A popular arancini containing Marmite and cheddar almost disappeared from Cirencester markets due to the national shortage of the brown sticky stuff earlier this year but has now been saved by Australia.

News of the shortage and the plight of Non Solo Pasta reached as far as Australia and the City of Bathurst in New South Wales.

And its their Chamber of Commerce who have come to the rescue and sent over the famous antipodean spreadable – Vegemite.

The Anglo- Italian snack of an arancini stuffed with Marmite is one of market traders, Non Solo Pasta’s biggest sellers at their stall at the Cirencester Farmers Market.

Cirencester is in a friendship arrangement with the City of Bathurst, NSW.

An initiative which was set up in 2017 after the Bathurst Regional Council approached the Cirencester Town Council with a view to forming a friendship back in 2015.

It is another local initiative supported by the Cirencester Community Development Trust Ltd.

Angus Edwards, of the Bathurst Chamber of Commerce, saw the Marmite and Non Solo Pasta news and duly sent a jar of the Australian breakfast favourite10,530 miles.

“We are touched by the gesture,” said Clara Cardillo, co founder of Non Solo Pasta.

“We are going to use the jar to make a version of the arancini and taste test against the Marmite version.”

Non Solo Pasta, based in Cirencester, has a focus on Italian street food and is founded by Matteo Conte, from Rome, and Clara Cardillo from Minturno, a little village on the coast between Rome and Naples.

They started selling authentic Italian food at the Farmers Market in Cirencester and now also have a permanent stall in the new look Five Valleys Shopping Centre’s indoor food market in Stroud as well as a frozen Italian food business called Frittoli that sells their arancini creations in Co-Op stores across Gloucestershire.

Matteo added: “A big thank you to Angus and the Bathurst Chamber, we wish there was a way that you could try our arancini or that we could send over a traditional example for you to try, maybe Bolognese and peas or our Caponata, which is completely vegan.”