My mate's Marmite

Not having grown up with it, V was for many years markedly ill-disposed towards this century-old British brewing industry waste product.

These days however, there's even talk of taking a jar with us to Guatemala. It all started with a few explorative licks of my discarded breakfast knife. The next big breakthrough was the discovery that thinly spread Marmite goes rather well inside a sandwich or pitta filled with mozzarella and tomato.

Last week a half teaspoon of the black stuff found its way into her tomato-based pasta sauce, along with the end product of rubbing two pieces of rye bread together: a worthwhile bit of improvisation.