This morning, the Prime Minister proudly declared that he is “pro-Vegemite”. Not just pro-Vegemite, but also “anti-Marmite. That’s my position”. Vegemite is an Aussie icon, but it’s a local take on a British original. According to the National Museum of Australia, vegemite was slow to catch on but became a staple under wartime conditions in the 1940s.

Occasionally Vegemite has figured as a symbol in election campaigns. In 2007, for instance, Kevin Rudd proudly described himself as a “very simple Vegemite-on-toast man”. During the 2013 election, Rudd took a jar of vegemite to a school library and waved it in front of the cameras, warning that an Abbott Government would make vegemite more expensive. Even Rudd’s foreign minister, Bob Carr, thought it looked lame.

More recently, Scott Morrison and his British offsider Boris Johnson tried to make vegemite an icon of free trade. During negotiations with Australia, Johnson explained on social media: “I want a world in which we send you Marmite, you send us Vegemite”.

Politicians have joked that they are chasing the breakfast-eating vote with their vegemite references and stunts. It doesn’t disguise the fact that voters are not exactly happy little vegemites right now.