
Unquestionably, the greatest book ever written is The Marmite Cookbook by Paul Hartley. Launched in October 2003, it is to Marmite what Jack Monroe’s Tin Can Cook is to baked beans.
Featuring dozens of Marmite-based recipes, Hartley’s work is a celebration of yeast extract savoury food spread. Ready to take this emotional journey!? Of course you are!
Explore the World of Yeast Extract in The Marmite Cookbook
What we look about this cookbook is how there’s no introduction or anything.
Hartley doesn’t explain the world of Marmite, or why you’d want to add it to your meals, it just starts and the recipes come thick and fast.
We presume Hartley knew he didn’t have to explain why. Anyone buying the book already knows about the legend that is Marmite.
The inventiveness on display here is pretty impressive. Here are some of the recipes:
- Roasted onions with Marmite sausages
- Banana and bacon French toast
- Tuna and sweetcorn pancakes
- Marmite garlic bread
- Haddock and artichoke chowder with parsnip crisps
- Spinach, Marmite, an mozzarella muffins
- Panini with Marmite tapenade, taleggio, and sweet peppers
- Marmite corn fritters
A reminder, of course, of the Marmite ale beverage we consumed with much relish recently. That was an interesting experience.
There was also a Marmite Easter egg a few years back.
So, yes, despite its reputation the stuff has a pungent enough quality to add serious versatility to proceedings.
Sprinkled throughout the cookbook are snippet features about Marmite’s illustrious history. That includes fun advertisements from days of yore.




Those early advertising efforts focussed on the health benefits of Marmite. The stuff is good for you and vitamin rich, especially with b vitamins.
However, it’s also very bloody high in salt. This means you should limit your daily dosage!
Alongside this sort of stuff, there are loving nods to the the foodstuff’s divisive nature.
In the UK, for many years Marmite’s marketing plays on the “love it, hate it” responses a lot of people have.
As big fans of the stuff, all that’s become part of the iconic nature of the stuff now.
And thanks to this cookbook, we can say we’ll be eating nothing but Marmite for many, many, many months to come.
Jamie Oliver’s Marmite Recommendation
Naturally, we couldn’t get through a food post without discussing the hottest man on Earth—Jamie Oliver.
He’s gone up a few notches in our estimation due to the combination of popcorn… and Marmite! Superb stuff, man!
In the UK, we have these things called Twiglets that are a bit like this.
But the very audacious nerve to combine popcorn with Marmite is sheer genius. So, one for you all to cook up this weekend then, you blaggards.
If it’s got a recipe for marmite and alba white truffle souffle, I’m in. (I just checked and there’s a copy of ‘The Marmite World Cookbook’ in a bookshop in central Wellington. I even know the people who run the shop. That said, central Wellington was filled with rioters last week and Covid this week, so it’ll be a while before I can get there to buy it.)
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Yeah, we had some anti-vax rioters here recently. Small world!! The same goes for that Marmite cookbook. I think you should either:
a) Purchase it
b) Steal it
c) Riot about it
d) Do nothing
I recommend b. For Bovril.
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God I love Marmite. I have no idea how I stumbled into it, I think I was trying to make seitan. Now I put it on absolutely everything, including on top of other servings of Marmite. Put some on my lentils and quinoa I had for lunch and my mouth tasted delicious. Once you’ve experienced it, other flavors seem like a waste of time.
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Yes! Marmite is the best thing since time began. Better even than the dinosaurs.
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This is of course doubly true, ever since the great discovery of 2006 where we learned the dinosaurs were unapologetically racist.
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Yes, it’s a real shame. I remember watching Jurassic Park in 1993 and thinking, “I used to worship dinosaurs. Now I realise they’re all unhinged, psychotic murderers.” For shame!
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I am speechless. Still, Jamie is cute.
I like popcorn with yeast flakes. It’s on the way, but is not Marmite.
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Popcorn in general is the best. A moderately healthy snack! It’s been my saviour.
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