marmite (other than eating it straight from the jar, which is my usual Marmite-eating mode). I’ve been giggling/gagging over this dubious collection of Marmite recipes for a good 20 minutes. What’s great about it (to me) is how none of these recipes even pretend to be “How to introduce people to Marmite without scarring them for life” or “How to get your children to eat Marmite because it’s so good for them even though it tastes like toxic saline axle grease“.
These people love it, and they aren’t afraid to try new things, and even recommend those things to strangers. It’s the antithesis of the monoculture mentality, and that’s a joy.
[1] There was no Dutch processed cocoa at the Arlington Road Giant, so I’ll be making an extra trip to Whole Foods tomorrow. This may seem like a lot of work, but not everyone gets a minion and he’s a good ‘un, so I’m happy to oblige. His birthday cake last year took two grocery store trips as well.