the view from the balcony at Spicers on Balfour - a great breakfast venue
My favourite Australian breakfast is vegemite on toast and a cup of tea. It is the first thing I want when I return to Brisbane.
I think you have to be brought up on vegemite from birth to appreciate it. I don’t know very many people from the rest of the world who like it. They don’t know what they are missing. It is a salty yeast extract spread, the Australian equivalent of Marmite.
vegemite on toast
In Australia we have also adopted an English breakfast of bacon and eggs as our own. A very good example of this is on offer at Buzz, an excellent cafe at Emporium in Anne St, Fortitude Valley.
poached eggs, bacon and tomatoes at Buzz
In fact, just about anything goes for breakfast in Australia, baked beans on toast, porridge, cereal, boiled egg with toast soldiers – the list goes on. It is now a very popular thing to do to eat breakfast at a cafe or restaurant, something unheard of when I was growing up. In the next post will be a couple more breakfast suggestions at a popular new spot.
I love them both but the eggs on Turkish toast !
By: Russell on August 31, 2011
at 4:33 am
Toasted Turkish bread is good. I will have my vegemite on any toast.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 4:38 am
Toasties look great – lashings of real butter I hope. I actually prefer the Promite – yummmmmmm. The tea in your beautifull cup looks just the right colour too.
By: helen on August 31, 2011
at 4:42 am
I’m a vegemite girl. I wouldn’t use anything but real butter.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 5:19 am
Whilst we were in Sicily, one of the people I met had spent a year in Australia and though he wanted to return, all he could talk about was how fabulous Vegemite was. One convert!!
By: Jenny Freedman on August 31, 2011
at 6:18 am
That’s good to hear.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 7:44 am
I love Vegemite and I was not a Vegemite kid. I arrived in Australia already married and with two young daughters. I remember looking at the composition on the label and saying to myself: “It contains yeast, it must be a good spread for children”. Then, I got used to it myself and I miss it as it is very difficult to find in Europe unless you go to London.
In the Basque Country, the typical breakfast is white coffee and a croissant. In the South of Spain they favour toast with a little bit of olive oil and in Catalonia, toast, olive oil and pureed tomatoes.
But I am always looking forward to having “brunch” whenever I go to San Francisco or the USA. Eggs Benedict, Florentine eggs with spinach or Norwegian eggs, with salmon are my favourite.
Still, I miss Vegemite….
By: Mulino Dominillo on August 31, 2011
at 6:22 am
Vegemite is great. I have eaten it all my life and I miss it sometimes when I am in Italy. I am going to do posts on French and Spanish and Finnish breakfasts in the next few days.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 7:44 am
Vegemite tastes like a melted black bin bag….now Marmite…yum
By: Paul Gerrard (@2headsmarketing) on August 31, 2011
at 8:23 am
I don’t agree. I think Marmite tastes horrible, I would go hungry if that was all that was available.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 8:36 am
Oh , wow! Breakfast I can totally dig in. I just had oatmeal and in my mind, the one at the picture is what I really want to eat. Great post.
By: the island traveler on August 31, 2011
at 9:09 am
Thank you. When I try to go into your site my computer becomes unresponsive. I wonder why.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 11:34 am
I wish I liked Vegemite. I feel so unAustralian 😛
By: Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella on August 31, 2011
at 9:24 am
It is not for everyone.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 11:35 am
Looks good, but lots of calories I guess?!
By: Anonymous on August 31, 2011
at 11:00 am
The butter doesn’t help with the calories.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 11:35 am
Actually, Vegemite is a free food with both Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. I don’t like butter anyway; so I enjoy a lo-cal breakfast with dry toast and yummy Vegemite.
By: cherylofcembroni on August 19, 2012
at 7:16 am
How fun to wake up in the morning to a post about breakfast. Now I’m hungry. You make it all sound so good—————–
Kathy
By: Kathryn McCullough on August 31, 2011
at 11:04 am
I love vegemite – I love breakfast.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 11:35 am
I wasn’t going to stock Vegemite at Australiss in Germany but the locals insisted I get it and I sell it all the time. We even post it all over Germany!
Love breakfast.
By: Moira Drexler on August 31, 2011
at 6:18 pm
How good of you to spread the cheer.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 9:16 pm
We had a German exchange student years ago, who tried Vegemite and told us about a German product called Vitam E (or something similar); it was like a mixture of Vegemite and honey; I’ve since tried it – not bad.
By: cherylofcembroni on August 19, 2012
at 7:21 am
I’m a vegemite kid, and absolutely love it…whenever friends are visiting me, or the family packs a gift for me, the first product in the box is vegemite.
Put’s a rose in every cheek! x
By: Yvette on August 31, 2011
at 8:44 pm
I love a rosy cheek.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 9:15 pm
I’ve never had Vegimite but Marmite – mmmmmm. The one thing I miss when we’re over in Italy is a good piece of toast. I have yet to get used to Italian bread. I like it but it doesn’t make good toast and before you’ve got it home it’s gone hard! Although I love Marmite, peanut butter comes a close second. Then of course there’s good old marmalade, jam or maybe even lemon curd. If I was stranded on a desert island and had to choose one food to live on for the rest of my life, I think it would be toast!
By: Jan on August 31, 2011
at 9:28 pm
I know what you mean about toast in Italy. It just isn’t right. There are many compensations of course, but this is why toast with vegemite is always my first meal in Australia when I get home.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 10:16 pm
I’m a happy little Vegemite, I’m as happy as happy as can be!
I’ll have my Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea!
What a joy to see an Australian icon on your blog, Debra! I remember our Australian friend bringing over two big jars of Vegemite for us when we lived in USA, because we were missing it so much. I was so happy that I offered crackers with butter and Vegemite to our American friends. They remarked politely that it was “interesting” and didn’t ask for a second bite. Yes, it’s an acquired taste, like the lardo spread thinly on toast that I tried in Bagni di Lucca.
By: Sandra H on August 31, 2011
at 9:28 pm
Perhaps we could combine vegemite and lardo on a sandwich. That would be interesting.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 10:14 pm
I adore Vegemite. My husband who didn’t grow up with it, refuses to even use the same ‘tainted’ knife. I’m fussy about how the vegemite is put on, the toast needs to be a fraction cold, so the butter doesn’t instantly dissolve and then the vegemite needs to be slapped on. (I’m quite anal retentive about it 🙂 The way you have done it looks perfect though.
By: cityhippyfarmgirl on August 31, 2011
at 9:59 pm
I am exactly the same as you with the toast. It must have cooled off a bit so the butter doesn’t melt and the vegemite must be thick on top of the butter. I am also very particular. I would never let anybody else prepare my toast and vegemite, it just wouldn’t be right.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 10:13 pm
Hell no. No one can ever prepare my toast and vegemite either…except for perhaps you, as you’ve done it the ‘right’ way.
By: cityhippyfarmgirl on September 1, 2011
at 3:12 am
Hi Debra,
I also love vegemite on toast for brekkie (but without any butter).
Also, I can highly recommend vegemite on toast with sliced cheddar cheese. Yumo !
Bob
By: Bob fromclayfield on August 31, 2011
at 11:21 pm
I couldn’t do it without butter, but the cheese suggestion sounds good. Nice to hear from you.
By: bagnidilucca on August 31, 2011
at 11:48 pm
I feel sorry for the kids these days that are getting the ‘watered down’ cheesymite spread instead of vegemite. I grew up with vegemite and it’s definitely an ‘Aussie comfort’. I’d take it on any kind of bread with some fruit juice or (naughty) chocolate milk.
By: Keely aka The Richest Girl in Bondi on September 1, 2011
at 12:24 am
Cheesymite just doesn’t seem right.
By: bagnidilucca on September 1, 2011
at 5:56 am
I do so love a luxurious, unhurried breakfast. The morning after your sfoglia post, which was an off to the salt mine morning for me, I was out of my usual hand-made-by-moi-muesli and so had a bowl of bran flakes, brown, with defrosted blueberries, which turned the milk purple. I gazed dissatisfied into the bowl and a vision of the sensuous, voluptuous pillow of sfoglia floated up at me — a bowl of farty-fibre flakes just didn’t compare.
By: Jan on September 1, 2011
at 12:31 am
But Jan, I’m sure it was good for you!
By: bagnidilucca on September 1, 2011
at 5:55 am
I’m more of an Australian breakfast type. Sometimes breakfast is my main meal of the day – eaten at any time of day!
By: lisa@notesfromafrica on September 1, 2011
at 2:37 pm
What does vegemite taste like? I there any comparisson? Do Aussies eat Peanut Butter? That is something I adore and when traveling to other countries, I miss it so bad! I love it melting down an english muffin or a bagel. Loads of fat yet I usually have it before a run! Ha ha….
By: thirdeyemom on September 2, 2011
at 9:29 pm
The nearest vegemite equivalent is marmite. I’m not sure if you can get that in America, there is also promite. Nod and Smile commented that it tastes a bit like solid soy sauce which is pretty close. We do eat peanut butter here. It is sometimes called peanut paste. It is delicious, but needs to be eaten sparingly, which can be difficult.
By: bagnidilucca on September 2, 2011
at 10:39 pm
I’m American, but I love vegemite! It just tastes kind of like solid soy sauce to me, so I’m not sure why people find it so offensive. When I visited Australia five years ago, I tried to bring back 5 jars in my carry-on luggage. It didn’t occur to me that vegemite was considered a “liquid or gel” and my larger jars were confiscated for violating the restrictions. But I still managed to get a small jar and tube back home! 🙂
By: nod 'n' smile on September 2, 2011
at 10:18 pm
Mmmmmmmmmm…. I love Vegemite on toast, with melted cheese, preferably a strong cheese and poached eggs on toast. Always with a sweet cuppa tea. The best breakfast in the world. Always surprises me that other countries don’t go nuts for it. 🙂
By: Anna Johnston on September 4, 2011
at 9:34 am
I love my vegemite on toast, but Annalisa’s sfoglia and cappuccino senza schiuma is mighty fine.
By: bagnidilucca on September 5, 2011
at 2:01 am
I think you need to be a Vegemite Baby, like all Aussie babies; it’s a acquired taste.
By: cherylofcembroni on August 19, 2012
at 7:26 am
It is an acquired taste….and I acquired it.
By: Debra Kolkka on August 19, 2012
at 8:32 am