Marmite, Bovril and Vegemite can all be used the same way. A 500gr jar of Marmite is a constant fixture in our family's kitchen. At its simplest it's spread THINLY on buttered toast. It's the first thing we crave after illness and have lost our appetite. It can also be made into a savoury drink by adding hot water. It provides umami in soups, stews and casseroles and is especially useful for vegetarians for whom it is a useful source of B vitamins. There are recipes for many dishes such as pasta and roast potatoes which use it. However, not everyone likes it and it has entered the language to describe something people don't necessarily agree on. "It's a bit of a Marmite issue."

We give marmite on bread and butter fingers to toddlers. It's a great snack. Me and my pup share a slice of toast, butter and Marmite for breakfast! Bovril is dissolved in hot water to make a drink. Vegemite is Australian. You can put marmite in veggie "meat"loaf to enhance the flavour. It tastes strangely of beef. It's very salty. It's a by-product of brewing and is vegan.

I’ve never had Vegemite, but often have a jar of Marmite on hand. I think I originally bought it to add some umami to turkey burgers or some such thing. I don’t know about all that, but I sure enjoy it on a spoon. Or a cracker, if I’m feeling civilized. You reminded me that I have an open jar in the back of the fridge, so breakfast/lunch was Marmite. First on a spoon, then on a butt of whole grain bread.

I also like Bonne Maman. The prices have skyrocketed in recent years, but I suppose I don’t (usually) eat a jar in one sitting so it’s ok. I have plum in the fridge right now, used it with duck. First time buying this flavor and I like it. Ok, I just had s spoonful lf that, too. Maybe I’ll grab the next slice of bread.

When I first moved from very rural Maine to the suburbs of the MidAtlantic in the 80s I loved malls. By the time I moved back to Maine they were starting to die off and I wasn’t interested. Now back in Maine what I miss is the food stores geared towards immigrant communities - whether the supermarket or the myriad of smaller stores.

In Central Maine we have what seems to be a seedier poorer more eccentric version of the store mentioned about 45 minutes away. Lots of no brand paper towel or dish soap etc, flavor experiments from food companies that failed, odd bits of furniture and clothing and condiments. I like the condiments and snacks - amid the retail flosam there are a few treasures. Last time I was there I got tea, mushroom broth, ajvar spread and I left and regretted the mole. Did not regret the cheese flavored granla bars.

The other place I look for oddball foods is ‘Reny’s a Maine Adventure’. It is a small chain that is a mix of merchandise for locals and tourists. No fresh foods but if you want Bob’s Redmill anything, italian pasta, Christmas themed teas, maple syrup, lemon pesto, canned snails or marmite… this is the place to go.

Another fan of Bonne Maman—learned from my father—but they have it at the grocery store, or, at least, the semi-snooty one. It's Hero that used to be at the same place before a Kroger-trained grocery manager sold jam shelf space to cheap stuff for kiddie PBJ, that now requires a 20 min. trip to a specialty shop. I go through about a jar per year, so don't worry too much about the price. My favorite for toast used to be Tiptree Little Scarlet, with the unhybridized strawberries, but they shrinkflationed it by putting far fewer whole berries in it, and ruined it. I like St. Dalfour a lot, especially for cooking, and its lower sugar profile. There was an Italian maker that did the best ever blueberry jam, then became unfindable here. There also used to be really good domestic jams, but they seem to come and go now, and the stores have these good brands I know…

I have to admit, I generally go to Cost Plus for things like baskets (so very rarely), and rarely peruse the food even then. OTOH, there are all kinds of interesting goodies to try at the online farmer's market, many of which eventually end up at the semi-snooty store, as well. These are mostly small California makers, including some of the best tamales ever, from the Bay area, and I've had a good sampling of abuela tamales. It's also where I discovered Chuao Choclatier's bars, from SoCal, and Lake Champlain's (not California, but excellent) best ever milk chocolate, including the turkey from the chocolate pie. There's also a bakery (local small commercial) which makes real croissants. So real they can be starting to stale before arriving if the weather is uncooperative. I don't mind. A little heat will unwind the starches. Nothing can help the machine made monstrosities that are merely shaped like croissants which they sell at the grocery stores,

Just an fyi. Marmite does not need to be refrigerated. You can save the space for something which needs it.

If you decide you like Marmite, keep your eyes open for Twiglets.

Cost Plus can be great for stocking stuffers. I was there recently looking for more of this for DH.

Thanks floral, I now see the jar specifically says NOT to refrigerate it. Should stay more spreadable at room temp. I also see it’s dated Aug 24, but being how salty it is I can’t imagine anything dangerous growing in there!

A jar of ready unami sounds handy. I use miso for that, but it has a distinctive flavor that doesn’t go with everything.

However, now that we finally have an organized pantry, I have put the kibosh on purchasing many categories of bottled, jarred, canned, and otherwise packaged things until we use up the varieties of balsmic vinegar, all the hot sauces, the extra packages of pasta, and so on. When it was all buried deep in stacks, the path of least resistance was often to simply buy another one. No more!

That discipline obviously doesn’t apply to Quadratinis.

John, Trader Joe's carries a powdered umami product by Mushroom & Co that isn't bad. I keep a jar with my spices, shelf stable.

This community is really a food desert unless commercial fishing season or if you are fond of hispanic flavors (and we are). We're short a full service grocery even, really could use another store - Safeway and Walmart are my choices but not my favorites. We shop an hour away and retired now (also willing to drop me at doors then park, load and deal with blue ice and coolers) DH is often with me. Costco, seafood shop, Trader Joe's and Northwest Fresh is about his limit. I'm lucky to get into a plant nursery or even Nordstrom Rack occasionally.

If I found myself in need of a pair of shoes that very day, my choice would be Walmart so there would be no new shoes for me 😊

I drive by a couple of World Markets during the year but am rarely inside. I did park on the very outskirts of their parking one busy December day in Seattle a few years ago. Their parking security was on me like a seagull on french fries. 'Where are you going, this is World Market parking only'. I responded so sorry, I hadn't seen a sign. He asked again, which store and I pointed to a deli about 3 doors down. It didn't hurt that I was recovering from hip surgery and carrying a cane. He said he'd make an exception if I'd be back in 15 minutes - I thanked him profusely and picked up my deli order, got out of town and back on the freeway.

We recently started going to a new (to us) store that is actually the closest one to our house, and we can drive to it without going through any traffic lights. It is called Grocery Outlet, and it has a lot of items that I have not seen at other stores. The regular or common items are about half the price that they are at other stores, but they do not have everything - sort of like an Aldi's, but I like this store much better than Aldi's. We've been buying water there because our water filters are temporarily out of commission during our kitchen reno.

One think I found there that I really like is dried figs. These figs are plump and juicy and do not resemble dehydrated figs that I've had in the past at all - they are much more like fresh figs. They have a lot of similar fruit snacks, but the figs are all I've tried so far.

We had marmite on our table at breakfast in Fiji, and it was from Australia. Most of the tourists at the resort where we stayed were from Australia, and the island was also the filming location for the reality TV show Survivor. The crew for this show arrived just before we left the island, which was then closed for filming. Most of the crew were Australian. I tried a bit of marmite on toast and did not like it.

There is a new Indian market near us called The Spice Rack, and it has a lot of items that I like, even if they are not unusual. They have packages of frozen shrimp that have been deveined but still have their shells, and they also have large packages of frozen okra, which I love. They also have a good selection of Indian teas. I've only been there once, but it's time for me to go back, although I'm holding off on a lot of shopping until the kitchen is finished, which probably won't be until early January.

Lars, I'm surprised to hear that Australians were eating Marmite. Here Vegemite is king, and stores only stock Marmite for those poor deluded British immigrants who don't know any better LOL. It tends to be very "either/or" - people like one and not the other. I can't stand either. DH love Vegemite :-P The Australian version is much saltier than the version they had to tone down to allow it to be imported into the US.

I generally get Bonne Maman jam- cherry is my favourite. St Dalfour is also good, but the jars are a PITA. It's not really much more expensive than the local jams. I got some Rose's raspberry jam to make my Christmas cookies this year- I swear they've shrinkflationed the jars because I would get two jars to do two lots of a particular recipe, and usually had half a jar left over, which made DH happy because raspberry jam is his favourite. (Me, not so much.) Made a batch for work on the weekend and used a whole jar, no leftovers.

I have 16 little 1 oz jars of Bonne Mamam to add as Christmas stocking stuffers. I've already put those that were cherry and apricot aside for myself, they won't be going with us Christmas morning.

I have some of that Trader Joes’ Mushroom Powder! I don’t know where it came from, SWMBO must have bought it. I tried making my own mushroom powder (dehydrate mushrooms, food processor) and it wasn’t good. I’m thinking maybe you need to brown the mushrooms first.

We are suckers for interesting food items and have lots of tidbits like that. When the earthquake comes, I’ve no doubt we will be able to eat from the pantry for months, even if the last couple weeks are subsisting on the last of the canned pate washed down with raspberry balsamic vinegar.

I spent two months in Australia and never had Vegemite once. At least, I don’t remember having it, and I’d think it wouldn’t be forgettable. Then we spent two months in New Zealand, no Vegemite. However, thanks to Men At Work, the phrase ”Vegemite sandwich” is burned into my brain.

Marmite seems like something you would spoon from a jar in a blacked out bomb shelter during the Blitz.

And Bovril - I don’t know why, but I associate it with old ladies eating cat food.

I was a little child when someone told me “old ladies eat cat food when they haven’t any money, don’t you know that?“ and the image was so chilling that I still think about it. But I also read a magazine story about an Alaskan vet who made his rounds in a floatplane where he kept a 5 lb bag of dry cat food as emergency food if his plane was forced down in some remote place. He said it was the most nutritious, non-perishable food there is, and I thought about that a lot as a kid. I tried eating some dry cat food but it was so unappealing, I never found out if it was nutritious. Maybe if you softened it with warm water, and spiced it with Bovril. Brrrrr.

Of course, there are Asian equivalents that I don’t think are weird, because I grew up with them. We used to always have a big plastic tub of “pork sung”, which is dried, shredded, seasoned pork. A customary topping for congee. SWMBO will be very unhappy three months post-earthquake when we’re down to pork sung and canned herring.

TJ's Mushroom and Company is meant as an umami shaker and is mushroom salt. It is not ”mushroom powder” per se. The salt help keep it shakeable and is part of the whole flavor, but one uses it as salt rather than with salt. Good stuff! From TJ's:

• KOSHER SALT
• DRIED ONIONS
• GROUND MUSTARD SEED
• PORCINI MUSHROOM POWDER
• WHITE BUTTON MUSHROOM POWDER
• CRUSHED RED PEPPER
• BLACK PEPPER
• DRIED THYME

I have all kinds of interesting stuff too. Like in the height of too much in the fridge for the holiday, I couldn't see the arugula and didn't want everything to fall on me while searching, but then I remembered a jar of red cabbage and ginger sauerkraut hanging out behind the blueberries. From the online farmers' market. Perfect for sandwiches in lieu of the greens. ;)

I just bought 2 jars of saffron from Trader Joes at an amazingly low price. I don't remember how much exactly, but maybe $7-$8? I needed it for a recipe I want to try and remembered reading somewhere (here?) that TJ's has it at an affordable price.

Recipe:

Braised chicken with fennel and saffron

Oh Flora, Yesssss!!! Twiglets. Lovely! You can keep marmite for years LOL

I seldom go to World Market because I tend to overspend on food items that look interesting. It's a great place for food-related stocking stuffers and the only place I've ever found TimTams.

I tried Vegemite and couldn't tolerate the taste. I've never tried Marmite.

Lars, Grocery Outlet is a chain so you may want to check out Hungry Onion's discussion thread that has postings from CA and WA on recent finds from GO. Their stock changes often and each store has different close-out/sale items.

You can find the GO discussion thread at (link) Hungry Onion's Grocery Outlet: Latest Buys

As far as food products go:

We are very brand-specific so I get certain items delivered, as they are not available otherwise. Those include:

• Tillen Farms Baby Cucumber Pickles, sold thru Stonewall Kitchen. Amazon sells them, but that seller has had numerous complaints about poor packaging and jars arriving leaking. Stonewall packs the case very well and I've never had a broken or leaking jar.
• WeLoveJam, based in the Silicon Valley, is one of the rare farms left in what used to be agricultural land. Their Blenheim Apricot is the least sweet of all the brands we've tried. Their Montmorency Cherry/Blenheim jam is also superb. The owner Eric makes some very unusual jams that sell out quickly, so he has stopped selling wholesale to specialty grocers and just sells to his clientele. One of our friends is addicted to his Kumquat Marmalade, LOL.

There's an excellent independent specialty grocer nearby, so we shop there once or twice a month. Very good butcher, specialty breads from Acme &Semifreddi artisanal bakeries, and excellent cheese/charcuterie selections. Spouse is a Brie lover but I prefer Brillat-Savarin or St Angel. There's a better specialty market not much further, but parking is a real pain so we seldom visit.

We do use Safeway for delivery of ordinary stuff like TP, cleaning supplies, and some produce. Safeway actually has a lot of CA-based fruit and produce contracts, such as the excellent Artisan line of salad greens from Tanimura & Antle/Salinas, CA. I love their Artisan Romaine and it's the only place that carries it.

99 Ranch is our go-to for Asian staples, but H Mart and Tokyo Central are pushing to make inroads into our area, which is very exciting. If we want fish, we go to the small, old-time Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, where we get the fish for sashimi. Oddly, although TFM carries the Kurobuta pork loin chops, they don't carry any other cut which is disappointing. It would be so much more convenient if they'd carry a pork butt roast, my favorite cut!

We live next to the largest Latin and Central American district in the Bay Area, so Cardenas is the largest supermarket but there's many smaller grocers. I don't often cook any of these cuisines as it's easier to just dine out at one of the zillion+ Latino restaurants, but Spouse adores Chile Verde Pork so I do make that pretty often. He eats it over Japanese udon noodles, creating his own fusion dish!

Occasionally we play around with different coffee brands, but for consistency and strong, low-acid dark roast, we find illy brand (yes, lower case "i") to be the most reliable. The espresso grind, finer than the usual drip, makes a great cup of coffee. We order it from Amazon by the case of 12.

We visit two chocolatiers - did you know CA has the most chocolate production companies (and the highest number of artisanal chocolatiers, I believe) in the US? - I like one; Spouse likes the other, and there's one chocolate we both love.

- Kollar Chocolates/Yountville, CA. Don't care for his truffles or filled chocolates. But I love nuts - almost any kind - and his dark chocolate Rochers are amazing. Deeply toasted slivered almonds, very lightly coated with fine quality dark bittersweet chocolate - yum!

(link) Kollar Dark Chocolate Rochers

Michael's Chocolates/Oakland, CA. There are three items we love here:

- Spouse loves the chocolate covered orange peels. He says they're not quite as good as [Michael] Recchiuti/SF, but very close.

- His chocolate covered espresso beans are superb. Very thin chocolate coating (we hate thick coats of chocolate over anything) over espresso beans which have had the bitter embryo removed. We both love these!

- Bourbon Caramel Pecan Bars. You can actually taste the bourbon whiskey, which I love. The caramel has been cooked long enough to be sweet but not cloyingly sweet.

(link) Michael's Chocolates

Michael's and Kollar are the 'everyday' chocolates as they're the easiest to get and great value for the money. Our splurge chocolates are Recchiuti, especially the Bergamot Tea, Dark Chocolate Caramel and the Ginger Heart. The last is surprising as I don't like white chocolate OR ginger, but this was a stunning confection, without the excessive sugar that white chocolate so often has.

(link) Recchiuti Chocolates: Flavors

I was given half a paper grocery bag of garden grown kumquats once, and make kumquat marmalade. It was completely excellent, and I even got a bit of smokiness into it without the peat fire. Buying it sounds so much easier, but also, other than your small private maker, and St. Dalfour which isn't the right thing, it is impossible. ::sad::

I used to make lots of cumquat marmalade for my late FIL, who was very partial to it. It's fiddly getting the seeds out, but very good :-)

Not just fiddly—hard to do with gloves on and the acid burns the skin off my hand!(Happens with all little citrus.)