Marmite advert from the early 80’s.

Marmite is the name given to two similar food spreads: the original British version, first produced in the United Kingdom and later South Africa, and a version produced in New Zealand. Marmite is made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing.

The British version of the product is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury with umami qualities, somewhat comparable to soy sauce. This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company’s marketing slogan: “Love it or hate it.” It is similar to the Australian Vegemite and Swiss Cenovis.

The distinctive product was originally British (1902), but a version with a different flavour has been manufactured in New Zealand since 1919, and this is the dominant version in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

The image on the front of the British jar shows a “marmite” (French: [maʁmit]), a French term for a large, covered earthenware or metal cooking pot. The British Marmite was originally supplied in earthenware pots, but since the 1920s has been sold in glass jars that approximate the shape of such pots. A thinner version in squeezable plastic jars was introduced in March 2006.

Info gleaned from Wikipedia