You’ve got to hand it to the marketing people at Vegemite, they never stop trying. And in the realm of there’s no such thing as bad publicity, they have given us Vegemite roast chicken, the product no-one ever thought they would ever, ever need, now available at Coles.
I suspect the people behind this know nothing could stop our love for Vegemite and are just throwing around ideas to keep it in the news. And here we are writing about it, so it’s worked.
It’s not the first time Vegemite has been added to a product for publicity. Remember Vegemite chocolate? I’ll put my hand up to trying it, but it was definitely a one-off. Liquid Vegemite in a chocolate casing, it was neither fish nor fowl. But it did provide owner Bega Cheese with plenty of free air time.
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Maybe chicken vegemite has more ‘legs’ than Vegemite chocolate, and it’s certainly given the brand plenty of publicity.
Anyway, if you have seen it in your supermarket, but have no intention of trying it, for the record it’s smothered in a vegemite marinade and stuffed with Bega cheese. That’s your savoury intake for three days by my rough estimation.
Prime supermarket real estate
A supermarket shopper has lamented that Australian products are harder to find because they are often on the bottom or top shelves. Well, let me introduce you to something called slotting fee or slotting allowance.
This is a fee manufacturers pay to supermarkets for prime supermarket shelf real estate. It’s why rich multinationals tend to dominate the middle shelves and smaller and/or Australian owned companies are on the high or bottom shelves.
Is it fair? No. Do the supermarkets care about that? No again. As much as they bang on about ‘Australian made’ in their publicity, profit is their real motivation.
My prime example is Oreos. Really, do you honestly think they deserved an eye-level shelf when they arrived in Australia?
Of course not, hardly anyone liked them and Australians have a deep attachment to their own biscuits, not some foreign blow-in.
They should have been in a dark corner somewhere. But they were immediately stocked with acres of space on the second top level, because their owners Kraft would have paid for it.
So next time you are trying to find an alternative to an overseas-owned product, look up or down, and you might be surprised at what you discover.
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This week’s best supermarket deals
Save money on your weekly shop with the best supermarket deals from your favourite stores.
Aldi
Sensible: Westacre Dairy Tasty Cheese, 250g, shredded. I’m not a great fan of ready-grated cheese. I mean, how hard is to grate cheese? And they put chemicals in it, so it doesn’t clump together. But then when I do have it for whatever reason I silently whisper to myself how easy it all is. Good on parmis and scattered over pizza and pasta.
Indulgence: Bertocchi Veneto salami knob, $19.99. If you think I’m listing this one because of the snigger factor, you’d be right. Still, it’s pretty good price for salami.
See the catalogue here.
IGA
Sensible: Iceberg lettuce, $1.69. With all the rains about the eastern states I suspect lettuces are very soon going back to stratospheric prices. Get them while they are cheap.
Indulgence: Boned and rolled pork loin roast, $12.99. This is a good set and forget recipe, bung it in the oven with some salt rubbed into the scoring and you’re done. Looks great when presented surrounded by vegetables if you are entertaining.
See the catalogue here.
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Coles
Sensible: Coles Finest by Laurent Sourdough varieties, $5.50, save 50 cents. One of the better supermarket breads. We often have the annoyance of more holes than bread, but it’s nice and chewy fresh and toasts well.
Indulgence: Allen’s Santa’s Faves, 850g, $8.00, save $2. That’s a hefty pack size, but I know I’m going to give it a shot. I love that Allen’s are constantly bringing out new flavours, but if anyone is reading this from Allen’s, please bring back Frosty Fruits.
See the catalogue here.
Woolworths
Sensible: Chobani yoghurt, pot or pouch, half price $1.25. Good savings and a good range of flavours. Add the lime or lemon flavours to a smoothie for a bit of extra zing.
Indulgence: Lavazza Oro Coffee Beans or Ground, 1kg, half price $17.50. Lavazza rates well for supermarket coffee and this is an astonishingly good special. I keep seeing these great coffee discounts everywhere and wonder how long it can last.
See the catalogue here.
Have you tried the Vegemite chicken? Did you try the Vegemite chocolate? What do you think of this week’s best supermarket deals? Why not share your opinion of Vegemite-flavoured meals in the comments section below?