Imagine telling your friends to meet you on Vegemite Way. Thanks to the City of Melbourne, it's now a possibility.
Cook Street in Port Melbourne (the home of food manufacturer Mondelēz) was officially renamed Vegemite Way at a special breakfast event on Monday morning. Introducing himself as "a Vegemite boy since 1955," Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle said the decision to rename Cook Street after the beloved breakfast spread was an easy one.
"Vegemite is part of the story of Melbourne," the Lord Mayor told a crowd of assembled media, Vegemite enthusiasts and factory workers.
The history of Vegemite begins in 1922 in Southbank, when the Fred Walker Company (later Kraft Foods) hired a young food chemist to make a palatable, spreadable paste out of leftover brewer's yeast. First launched in 1923, it took almost two decades, an aborted name change and the outbreak of the Second World War before Australians came around to the dark, salty stuff.
Lyle Fowler, Bonox and Vegemite delivery van, 1947 © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive
By the mid 1950s, when the 'Happy Little Vegemites' jingle was first unveiled, Vegemite was well on its way to 'national icon' status. More recently, the spread has been the subject of several controversies; some with good reason (remember iSnack 2.0?) and some because of brainless morons.
The change from Cook Street means all future jars of Vegemite will now be emblazoned with a very sweet postal address: 1 Vegemite Way. It's also created a new spot for selfie lovers on the corner of Vegemite and Salmon (surely the least appetising crossroad in all of Melbourne). Here's Aussie Olympian Melanie Wright demonstrating its potential: