If you live in Europe, what American products do you crave? [Moved from International board]
We are about to visit relatives in the Netherlands and would like to bring some food products for them. But given that most things seem to taste better over there, we're not sure what to bring! What American products do you crave when not in the U.S.? We live in California, so one thing we thought of bringing was avocados. And we know that our relatives like American-style peanut butter. Other than that, we're stumped. Any ideas?
Nicole
Feb 16, 2008 06:56PM
Check before you take fresh fruits or vegetables anywhere; they could well be confiscated. Avocadoes aren't rare in Northern Europe, they seem to come from Israel or southern Europe, depending on the season.
I'm surprised about the peanut butter, because pindakaas is very common in the Netherlands, and doesn't seem very different. (I only eat the peanuts-only kind, which is obviously similar at natural-food shops on either side of the pond, but the type with sugar and hydrogenated oils exists there too, in all supermarkets).
How about some quality organic products - challenging the often-held comment that people in the US (and to some extent here - I live in Montréal so I'm not US American, but North American) eat crap? There are many lovely Californian products - you might even take a bottle of quality Californian wine if they like wine, or olive oil.
Of course from my parts I always am expected to take a tin of maple syrup, but that isn't remotely local for you.
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Avocados and American-style peanut butter are easy to find in Europe. For me, I miss having poblano chiles, tomatillos and meyer lemons. Dry masa is available (though expensive) but fresh masa is not. But for someone else it could that what they really really want is a pack of twinkies. One woman I know always brought back a bunch of kraft mac n' cheese. Why not ask them if they can think of anything? If they are foodie types you can also ask if they are interested in any of the cookbooks that have come out recently in english, or kitchen gadgets, which tend to be cheaper in the US.
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How about some good quality bacon? I find bacon to be rather expensive in Germany -- not sure what it's like in the Netherlands, though.
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Suggestions: masaharina for making tortillas and tamales, corn husks, dried chilis; nori, California Japanese rice, Asian piclked vegetables, ume, soba noodles, fish sauce, aburage; raisins, peanut butter, common US candy bars, DVDs of fave US cooking/food shows.
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While the Mexican foods you mention might be an option, I'd be rather suprised if the most of the Asian ingredients weren't readily available in the many Asian grocery stores in the Netherlands. And raisins? You're kidding, right? '-)
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Isn't there something special about California raisins? They sing and dance, right? Seriously, if you find some high quality local product, even if it's something "ordinary" like dried fruits and nuts (pistachios!), it will be appreciated. And like Behemoth, I would also suggest just asking them. You might learn something surprising/disturbing about these relatives, and you won't end up bringing them a suitcase full of tamale-making ingredients that they have no idea what to do with.
I always ask for candy corn. And nobody ever brings me any.
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Ha, candy corn is actually a good call. I always send my husband the most tacky Hallowe'en and Valentine's day candy I can find if I am in the US during that time of year. It doesn't help our culinary reputation any, but I think his colleagues are always really amused.
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Indonesian items are readily available. Any Japanese goods seem really expensive, albeit available. Raisins are available, but California raisins are better and much less expensive.
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Definitely ask them, because it depends on country/region and the person.
I crave black beans. I can't find them at all in my region in France. My family has also sent and/or brought me pancake mix, tomatillos (canned), Mexican spices, Japanese rice, miso, nori, certain soup mixes and cans/boxes of chicken stock (hard to find in France, surprisingly).
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mcdon,
I had to laugh about the chicken stock. We have friends who live in Paris, and when we visit we like to cook dinner for them one night. I was amazed that I could not get chicken stock, and had to use bouillon cubes. I also could not find fresh sage. Luckily I did find some packaged from Provence, which were whole leaves and not completely dry, but still not like fresh which I can get in supermarkets in the U.S. We like to think the French are so sophisticated when it comes to food, but they are really not all that adventurous with things that are not traditionally used in French cooking.
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And yet chicken stock and sage are very much used in French cooking. Perhaps "real" cooks make their own - I do, but then I mostly work at home, and stock is something you can have going in the kitchen while writing on the computer at the other end of the apartment or house. (Though yes, years ago I DID have a disaster when working to a tight deadline, so I won't make it then). It seems to me that I've seen the packaged stock - such as Knorr - in French supermarkets.
But indeed, not all French people are gourmet cooks by any means.
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I don't know if it is the case in France, but in Germany I was initially thrown off by the format. Ready-made stock comes in glass jars. Another good tip (at least in Germany), is that you can often buy stock at a butcher shop.
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posh english lady wanted hershey's cocoa to make brownies. yes, hershey's cocoa!
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I really used to miss crunchy cheetos. And Reese's pb cups. And Kraft dinner.
All foods I try to avoid nowadays. ah, childhood -- sigh
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I've lived in Europe for the past 5 years (UK, France, Czech Rep) and i suggest you bring items that have a long shelf life and can be enjoyed well after you've visited and items that pack easily. Finally, bring a good recipe for ranch and/or blue cheese dressings. A couple tips and sure fire expat needs are:
-Frank's Red Hot and or other hot sauces
-Reese's PB cups
-Steal cut oats
-Rye Whisky
-Twizzlers
-Cilantro
-Marshmallow and graham crackers
-Kids here love the plethora of American fruit snacks Fruit Roll ups, gushers etc. take them out of the box and they pack well.
-A can of Pabst so they realize how good the beer they're drinking really is.
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I'm very surprised that you were unable to find cilantro (not native to the Americas, by the way) in Arab or Vietnamese/Chinese shops in large French cities, or in South Asian or East Asian shops in the UK. I have certainly bought it in Paris, and also in Amsterdam.
I don't get the oats thing, with respect to the UK. Of course they have steel-cut oats.
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Have no idea about Europe, but whenever I go to Korea, I must bring Oh Boy Oberto Beef Jerky, JIF peanut butter, and American candy (i.e., snickers, sweettarts, skittles, sour patch kids, etc.) to my friends relatives (per their request)...
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Dried cranberries and sour cherries!
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My American aunt that lives in Spain begs me for chocolate chips and marshmellows.
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I was also going to say chocolate chips--an American in our company who lives in Germany asks for them whenever anyone here is going over.
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Steak that I've had at Outback in the US far exceeds steak that I've had all over Europe.
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That's been my experience in the 6 or so countries I've visited. I was most surprised the first time I was in Ireland. I recently watched Bobby Flay's Saint Patrick's Day special where he went on and on about how good the beef is in Ireland because the grasses are so lush. That's what you'd think, right? But I've not found it to be the case. He said they import a lot of their steak. WTF? I also thought the steak quality was poor in Italy and France last summer. I came home CRAVING red meat.
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A friend of mine from Italy told me that his father ate steak when he came to the US everyday.
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Millions and millions of Italians moved to Argentina precisely to eat steak everyday. Italy has very little grazing land; that is why cattle are slaughtered as grain veal, not beef.
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It never would have occurred to me, but that makes perfect sense. I always thought veal and Italian food was a preference rather than a practicality.
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Whenever I go back home to the Netherlands, my family always ask me to bring Hot Sauce (especially Tabasco Chipotle & louisiana Hot Sauce) Babrbecue Sauce (Bulls Eye) dried Chipotles (yes, very popular in my family and they don't seem to have it in Holland) Peanutbutter cups (they have snickers, skittles, milky way, etc in Holland, and sorry to say, but the chocolate candybars are way better there.....) and Kashi Bars.
Some other things I can think of... : Chocolate covered Pretzels, Wasabi Soy Almonds, Salsa & Queso dips, anything mexican or barbecue items.... Chips Ahoy or maybe even Cheerios....
I would ask them!
Be careful with any kind of produce or meats though, I believe you're not supposed to bring them in the country
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The novelty of American food was for me at least - the "junkier" stuff:
Reese's Peanut butter cups
Kraft Dinner
chocolate chips (the ones that usually have a delish choc chip cookie recipe on the pack)
Pop Tarts (I DREAMED of these as a child - after being served them for *breakfast* at an American friend's house)
Anything with "fake cherry flavour" - ie fruit rollups, jolly ranchers, tootsie roll pops - same goes for "fake grape"
In Norway we don't get blue m&Ms (illegal colouring), so I thought that was quite novel.
Chips ahoy equivalents are available in Europe, same with Cheerios, but Oreos aren't everywhere as far as I know...
And Fruit snacks! The ones that are actually candy masquerading as "fruit" - SOOO good!
Haha, that's all my guilty pleasures in one go...
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*laugh*
hangrygirl, awesome post. i'm including all of your suggestions in my next care package to my sister. i don't even think she likes pop tarts or kraft dinners, but maybe she can sell them to all the expat kids in her apt building for a profit.
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As a few posters have said already, chocolate chips are a valued commodity in many parts of Europe. My sister lives in Switzerland, homeland of great chocolate, but it's still hard to find it in chip form.
In care packages to her, I usually include c chips, as well as peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips. (Ghiradelli makes good versions of most of these.) I also include vanilla extract because vanilla is more often found as beans than as a liquid -- at least in Switzerland -- and sometimes you just want the convenience of processed shiznit. Cheddar cheese is rare in many parts, though similar cheeses exist. Oh -- and very important for anyone who likes to junk out: American style potato chips, esp. in BBQ, sour cream & onion, and "cheddar" flavors.
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I have a sister that lives in the netherlands and she always asks for Little Debbies for her and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for her Dutch husband. He loves them and I try to take enough of the individual snack packs so he can pack one with his lunch for a couple of months at least. He actually tries to ration them so they last as long as possible. Another one that may sound a bit odd is Girl Scout Cookies. Another one of my sister's cravings.
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When I lived abroad I most wanted people to bring me:
chocolate chips
maple syrup and pancake mix
stuffing mix for Thanksgiving turkey
any bag of Fritos, Chitos, American potato chips etc.
Even though I consider myself a "gourmet" cook, I am totally an American food junky for the above items once in a great while. It reminded me of home.
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Soda is always a good one, because certain sodas are just not available outside america. Rootbeer, sioux city etc etc.
And also, a jar of marshmallow fluff. Can't go wrong. I would hesitate to bring chocolate though. American chocolate is among the worst I've tasted (bar "cooking chocolate" bleagh, so waxy). One exception is hersheys cookie and cream.
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My friend in the UAE always wants the 100 calorie bags of microwave kettle corn and popcorn. Go figure.
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Depending on when you go - canned pumpkin is almost impossible to find overseas. Though if you're located near an American Embassy, they will give canned pumpkin out for free around Thanksgiving time. At least the busy folks at the American Embassy in Dublin did.
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good point on the canned pumpkin. I've lived since 1980 in Italy and for the past 10 years or so it's been easy to find chocolate chips, cheerios and other things. Canned pumpkin is impossible to find, as is cranberry sauce, stuffing mix and (though a non-food item) ...Bounce sheets for the dryer. I always have to bring back numerous boxes for my friends with dryers. Oh and ziplock bags!!
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In Jerusalem, most likely thanks to their large American population - we were able to track down canned pumpkin eventually...and we probably tested exactly how long canned pumpkin can last. However cranberries, cranberry sauce - we never were able to find that.
That being said, if you're going to visit in the spring - bringing over Thanksgiving staples might be an odd choice.
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I always take PAM- my mom loves it and can't get it in Poland. Also good California olive oil, wine, See's candies. Once I even brought a huge Honeybaked ham for Xmas:-))))
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on a tangential note, the ex-pat community around Madrid in the late 80's circulated cheat sheets of where one might find these sorts of things, collaboratively developed over years of hunting. it came to several pages of sources all over the metro area. why someone would want to drive 40+ minutes for Spam is anyone's guess.
but I guess homeland and childhood cravings get strong.
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When I lived in Douala Cameroon (West Africa) in the '70s, I was in a network of Americans and Brits that would telephone each other when they found a food from home in a shop (i.e. "The chinese store has Campbell's Chicken Noodle!!) We would drive long distances over rut-filled roads to pick up a case (if we were lucky) or even a few cans. I once drove four hours to an experimental dairy farm and waited two hours for cows to be milked in order to purchase 2 litres of fresh milk. Our only other resourse was UTP milk which in those days tasted a lot worse than Parmalat, or canned evaporated.
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There is no Chef Boyardee ravioli here in Colombia; and I wouldn't drive out of Cali for a can or two. That's why its so good when I work in DC and have a suite w/ kitchen. Now let me say, "You're kidding" as to Campbell's Chicken Noodle!
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I agree with you about the Chicken Noodle, Sam. It was just an example. However, be it Campbells or Chef Boyardee, these things are coveted perhaps less for the taste than for the good memories they trigger.
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When I visited friends in Italy they begged me to fill my suitcases with, of all things, lime jello and Lawry's seasoned salt.
They're not normal. *G*
When I returned home I brought 5 jars of Nutella. The American version just doesn't taste the same!
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My German friends always request the Lime-flavored Tortilla Chips. It gets to be a bit bulky, but it's worth it to see the joy on their faces. Kettle corn popcorn is always a hit, too.
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If you live in California, why not take a box of See's candy? In my experience you can get anything in Europe you can get here, grocery-wise, but you can't get See's. (I can't even get it in Chicago.)
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You can't really bring many of these but when I travel abroad I mostly crave:
Many American craft beers
An excellent steak
A great burger
Corn
Cornbread
Corn Chowder
Jewish Deli
American breakfast: eggs, sausage, waffles, pancakes, grits, hashbrowns . . .
bbq
good fried chicken and a plate of buttermilk biscuits
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My sister lives in Spain and when she comes home she goes crazy with the cheesecake. She's made it in Spain so she must be able to find the ingredients, but she had to call home to get a recipe. When she comes home, though, she hits a good cheesecake shop and buys several to box up and take back.
Maybe other countries in Europe have some variation of this, though.
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