Marmite has spent a century making people pick a side, and famous people are no exception. Over the years actors, musicians, broadcasters and cooks have gone on the record, in interviews and on social media, about whether they love the stuff or cannot bear it. This is the home of our growing series of profiles, where the hook is always Marmite but the real story is the person: where they grew up, how they got their start, and the work they are known for. If you came for the spread, you can stay for the famous face.
Which famous people love Marmite?
- Daniel Craig, the actor, once worked as “Mr Marmite”, handing out samples in a Reading supermarket to earn his Equity card, and has since corrected the record that he does in fact like it. He went on to become James Bond.
- Helen Mirren, the Oscar-winning Dame behind “Prime Suspect” and “The Queen”, loves it so openly that she has said she would happily do the advert.
- Florence Pugh, the actor, made Marmite on buttered toast a small star of her lockdown cooking videos, cold butter and all.
- Stephen Mangan, the “Green Wing” and “Episodes” actor, eats it happily on toast, but draws the line at putting marmalade alongside it.
- Billy Bragg, the singer-songwriter, loved it enough to put “Marmite soldiers” into one of his songs.
- Nigella Lawson, the cook and food writer, likes it so much she built a pasta dish around it.
- Paul McCartney, the Beatle, builds it into the bottom layer of his elaborate three-decker breakfast bagel.
- Elton John was outed as a lover when fans spotted his stockpile of jars in an Instagram photo, and went on to put his name to a run of charity jars.
Which famous people hate Marmite?
- Graham Norton, the chat-show host and “Father Ted” star, is firmly a hater, and once described a Eurovision entry as being “like Marmite, if everyone hated Marmite”.
- John Cena, the wrestler turned actor, tried it and decided he was “entitled to hate it”.
- Zach Galifianakis, the “Hangover” star, met his match in a jar on a transatlantic snack test.
- Idris Elba had Marmite served to him as his “Food Hell” on “Saturday Kitchen”.
- Madonna said she would do anything for her children, except eat a Marmite sandwich, which she called “vile”.
- Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, is a Vegemite loyalist who dismissed Marmite on the record as “rubbish”.
- Gary Lineker, the England striker turned broadcaster, marked the 2016 shortage by tweeting he was “relieved” he does not like it.
And one who refuses to take sides
- Ricky Gervais, the comedian, claims no strong feelings either way, and is mostly impressed that one jar can last a family two years.
More on the way
This series is growing. We are working through a longer list of actors and entertainers who have a genuine, on-the-record view of Marmite, and each one gets their own profile. For a quick round-up of a dozen more famous verdicts in one place, see our companion piece, twelve famous people on the record about Marmite.
How we choose who goes in
The rule is simple. A person earns a place only if they have genuinely said something about the actual product, that they love it, hate it, eat it or once handed it out in a supermarket. We leave out the people who only ever used “Marmite” as a figure of speech for their own divisive careers, because that tells you nothing about the jar and could be said about almost anyone. The hook has to be real.
