Try it, you might like it

I don't understand people who turn their noses up at a food because they've never tried it or they've tried it and didn't like it because they didn't know how to utilize it properly.

Marmite is a prime example of such a food. Because I grew up on it and its meat-based counterpart, Bovril, I adore the stuff. Butter and Marmite sandwiches were a staple in my lunch bag and ever since I found it here in the imported food section of the supermarket, I've been enjoying it with all manner of crackers, toasts and even in vegetable soups, where it adds a lot of flavor.

Most Americans don't have a clue about how to use it properly. Because they are inclined to slather and douse their sandwiches with spreads and such, they go about trying Marmite much the same way. If they can even get passed the fact that when you open a new jar of Marmite, like I did today, you are faced with something that resembles the lubricant substance found on large machinery gears or the tar in the filters of smoking pipes, they then proceed to gather far too much of it in order to create what they think is a proper, even layer. When they go to try it, the overwhelmingly salty taste always surprises them, disgusts them in fact. So much so that they never try it again with no effort to investigate, research the way it's supposed to be enjoyed and then giving it a second chance with no holdover from their first experience with it. It even states on the back of the jar: "delicious when spread thinly on toast, etc." Granted, that sentence is printed in 2pt Arial but if I can read it...

When they are asked whether they've ever tried it, they often display great, animated drama, exclaiming that is the most vile substance they have ever tried, accompanying their statement with facial contortion to emphasize what they're saying...gagging sounds, tongues hanging out, the works. Very rude but also funny.

Next time I see them eating eggplant, ocra, water chestnuts and all the foods I've tried dozens of times and still don't like...