I have stupidly accepted a challenge from Adventure in Croatia at stake is a lot of money, one thousand lira. All I have to do is find one Italian who likes Marmite.
I personally don’t think it will be very difficult, I mean come on Italians eat all sorts of things, squid octopus, asino, cavallo ( I have used the Italian of donkey and horse so as not to upset the more squeamish among you)
I will update you as soon as I have won my one thousand lira.
Englishman in Italy 
Mille Lire sitting comfortably in my pocket ….. 🙂
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Maybe, maybe not.
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LOL – Good luck! That stuff is like motor oil! And yes, it was a staple in my English up-bringing but I refused. My mother ate it by the spoonful!
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Pah! I will find one Italian even if one or two get poisoned
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Ma ragazzi: NON È COSA ITALIANA!! it is like its cousin from Australia, Vegemite. Also similar to Liebig condiments. Non si mangia mica come la nutella !!! Naturally Italians won’t eat it as a spread. It takes British fortitude for that. But in extreme cases it could be used as a flavoring to add sparingly by the half teaspoon to what one is cooking!
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Add sparingly??? No you have to spread it thickly on hot toast. mmm my mate marmite.
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as I said : it takes a Briton …
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hey: mille lire => 52 cents on the euro… big spenders both of you!
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52 cents!!! Oye http://adventureincroatia.wordpress.com/ I want a word with you. 🙂
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truth hurts eh? meet behind the barn ? 😉 or what …
FYI in Croatian money it is a rich 3.28 ( krona? I can’t remember just now).
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I have decided I want to be paid in Iranian currency 52 cents = 8254.19 rial
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Very well, tell the Englishman in Italy – to buy a pound of strange bread it will cost you many times that – but hurry…tomorrow it will be many MORE times than that.
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This is true, I watch the exchange rate between the UK and Italy and cry.
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SO ? – did anyone in Italy eat marmite for a prize of 100 000 euros ?
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No, I fed the Italians Indian Curry on my birthday 🙂 and I didn’t have the heart to force them to eat Marmite so the crazy lady from Croatia will keep her 1000 lira note.
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Hi Pecora Nera – it’s been a year so far – did you manage it?
I only just found this blog, and I’m loving the coincidence: I too am an Englishman in Italy and am trying to get my girlfriend to like Marmite. Her remarks were “it looks like asphalt and it tastes like asphalt too”.
So I’ve been slipping it into traditional Italian dishes without telling her. She loved everything I cooked until she eventually read my blog… bwa ha ha. http://marmiteinitaly.com/lasagna-al-marmite/
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ha ha ha ha, Aglio, olio and Marmite mmmmm.
I am on my way over to have a look at your blog 🙂
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no no no no!!!! Mille Lire and no other currency is on the table.
Like the song “se potessi avere, Mille Lire al mese….ecc ecc” – I actually DO HAVE a Mille Lire banknote waiting for you (sorry cannot scan it…) AND it’s got a picture of Maria Montessori on it (of the famous Montessori school!) – AND Vera Ersilia is right!! we used to have something like Marmate to add to a broth (I think it was estratto di carne Liebig, or something like that!)
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LOL -:)! Good luck with that!
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Hey my friends I go back a few years by now. And I had the benefits of war : born in 1937 I remember it well, if war can be defined a benefit – it was a war that kept many smart people away from civilized cities and using the old-fashioned rustic ways of life … oh, the stories of old Italy that I could tell…
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I love Marmite, being an ex-pat in Brazil, I can’t get it. Having worked on many an old car, I can assure you that it tastes nothing like old motor oil, but I appreciated the analogy, I do have a sense of humour. Marmite is an acquired taste if you haven’t been brought up on it; adults are so squeamish. Visiting as a result of a comment left on my blog by Our Adventure in Croatia.
AV
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Our adventure in Croatia!!! Nope can’t say i have ever heard of her. Anyway she doesn’t like Marmite.
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hey whattt do you mean my friend Pecora Nera….. 😉 careful I call my Sicilian Godmother, no-what-i-mean? 😉 capisc?
http://siciliangodmother.wordpress.com/
and have you checked this out? we are becoming famous even in Blogo-Brazil
http://avbloggerscafay.blogspot.com.br/2012/10/two-travel-blogs.html
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Yes I received an e mail as well. If we play our cards right we might get an invite to Brazil for a holiday (I have suggested it and I am working on it so just leave it to me) When I win the Marmite Challenge I will graciously donate the 1000 lira for the cost of the flights. You can find and pay for the accommodation. OK?
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mmmh I’ve got lots of 500 Lira coins in my piggy bank… any good to pay for the accommodation? gosh that’s just what Mr C has been nagging me for a long time, to go to Brazil for the World Cup or the Olympics!
so the trip to Brazil is all this is in your capable hooves, Pecora Nera. Don’t let the country down.
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Bleurgh! Marmite is made of boiled cows’ tails! Wish you luck finding an Italian with no taste buds 😉
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It is my Birthday on Saturday and we are celebrating the fact that I have made it through another year in one piece, well apart from the tooth I cracked in August. I am sure, no I am positive that I can find one or two mad Italians in the Pizzaria who like Marmite.
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yeah right! if that’s like the Pizzeria in my previous post…. http://adventureincroatia.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/how-things-get-done-the-croatian-way/
you can probably find another policeman who’d do anything for a free slice of pizza… Take pictures as evidence. We need evidence here, my Mille Lire is at stake, I won’t just give it away over hearsay.
(happy b-day by the way.. 😉
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I will take my macchina fotografica with me.
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I’m having a tough enough time finding an Italian who can handle true spice…and yes, I went to the Sicilians first. Failed miserably. And when I get a bad craving for spicy food (I have Cajun blood), I have to run to those of Middle Eastern descent for help. Inevitably, since I’m always in Northern Italy, someone will look at me with that, “Sei fuori come un balcone” look….Best of luck with the Marmite thing.
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You are in Northern Italy!!!, why didn’t you say so. You can come to my Birthday Bash on Saturday at the local Pizzeria.
I will be teaching the Italians how to enjoy a proper drink while Mrs Sensible tries to stop me. Once they have had a few beers and wine I am sure no positive that they will like Marmite and the 1000 Lira will be mine.
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Hahaha. That might work…I’ve seen drunk Italians do very not Italian things. Sadly, I’m on visa sabbatical in the States until January. Then I finally get to go back. But, I was in the North until last week and live in the North when I’m there. Happy Birthday, though!
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Lol, We have an American workaway who came to stay for a couple of weeks on her travels around Europe. Six weeks later she is still with us. I think she is going to go to the UK for 3 months (because of the visa thing) and then come back. She really likes Italy.
Thanks for the Birthday greeting.
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OK it is 1.13 am on my birthday. We fed the Italians on home made Onion Bahajis, poppadoms, Chicken Tikka Masala, and all the trimmings, lots of wine and grappa. But I couldn’t get them to eat Marmite.
So Miss Croatia you have won your bet.
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Might be too late, maybe, but here I am! Probably the only Italian that likes Marmite (on a warm white toast, with a lot of butter…)
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Never too late, welcome.
You are the only Italian I know who likes Marmite!!!
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Haha, it took quite some training!
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I like many British things, your strong black tea (especially Yorkshire Tea – I waiting for two kilos next week), your ales, some cheses like Stilton, some cakes and cookies, fish and chips, I confess that I even had baked beans for breakfast a couple of times, but, God, Marmite no! how I can I say… may be with this song:
(well it’s about vegemite but I do not see a big difference). Ciao dal Veneto e complimenti per il tuo blog, è molto divertente!
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Ciao Thomas,
Brilliant song, thank you for the link. You are waiting for 2 kilos of Yorkshire Tea??? If we keep importing it in such large quantities the Italian Government will put an import trade tariff on it.
Mrs Sensible makes here own baked beans… (But they are nothing like British Baked beans) and fish and chips, I miss them the same way an Italian misses a proper pizza when he is in England.
Thank you for the nice compliments.
Grazie Pecora Nera
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Marmite … bleh. I’d rather eat liver, or lamb. I’ll have to see if you won, or not!
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I haven’t found one Italian who likes Marmite..
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I’m Italian and I’ve tried Marmite. I wouldn’t say that I love it, but I enjoyed spreading it on the occasional toast, when I was in Wales. Does that count? I never ate it by the spoonful, though, as I had read that you could end up with vitamin overdose if you eat too much of it. However, I may enjoy it exactly because it tastes so weird. Together with horseradish sauce, it flies in the face of those who say that British food is bland. Recently, a British friend of mine recommended that I try it with peanut butter, at the first opportunity. Can you recommend other combinations?
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Hi Konoron,
Sorry for the late reply, I have never met an Italian who liked marmite, so you are the first. In my opinion marmite should be spread very thinly on toast. I do like horseradish and I forgot to buy some last time I went to the UK. Italian food is great and the different regional dishes are great, but I miss the variety of food available in the UK. From Indian to Russian and of course Italian.
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