A Marmite Valentine

Back in January, I received an email from someone called Chris, who worked for the PR company for Marmite. He'd enjoyed my post about Paddington Bear becoming a spokesperson (spokesbear?) for Marmite. I pointed him to the other Marmite-love articles I'd written: the Guinness Marmite tasting and this somewhat obsessive taste comparison of Marmite, Vegemite and Cenovis. (Marmite won over Cenovis by a narrow margin, and over Vegemite by a mile. Sorry to all my Aussie readers! It's a matter of personal taste and having spent some of my formative years eating thin Marmite-and-butter-sandwiches for tea.)

Chris and I exchanged a couple of nice emails, and he left the enigmatic words "Watch this space!" I had forgotten about it totally, until a small yet hefty package arrived in the mail a couple of hours ago, containing this:

Yes, this is a special limited edition of Marmite, made with champagne! I have to admit that I was contemplating trying to procure one when I'd first heard of it, but hesitated because I still have about two and a half jars of last year's special edition Guinness Marmite. But then again, can a dedicated Marmite lover have too much Marmite? I don't think so.

Then I realized that Rax from the Marmite PR people even sent this wonderful poem by email:

Hi Maki, I hope you're well
We've written a poem for you
Because it's St Valentine's Day
And we love the blog that you do

JustHungry sums up the expatriate view
That missing home-food can seem like a curse
So we want to offer you comfort
In the form of this little verse

Whilst Marmite isn't Japanese
Nor is it American or Swiss
It is a nomadic food available for all
That fills its fans with bliss

There are those that hate it who claim
That it's never really been in culinary fashion
But Marmite Lovers from around the globe
Testify their LOVE for it with real passion

And it is YOUR passion that we truly admire
(We loved reading your Paddington Bear monologue
But it is your February article on Marmite
Which makes JustHungry.com our favourite blog!

So expect some Lovers Marmite
To be delivered to you in the post
Please think of us and our love for you
When spreading it on your toast!

So, how does the Champagne Marmite taste? (Naturally, I tried it on a piece of toast with butter.) It is a bit runnier than the Guiness Marmite, and does have a distinctive taste of champagne. It's not bubbly of course, but that's a minor drawback. But most of all, the label is just so right.

You can read more about the Champagne Marmite on the Lovers' Marmite blog. Viva Marmite!

Hmm, I wonder if I can somehow make Marmite fit with rice...

(As an aside, when you've been running a food blog for more than 4 years, you get contacted by all kinds of PR folks, and this is the one of the nicest experience I've ever had in that area. I feel even more warm and fuzzies towards Marmite now, if that's possible. ;))