The Marmities

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Stockholm for work. Well, technically it's work. In reality it's an excuse for my achoholic boss (who hopefully doesn't read blogs) to stagger around the various whisky bars in the area. With the rest of the team in tow. I'm really looking forward to a repeat of that experience. What we are supposed to be attending is a large trade fair in the city. It happens every 2 years, and they get around 60,000 people attending over the 3 day duration. So it can be a bit of a crowded affair. Having been once before, I've got myself a bit of a battle plan as there were quite a few displays I didn't get to see which I really wanted to. I've decided just to be tough and wander off on my own if I need to. I've stored the cellphones numbers for my work mates, should we get separated. And I've mapped out the suppliers who I remember had the best food. I figure that should pretty well cover everything. I'm still learning a lot about Swedish systems and techniques, so it's great to be able to actually see and touch stuff as well as getting some answers to my questions. Hopefully my language skills have progressed a little from my first visit there 2 years earlier, although I did get asked what part of the USA I came from on the bus this morning.

Speaking of buses, we were on the morning commute bus yesterday, listening to the radio being piped through the bus. At one point they started talking about New Zealand, which naturally made me sit up and listen. Their story was about the earthquakes that happened there just over a year ago. One of the results was the closure of a factory which produces an iconic breakfast spread, called Marmite. Marmite originated in England. At least, that's what the English claim. It's a smooth black, slightly salty, spread, which I suspect is an acquired taste. I was raised on the stuff. In the early 1900s, NZ was granted permission from the UK manufacturers to brew the product in NZ. When war came along, England was no longer able to supply the ingredients. Not to be out-done, the NZ manufacturers did a bit of lateral thinking and came up with their own version, using local products. And so New Zealand Marmite was born. Having tasted the 2 versions, there's a significant difference between them. I guess I'm living proof that we like what we grew up with, as the UK produced Marmite does nothing for me. In recent years there has been a rival product brewed down under, called Vegemite. It's much more popular in Australia than in NZ, and is a poor substitute in my opinion.

Back to the problem at hand. The issue now is that the country is running out of Marmite. To put that into perspective, it would be like Sweden running out of surströmming. Some people would be rather pleased about that, but it would be a national distaster for other parts of the population. Prices have exploded to a ridiculous level. Part of me wonders if it's a very clever publicity stunt. I find it hard to believe that the manufacturer didn't see this coming and hasn't already made alternative plans. We'll see how the next few weeks pan out.

The upshot of it all is that my dear Swedish wife (naturally) will be appearing in the media to unveal NZ Marmite to Sweden and explain what all the fuss is about. She has agreed to provide a sample for tasting, which surprises me as I know how she guards her imported stocks. She's more hooked on it than I am.  Still, should be fun, and maybe we might start seeing NZ Marmite on Swedish supermarket shelves. If I can dare to dream.