Vegemite is a thick, dark-brown, very salty paste that you spread thinly on buttered bread or toast. It is made from leftover yeast from beer brewing, and it tastes strongly savoury — salty and a bit bitter, not sweet at all. It is Australian, and it is close to a national symbol there: Australian children grow up on it, and Australians living abroad carry jars of it with them. Britain has almost the same thing under the name Marmite, and New Zealand has its own Marmite too. Strictly it is a brand name, so it takes a capital V, though people write it small as well. It is famous as a food that foreigners dislike on the first try — and the usual reason is that they spread it thickly like jam or peanut butter. Australians spread it very thin.