Vegeta is a condiment which is a mixture of spices and various vegetables invented in 1959 by a Bosnian Croat scientist Zlata Bartl, and has become a product sold worldwide.
Vegeta is produced by Podravka, a company from Koprivnica, Croatia, as well as a subsidiary of Podravka in Poland and two Vegeta licensees from Austria and Hungary. There have been around 50 instances of other companies attempting to reproduce the product.
The ingredients of Vegeta include (according to the 2008 product packaging):
- salt max. 56%
- dehydrated vegetables 15.5% (carrot, parsnip, onions, celery, parsley leaves)
- flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate max. 15%, disodium inosinate)
- sugar
- spices
- cornstarch
- riboflavin (for coloring)
| Energetic value | 583 kJ (137 kcal) |
| Protein | 8.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 24.5 g |
| Fat | 0.6 g |
Vegeta was conceived in 1958 in Podravka's laboratories and professor Zlata Bartl was head of the team that invented it. The product was first sold in Yugoslavia in 1959 as "Vegeta 40", and has since become so popular that the production increased by several orders of magnitude. In 1967 Vegeta was first exported to Hungary and the USSR and is now sold in around 40 countries worldwide.