I tried the worst-rated food item in England — everyone needs to grow up

Jessica Hamilton

Published March 20, 2025 4:24pm Updated March 20, 2025 4:24pm

I tried the worst-rated food item in England — everyone needs to grow up — You either love it or hate it… (Picture: Getty)

Depending on who you ask, Marmite is either a national treasure or a crime against humanity.

As its age-old slogan claims: you either love it or hate it. And, according to a recent ranking, the haters might be winning.

The survey, based on over 600,000 responses worldwide, named Marmite as the second-worst English food, only beaten by jellied eels.

The news was met with horror at Metro HQ, where one of my colleagues defended Marmite as fiercely as a mother would protect her newborn baby.

Then, as expected, came the naysayers. ‘Marmite’s awful. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted,’ another person chimed in.

What did I think?

Well, I didn’t really care. I had no strong feelings – mainly because I’ve never tried it.

At 24-years-old, I’d never tried Marmite… until now (Picture: Jess Hamilton)

Yea, it might sound hard to believe, but I’ve managed to avoid loving or hating Marmite for all of my 24 years.

Of course, when I made this admission to my colleagues, there was only one thing for it: I must try it immediately.

I swiftly headed to the work canteen to order a slice of toast with butter and Marmite. I braced myself for the worst and it was… okay?

The top 10 worst-rated English foods

According to Taste Atlas readers, these are the top 10 worst dishes in England:

Jellied eels
Marmite
Cucumber sandwich
Christmas pudding
Saveloy
Pease pudding
Devils on horseback
Newmarket sausage
Phall
Hog’s pudding

I may be one of the only people in the world who is completely indifferent to Marmite, but honestly, I didn’t mind it. I finished both slices. It was salty, savoury, and similar to soy sauce. Weird, but not awful.

Would I eat it again? Maybe. I think my ‘toast’, which was essentially a lukewarm slice of bread, let it down. I can imagine it being quite nice with some crunchy sourdough.

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a convert, and I’m not rushing out to buy a 600g tub of Marmite anytime soon. But if someone offers me a slice of toast with a thin layer on it, I wouldn’t say no.

Vegemite on toast — Marmite came second after jellied eels (Picture: Getty Images)

I could even go all out – maybe take a page from Nigella’s book and mix it with spaghetti and Parmesan.

What I do now know, is that the Marmite hate is massively OTT. It’s far from the worst thing I’ve ever tasted (or second-worst, according to TasteAtlas reviewers), and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to grow up. There are far more disgusting things in this world than some yeast extract on toast.

As for the top-rated worst food? I haven’t tried jellied eels yet, but they might just be next on my list.

Why do Brits do Marmite so badly?

Metro’s picture editor, Steven Lawrence, originally hails from New Zealand, but has been in the UK for more than three decades, and still can’t get his head around the Brits’ obsession with Marmite.

He says: ‘Why Brits do Marmite SO badly?

‘How did it all go wrong when you are starting out with the byproducts of beer? The slimy mess you’ve ended up with doesn’t even spread on your toast!

‘Why struggle with this when you could be having the absolute heaven that is NZ Marmite? It spreads evenly and then melts with the butter into your toast – heaven.

‘I have this argument with my wife quite regularly but we will never agree – she has a painting of marmite hanging in the kitchen.

‘What we do agree on though, is that Australia’s Vegemite is disgusting.’

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