299251 Thu Nov 18 14:54:18 -0800 2004 60 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1656980 OK chowhounds, Am looking for a lot of support by way of feedback. Here is the spiel, so I hope y'all will actively participate with your suggestions. Two Questions: A) What do Americans miss from back home when they are in the UK ? B)What do Americans (or Brit Expats) yearn for from UK which they cannot find easily in the US ? A very good hound friend of mine (Candy from Indiannapolis) has helped me gather some very valuable insight, and to give an idea, here are some suggestions put forth by her: Missing in US: Crisps (other than BBQ, sourcream, plain, onion, or salt & vinegar flavour)., Harveys Club Sherry, Lochan Ora liqueur, Rose's passion fruit cordial, Knorr sizzle & stir (this was specially yearned for by a Brit friend of Candy's back in the US, as it appears that his wife was hassling him for it), (you can also include items which may currently be available within the US but at a high price, however in this case, please specify) Missing in UK: Cornmeal, Masa Harina/Hominy/Grits, BBQ sauces (from SC/NC/TX/TN) You can mention whatever excites your taste buds on either side of the Atlantic so you can be as imaginative as you like and include any item you normally look for whether it is a particular type of sauce, paste, pod, herb, spice.. whether it is cardamom,vanilla, cloves, saffron, paprika, tapioca pudding (spotted dick), mustard/custard, limequats, kumquats, Calamondins, meyer lemons, mango, papaya, fresh/seasonal fruits or foods or whatever comes to mind…….. Many thanks in advance Thu Nov 18 14:54:18 -0800 2004 0 Amin (London Foodie) 1 1656984 living here, my darling english husband misses heinz beans, lucozade, bread sauce, and sausage rolls, not to mention winegums, maltesers, and ribena. we live in NYC, so this is all stuff we can find, but it's expensive and we have to go out of our way to get it. when i'm in the UK with him, i miss skim milk and sweet n' low for my coffee. oh, and good coffee. Thu Nov 18 15:22:29 -0800 2004 1656980 0 funkymonkey 1 1656985 This may be a bit out of date but when I lived in the UK these are the prepared foods or produce I missed... good watermelons, avocados, enchiladas brownies/chocolate chip cookies ice cream in american flavors..rocky road, pumpkin, pecan decent burgers and flank steaks...I had a very hard time adjusting to the flavor of british beef ( bloody and not aged ) these are the things enjoyed in the UK : good cheddar cornish pasties curd tarts,jam tarts and good steamed puddings probably more but these are the first things that come to mind. Thu Nov 18 15:40:24 -0800 2004 1656980 0 ciaolette 2 1656990 oooh, enchiladas. definitely good mexican food. even being able to buy soft corn tortillas and pinto beans at tesco's would be nice. Thu Nov 18 16:16:45 -0800 2004 1656985 0 funkymonkey 1 1656988 When I lived in Scotland 12-14 years ago, the food situation in the UK was so dire that I missed everything from fresh fruits and vegetables, good pizza, decent hamburgers, and a good cup of non-instant coffee to good Chinese, Mexican, sushi, Thai, basically everything but Indian. Most insistently, however, I missed a good bagel (the prevalence of great smoked salmon without decent bagels always seemed to be one of Scotland's great tragedies). In the last decade, the UK has truly undergone a food revolution. All the things I mentioned are readily available now EXCEPT, judging by what my friends ask me to bring them when I visit, good NY style bagels... The things I miss from the UK are: 1) a wide variety of cask-conditioned ales lovingly served; 2) wonderful and unusual farmhouse cheeses, often shot through with beautiful colors of blue; 3) sinful double cream; 4)a plate of spicy haggis with buttery neeps and tatties (really!); 5)crumbly light scones that are not the size of basketballs; 6) lovely creamy layered trifles; 7) sticky toffee pudding (though we get more of these now); 8) a wide variety of affordable port... I'm sure more will come to me! Thu Nov 18 16:03:06 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Elaine(Snutteplutten) 2 1657151 fyi, I do believe dba 1st Ave has a few cask conditioned ales. dba is in the East Village on 1st Ave (btwn 2nd & 3rd) Sat Nov 20 09:18:57 -0800 2004 1656988 0 bk 1 1656991 American foods I missed when I lived in Twickenham: - Good steak/hamburger meat - Bacon - Heinz ketchup - BLT sandwiches - Sausages - Pizza English foods I missed when I DIDN't live in Twickenham: - Tennant's Lager - Full English breakfast - Fish 'n chips - Full fat cheeses - Puddings - Late night curries - Reasonable retail prices on good wine Thu Nov 18 16:17:24 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Scagnetti 1 1656992 Looks like other posters share my feelings. Haven't been to the UK for a year or so but on my last stay I longed for good Mexican food. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places. Thu Nov 18 16:22:32 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Aimee 1 1656996 When I'm in the UK: BAGELS!!!!! Absolutely number one gripe. THe bagels here are abysmal. real sandwiches with more than one limp slice of meat and without butter fresh corn on the cob campbell's chicken noodle soup (they have everything but...) rye bread kraft mac n cheese (I have expat friends who hoard the stuff. I have actually GIVEN Kraft mac n cheese as a gift... it was well appreciated.) Cheese-its cheesesteak (don't really eat them much while in the us, but somebody mentioned these on CH about a month ago and I've been dying for one ever since) mexican food baked beans that don't taste like spagetti-o's When in the US I miss: elderflower cordial farmhouse bread that doesn't cost a fortune golden syrup squashes of all kinds the extensive range of fairtrade goods mushy peas bacon Thu Nov 18 17:00:37 -0800 2004 1656980 0 drdawn 2 1657010 Ikea sells ederflower cordials in their food section here in the US Thu Nov 18 19:36:31 -0800 2004 1656996 0 SG 1 1656997 Things I miss from the UK Extra thick double cream Cheeses Everything from M&S's Food Hall!!! Butter Everything Cadbury's The amazing variety of baking products found at the supermarkets (flours, etc) Fig Rolls (Fig Newton's just aren't the same) Jacobs High Baked Water Biscuits Jacobs Cream Crackers Blackcurrant Jam Twiglets Fish and Chips Fresh Cream cakes Cornish pasties Cheese and onion pie Bacon Cumberland Sausages Potatoes (potatoes in the US don't hold a candle) Indian food Vimto Hula hoops (the plain ones) Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits Crumpets Galaxy Minstrels Malt Bread Things I miss from the US Decent Sushi Sourdough bread Rye Toast Filet Mignon Thu Nov 18 17:27:17 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Charlieboy 1 1656998 Excellent post. Having lived in the UK for the best part of my life, then Australia for a good few years and now Canada I'm starting to need 'essentials' shipped from all over the world! Missing from the UK (and by comparison what I can get here in Canada appears to be similar to what is available in the US) and echoing others, here goes: 'Proper' bacon Haggis (scottish husband has converted me) Clotted cream Cadbury's chocolate (the taste is different here and in Australia because (apparently) of the milk used); especially Boosts and Drifters Green & Blacks Chocolate Elderflower Cordial Crumpets Crisps (ok 'chips') in 40g one serving packages Ditto Cadburys chocolate and the small packages H*ll ditto everything and the smaller packages/ servings Cheshire Cheese Marks & Spencer everything (but specifically their tea-bags which my mum has to send me!) Caramel Slices and Flapjacks Not to knock what you can get here as variety is the spice and all that. Ooo and for the record, once you have been to Oz and been converted to Vegemite, then that becomes a staple too. Thu Nov 18 17:50:48 -0800 2004 1656980 0 naomi 2 1657052 Regarding Cadbury's chocolate, I saw once on television that, in the US, Cadbury's is produced by Hershey's -- after the company left the hands of the Cadbury family, production changed. Since I don't like either product EXCEPT for the one lucky time I had Cadbury in London and when someone brings me a UK Cadbury, this makes sense to me. In the US, I can sometimes find real Cadbury chocolate at Cost Plus/World Market. However, when I'm there, I tend to go for the German chocolates. Fri Nov 19 11:00:05 -0800 2004 1656998 0 T in DC 3 1657063 Ritter Sport with whole hazelnuts, as well as the very elusive Milka Joghurt.... Fri Nov 19 11:32:16 -0800 2004 1657052 0 LisaM 4 1657065 I have seen the Ritter Sport with whole hazelnuts at Trader Joe's lately, if you have one nearby. Fri Nov 19 12:13:00 -0800 2004 1657063 0 Chris Willging 5 1657072 Thanks, Chris. I have gotten the Ritter Sport at TJ's, and I also recently found Milka Joghurt at Schaller & Weber, in Manhattan. Fri Nov 19 13:12:02 -0800 2004 1657065 0 LisaM 3 3285862 In Canada, Cadbury's is made by Cadbury Trebor Allan. It's good good stuff. Fri Jan 11 12:43:07 -0800 2008 1657052 139180 Blush 2 1657062 I don't suppose you're in Toronto? I can get Devonshire Cream at various specialty shops, even some Loblaw's I think, and Green and Blacks at a Health Food place. Fri Nov 19 11:31:18 -0800 2004 1656998 0 julesrules 3 1657066 Thanks...not in Toronto unfortunately - but I shouldn't complain as we do have a reasonable 'British Pantry' here in Calgary. And I luckily have a trip to London planned pretty soon so will be able to get my fixes and stocks! Fri Nov 19 12:16:06 -0800 2004 1657062 0 naomi 3 1657067 Thanks...not in Toronto unfortunately - but I shouldn't complain as we do have a reasonable 'British Pantry' here in Calgary. And I luckily have a trip to London planned pretty soon so will be able to get my fixes and stocks! Fri Nov 19 12:16:49 -0800 2004 1657062 0 naomi 2 3243050 Crumpets? In Canada?? Oh come on now, any supermarket (at least in Toronto) will have them. And any halfway decent supermarket cheese counter will have Cheshrre cheese, imported from the UK. Fri Dec 28 12:04:49 -0800 2007 1656998 54222 ekammin 1 1656999 I also miss real ale (ask if its cask!) from England. I miss real pubs (especially my local) and all the people you meet in them, all of the glorious cheese and Bisto's Chip Shop Curry Gravy. I don't even know why I miss it, because Bisto is disgusting, but I do. Funny, someone else said they missed sandwiches while in England (and if they had a prawn cocktail from Marks and Sparks I can't blame them), but I miss the heavenly baguettes loaded with cheese and tomato and basil, or cucumber and brie, or piles of BACON! Good tea goes without saying I think... When I was little and living in England, I missed iced tea mix and Kool Aid (and KD of course!). Now I'm a grown-up (at least according to my driver's license) I miss wings and nachos while I'm over there. Not exactly a "high-end" list of foods, but I think missing is more about comfort foods then taste. I could go on about "missings" for ever, I think it might bore people... Thu Nov 18 17:54:03 -0800 2004 1656980 0 bluespoon 1 1657000 Missing - UK -good pickles (cucumber) -pretzels (small crunchy and big soft) -salad with vinaigrette dressing (GOBS AND GOBS OF MAYO DOES NOT CONSTITUTE DRESSING!!) -bagels -plain chicken broth in a tin (NOT Maggi cubes, or canned "broth" w/bits of everything in it) -pizza Missing - US -pickled onions that are bigger than martini-sized -Walker's potato crisps in really interesting flavors, like lamb, roast beef, worcestershire sauce, prawn cocktail -decent cheddar cheese -Tennant's lager -Cadbury Crunchies, or any "real" Cadbury's, for that matter -McVitie's milk and plain chocolate Digestives and Hob Nobs -Ayrshire potatoes Thu Nov 18 17:56:15 -0800 2004 1656980 0 LisaM 2 1657056 McVities digestive biscuits are easy to find in the US, I even found them in Indianapolis which is a culinary wasteland. Fri Nov 19 11:12:14 -0800 2004 1657000 0 shrimpbird 3 1657061 Yes, but they're a good deal pricier here in the States!! Fri Nov 19 11:31:13 -0800 2004 1657056 0 LisaM 1 1657001 WOW! I had no idea you couldn't get all that stuff in the US! Good thing we are in Canada, where my Brit husband can simply pop down to Dickens Sweets and Chocolates and get everything he could ever want from home and a few things besides. If you are looking to start a shop or something like that you might want to call Anne at Dickens...she's got a bang up little place - full stock of everything from Kia-Ora (too orangy for crows!) to bread sauce. Full service brit bakery with pies and sausage rolls. Bacon from everywhere and a huge selection of candy. No website that I can find, but here's a little blurb from the local paper Link: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/issues02/043202/entertainment.html Thu Nov 18 18:14:28 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Cynthia 2 1657002 Fortnum and Mason is missing in the US!!! Thu Nov 18 18:41:15 -0800 2004 1657001 0 Sue 3 1657090 Amen! Fri Nov 19 14:41:45 -0800 2004 1657002 0 Candy 2 1657011 Thank you to each one of you for the extremely helpful information you all are providing, and am going to study these carefully, so please keep on providing whatever else may come to mind. Thank you to those of you as well who have sent me emails, which are also equally appreciated. It is nice when friendships are created through a common denominator, in this case, food. Cynthia, shall appreciate if you could please give me a contact number/address for Anne & Fred Hall of Dickens. Where is Chilliwack ? Is it near Toronto ? No, I don’t exactly intend to set up a shop but working on mailorder as well as importing stuff like rice, sesame oil, sesame seed, Belgian chocolates, pepper jelly, and currently studying the US possibilities to supply stuff to US expats in England, and conversely, Brit stuff for those in the US who miss certain foods from out here. Am also working towards a quarterly ''meet and eat'' networking event for hounds, which will materialise sometime in 2005 once I have enough items of interest by way of variety and quality.. Thu Nov 18 19:36:48 -0800 2004 1657001 0 Amin (London Foodie) 1 1657008 What about peanut butter? Thu Nov 18 19:29:46 -0800 2004 1656980 0 coll 2 1657024 Definitely agree on that one... And anything one might classify as soul food or Southern food. One thing I really miss from the UK, besides the things otherwise mentioned, is decent tonic water. Apparently it's due to FDA regulations not allowing more than a certain amount of quinine... Thu Nov 18 21:30:33 -0800 2004 1657008 0 deibu 1 1657012 Miss when in the US: - proper bacon (I'm with Naomi there) - Marks and Sparks - for chips/crisps, great ready-made sandwiches, desserts and erm, underwear (I used to be able to go to Toronto but heard they've shut down there) - Rowntrees everything, but especially pastilles and fruit gums - Maltesers - good instant coffee - Americans do good proper coffee so their instant sucks - I miss Nestle Cap Colombie! - decent Singaporean/ Malaysian food (ok you can get it in NYC but I live in LA now) - kebabs on every corner - regular (not porn star) chicken breasts Miss when in the UK: - beef (hello mad cow!) - sushi - Vietnamese food - a really good burger chain like In'n'Out or Fatburger, especially drive-thros - decent wait service and reasonable restaurant prices - farmer's markets - decent french fries (as opposed to soggy chips) Thu Nov 18 19:46:59 -0800 2004 1656980 0 vidia 2 1657050 Vidia, you get beef in Britain and mad cow has, I am told, been consigned to history. You also get sushi and Vietnamese food. For Viet food, go to Hackney in East London. Farmer's markets are also available in abudance in the UK, and if you go to the right place, there are some amazing French fries in England (though the word ''french'' is avoided in fries as in letters). Just ask for some ''crisp chips''). Is'nt Toronto a bit far to drive down from the city of angels just for M&S underwear ? Am working on this problem for you, so be cool & stay tuned. Am amazed that you guys don't have chicken breasts down there ? I love breasts Fri Nov 19 10:35:55 -0800 2004 1657012 0 Amin (London Foodie) 3 1657089 Amin, the chicken breasts here are overly abundant in size. It used to be that 1 breast half was about right for one person. Now with the supersizing one breast half can feed 2-3 people. They are too big. Fri Nov 19 14:39:17 -0800 2004 1657050 0 Candy 4 1657115 Nver thought that chickens could have such large breasts. Are they able to stand up on their legs un-aided ? Will have to show you some Brit breasts when you're next in London Fri Nov 19 18:10:43 -0800 2004 1657089 0 Amin (London Foodie) 2 1657055 You can get malteasers and rowntrees pastilles in NYC (I know you're in LA but in case anyone else is looking)...malteasers in various delis in manhattan and queens (sunnyside, very irish), and the pastilles are available in chinatown, try Kam Man grocery store on Canal, right by the checkout. Fri Nov 19 11:09:59 -0800 2004 1657012 0 shrimpbird 3 1657099 Good to know - when I lived in nyc I could not go to chinatown without stopping in at Kam Man's... Fri Nov 19 15:35:51 -0800 2004 1657055 0 vidia 2 1657122 Vidia, Have you been to Singapore's Banana Leaf at Farmer's Market? I think it's pretty good Singapore/Malaysian food. And after lunch, you can stop at the Cost Plus there and get some English licorice and other candies for dessert. Link: http://www.eatingla.blogspot.com/ Fri Nov 19 19:10:10 -0800 2004 1657012 0 Chowpatty 3 1657130 Hi Patty - yes, I have and unfortunately I have to disagree. I have also been to Penang out in Covina, Belacan Grill in Redondo and Kuala Lumpur in Pasadena, all of which inform my conclusion. I do agree Costplus has a lot of good stuff, especially around x'mas! Fri Nov 19 21:22:13 -0800 2004 1657122 0 vidia 1 1657026 When I was a student in London in 1985, I missed edible food. The stuff they served in the dining hall was abysmal so we lived mostly on Cadbury fruit & nut bars and takeaway hummus. Now in US I miss rich, STRONG full-flavored tea served everywhere from restaurants to sidewalk stalls. Getting a decent cup of tea is impossible outside my home. I buy Barry's tea in the imported foods section at about $6 a box! Thu Nov 18 21:44:28 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Buttercup 1 1657032 Also I'm missing good English breakfasts. The fried toast, bacon and baked beans got me over my hangover and started on a new day everyday... Fri Nov 19 00:06:49 -0800 2004 1656980 0 deibu 1 1657047 I was recently in the UK for a month, and now I REALLY miss the McVitie's Snickers Flapjacks. I've tried looking for them online, but the shipping charges are insane, they come out to around $30-$40! Fri Nov 19 10:02:20 -0800 2004 1656980 0 anne 2 1657121 I'm afraid I must ask...is it a pancake? a candy? a combination of the two? Fri Nov 19 19:06:37 -0800 2004 1657047 0 Chowpatty 1 1657070 In US, I miss: Pork pies Sainsbury's sausage rolls Devon cream Cadbury's Flake and Aero bars Fri Nov 19 12:23:03 -0800 2004 1656980 0 MzMaggie 2 1657131 New York has the british food store "Myers of Keswick" in the West Village which stocks lots of UK goodies. Fri Nov 19 21:54:42 -0800 2004 1657070 0 Jon 3 1657202 Devon and Blakely in midtown also have a decent selection of UK food, including McVities and Hob Nobs Sun Nov 21 16:20:45 -0800 2004 1657131 0 SLO 1 1657084 Is it still true that pizza delivery isn't available in most of the UK? Fri Nov 19 14:04:25 -0800 2004 1656980 0 pecan pie wife 2 1657091 pecan pie wife, you oughtta be joking. Pizza's and their delivery are now extremely common. It is no longer just the domain of the Italians and American's but also include pizza places owned by Indians, Pakistani's, bangladeshi's etc. only difference being that they dont pronounce it as ''Pitz-za'' but do so exactly the way it is spelt ''with a ZZ'', so you gotta be careful when you phone in your order. i heard that there is a new curry pizza being offered. (ps: don't take me seriously, as I am just kidding). Pizza delivery guy's are a rule unto themselves. They go along on these smal motorbikes with barely enough horsepower, and I think 90 percent of them are learner drivers, so the motorist has to watch out for them and not the other way around. Fri Nov 19 15:06:00 -0800 2004 1657084 0 Amin (London Foodie) 1 1657137 Well, last month my source for McVities Digestive Biscuits and Hobnobs dried up, so I'm really missing those. I also miss real Wensleydale cheese. We can get it here, but it doesn't taste the same as it does in Wensleydale. And pork pies, specifically from Appleton's in Ripon. Any kind of meat pies, actually. I can make pasties myself, but they're not the same. When in Yorkshire, I desperately missed peanut butter, and my friend still hankers after Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, so I bring 'em when I go. Fri Nov 19 23:08:52 -0800 2004 1656980 0 klumppilston 1 1657174 In the USA I miss: decent Chinese food, namely: crispy roasted duck that is shredded, not sliced crispy fried seaweed crispy-edged, soft-interior noodles (I like crispy things!) Walls Milk lollies (the phallic-shaped ones, vanilla flavour specifically) M & S - why haven't American supermarkets got the prepackaged cooked food sections right? The little chocolate mice from Harrods Away from America, I miss: Those evil diet chocolate hard candies from CVS (they must have LSD in them-no idea why I'm addicted to them) Ghiardelli's hot chocolate powder Ben 'n Jerry's, although they are thankfully now available everywhere, except SA (see below) I'm somewhat of a strange case, as I was born in London, live in South Africa, study in America and am currently on exchange in Bologna, Italy. Who would have thought there was so much food endemic only to certain countries? Everything tastes best in South Africa, by the way! My saddest example of this is the fact that, despite being in Italy, I would kill for a ciabatta from home. Sat Nov 20 20:02:25 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Kate 2 1657520 25th November 2004 Kate, thanks for your interesting post which I have read in detail today. Sorry that I cannot do for the phallic shaped Walls milk lollies, as they would melt before it reaches your mouth. Have noted your desire for crispy things and also for the ghirardelli hot choc powder, as also for the diet choc mice. You sure have an interesting life, born a Londoner, living in SA, studying in US, and being an exchange student in Italy. I didnt know that SA had their own ciabatta, which by name itself is Italian sounding. ps: Due to google posting my messages in cyberspace, an going a bit incognito as from now onwards, hence the change in the posting style. My email address will henceforth be given below, so hope the CH team do not slap my wrists because of it. (Am sure they won't) Best Wishes / OrientRice@aol.com Thu Nov 25 08:18:45 -0800 2004 1657174 0 Amin 1 1657195 Sincere thanks to all of you who provided such a wonderful insight into those items which are greatly missed by you on either side of the Atlantic. Amin Sun Nov 21 10:03:52 -0800 2004 1656980 0 Amin (London Foodie) 1 2822999 I realize that this thread a a bit old, but someone apparently just revived it, and reading down this list, I felt it only fair to point out to NY residents that Myers of Keswick on Greenwich Ave. (West Village) sells: wine gums, English teas, and biscuits, Heinz beans, mushy peas, Allsorts, jams, puddings (to be steamed at home); many Cadbury and other UK chocolate bars, potato crisps, and much more. Murray's cheese on Blecker St. sells Devon cream. Trader Joe's sells very good crumpets, in my opinion. Also, items such as Ribena, Scottish smoked salmon, Digestives, Marmite, and English cheddars and butters and quite easy to find all over Manhattan nowadays. Oh, and we have Pret a Manger, too! I do Miss Marks n Sparks, though, and some good fish'n'chips with a REAL beer, not the "Americanized" versions that get distributed here. Tue Aug 07 15:07:13 -0700 2007 1656980 102095 vvvindaloo 2 2833799 I spotted Heinz salad creme at the Tea and Sympathy Carry Out shop last night Fri Aug 10 13:08:07 -0700 2007 2822999 102095 vvvindaloo 1 2823039 I miss marmite sandwich spread heinz salad cream brown sauce large eggs all the choccies - picnic, CDM, flakes, galaxy, maltesers etc Bisto good cheddar and other Brit cheeses Scottish Smoked Salmon Walkers crisps squashes ribena rice pud custard treacle and choccie puddings digestives specially the plain ones Gold Blend Instant Coffee double cream butter clotted cream greek yoghurt better fruit and veg selection everything from Marks n Sparks chewy bagels challahs good jams sausages Pizza Express Pizzas can get some of this here but very expensive Tue Aug 07 15:19:01 -0700 2007 1656980 22559 smartie 2 2823207 I lived in London and Birmingham about 6 years ago, and I thought the food was BETTER there then in the US. I miss: FLAPJACKS! Especially the really decadent kind--only people in the UK know the tasty oaty sticky goodness of a flapjack. Balti Indian food in general Shapers sandwiches from Boots Marks n' Sparks food hall Sainsbury's supermarket Odd flavors of thick ridged crisps Odd flavors of hot chocolate Pret a Manger All of those wonderful sandwiches--pineapple and cream cheese, egg mayo and cress, hummus and cuke--you could get in just about every shop. Jacket potato sellers Sugar Mice Flyte chocolate bars While there I missed-- Good bagels Good pizza/Italian food Good Chinese food Some favorite TV dinners, like Lean Cuisine French Bread pizza Low calorie American soft serve Really great coffee Tue Aug 07 16:05:31 -0700 2007 2823039 95065 veganish 3 2823349 and I think American coffee sucks! strange isn't it? Tue Aug 07 16:51:05 -0700 2007 2823207 22559 smartie 1 2833464 When in UK: -produce that wasnt heavily sealed in plastic. -corn: fresh on the cob, meal and masa harina -ny pizza -american chinese food -drinking copious amounts without having dinner -neighborhood restaurants like in brooklyn. -burritos (cheap delicious mexican food) -easy to find frozen spinach in grocery stores (my sainsburys didn't carry it) -donuts back in the usa, missing uk: -sticky toffee pudding -salt and vinegar crisps -diet tonic water -gooseberries -the blackberry bushes where i'd harvest a good gallon of berries a weekend this time of year -indian food -pimms! -those M&S commercials that were practically obscene ("This chicken is no ordinary chicken. It is a dale evens chicken that is drizzled with our fresh gravy") Fri Aug 10 11:45:49 -0700 2007 1656980 22624 relizabeth 1 2836686 Things I missed from the US/Canada (while in the UK for a work holiday in '03): bagels salsa Splenda Things I miss from the UK: curry-flavoured Pringles M&S fat-free vanilla yogurt (with actual vanilla bean!) vegetarian English breakfast Yorkshire pudding easily accessible cider (ditto blackcurrant cordial and snakebites) Bombay mix Cadbury Flake icecream cone Sat Aug 11 16:26:40 -0700 2007 1656980 10681 piccola 1 3242813 This project is really interesting to me as a New Yorker who used to work for a company that imports food from the UK, and as New Yorker who now lives in Oxfordshire and sometimes wants beer from Brooklyn or Skippy peanut butter. Some things you think you want (i.e., Skippy peanut butter) aren't so necessary once you find out they triple in price by the time they get here. Anyway, I'm pretty good at finding what I want, but craft-brewed beers from the US have been almost impossible to find. Brooklyn Brewery's Ale and Lager are sometimes available now, as well as Anchor Steam, but I entertain a good deal and if anyone can find me a good source of a wider variety... Also, coarse cornmeal, huitlacoche, good (american and south american) dried and fresh chiles, Can concord grapes be imported? They might not travel well, but I miss those, too. And maple syrup that's from NY state. P.S. Another goods source of foods from the uk (higher end brands, though, no mc vittie's) is Chelsea Market Baskets in the Chelsea Market on 9th Ave btwn 15th and 16th Streets. Fri Dec 28 10:37:13 -0800 2007 1656980 152984 szep_ilona 1 3285785 Now that I'm living in the US I really, really miss Branston pickle. Ahh... pickle.. Fri Jan 11 12:25:50 -0800 2008 1656980 77084 Shade