With some perspective, Vegemite is not so bad

I was discussing Vegemite earlier today, and was directed to this article detailing how it is supposedly banned in the US because of FDA laws that only allow folic acid in bread. It turns out, however, that no such ban is in place, and the Kraft spokesperson cited in the article was wrong. Well, according to the Wikipedia article on Vegemite, anyways.

I started to do a little digging around to see if I could get to the bottom of what Vegemite is, exactly (sure, it's a "brewer's yeast extract", but what exactly does that mean?). What I came across next was so shocking it made me completely forget about my Vegemite-based curiosity.

Behold, the edible monstrosity that is... Bovril.



This little culinary gem is described as a "thick, salty beef extract". And if that doesn't instantly get your mouth watering, you might be interested to know it was originally marketed under the name "Johnston's Fluid Beef".

Mmm, fluid beef.

Apparently it's quite popular in Britain as a sort of meat-based tea, especially at soccer games. Yum. Apparently many, many British people enjoy their meat-tea... check out this interesting tidbit, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Bovril was based in Argentina, and at the height of the Bovril empire, the company owned ranches in Argentina that were equivalent in size to half of England and sustaining over 1.5 million livestock.

Equivalent to half of England! Oh, also, Bovril ads are some of the craziest things I've ever seen. Check out these marvels of persuasive advertising:



Nothing gets my appetite going like thinking about exactly how the cow in my meat-tea was killed. Or, for those of you who prefer to consider your meat on a more personal level:



And finally, perhaps the most ridiculous ad I have ever seen:



That's right, the only two infallible powers in the world are the divinely appointed representative of God on Earth, and meat-tea.