I know what I’d rather eat – marmite any day. Petrol never really appealed to me.

Marmite XO - puts hairs on your chest

But there was news earlier this week that the proice or marmite has now reached the dizzy heights of a fiver. Five quid for a jar of the black stuff. I have to admit that I love it. This is despite spending a day with my late dad in about 1977 on what was then ‘work experience’. We went to the most boring meeting I could have ever imagined in Burton on Trent. It was at a foundry which was near to the marmite factory. I can still smell it now.

But this didn’t put me off Marmite. It put me off meetings!

It is made from spent brewers yeast – hence the connection with Burton on Trent home of a number of Breweries including Marstons.

And earlier this year I bought some XO Marmite in Selfridges in Birmingham. It is a bit potent…

But in reality it’s not so expensive compared to some of our other commodities:

Printer Ink – £1,700 per gallon
Chanel No.5 – £15,600 per gallon
Evian water – £4.00 per gallon
Scorpion Venom – £24.3m per gallon

And that essential of all commodities – a Starbucks Grande Cappucino weighs in at a mere £19.60 a gallon!

My only observation is that the Marmite goes quite a bit further than a gallon of petrol – especially in my car!