British food is somewhat easy to come by living in the 'burbs - at least in the larger supermarkets or more higher price specialised stores. Passing through Royal Oak at the weekend we took for having a wander inside Holiday Market - a higher end supermarket which has an average sized British section (right next to some interesting looking German imports if I do say so).
Standing infront of all the British food goodies makes me feel like a kid in a sweets store, and being a little over priced, I tend to only buy one thing at a time depending on my cravings. It amuses as well as intrigues me as to just what food you'll find upon those British shelves - what do American store owners think is typically enough British to be there and therefore what are people (expats or otherwise) buying.
Regardless of the store there's some regular products - your Birds custard, mushy peas (was very tempted), HP sauces (more likely to be the normal over fruity version), PG Tips (Tetley you can find in the normal tea aisle) and some form of digestive or hobnob, maybe some Ribenna. As for chocolate bars - well for $1.70 (plus tax) you might want to purchase yourself a single Aero bar, Yorkie Bars, Double Decker, Curly Wurly, Bounty or Lion bar. You'll always find some version of marmalade, vinegar, Marmite and gravy granules, I even saw Penguin bars this time, but sadly no Irn Bru.
I did see Pickled Walnuts - I've never even heard of pickled walnuts. I know there's this image that us Brits like anything that's pickled, but walnuts, really?!
So what did I buy?
Salad Cream.
Yes the Yorkshire lass who has been away from the home turf for over two years brought one bottle of salad cream over everything else. Why?! Because there's nothing like it in the US. There might be endless - and I really mean huge salad dressing shelves in supermarkets here but there is nothing like salad cream and not being a huge fan of mayo, nothing comes close.
How much for said salad cream - $5.29 - worth every last cent.
What food(s) would you miss if you left your home country?
PS. Thanks for all the lovely comments on yesterdays whiskey post - it went down a lot better then I had expected. Liquor posts may have to become another feature across the year.
What food(s) would you miss if you left your home country?
PS. Thanks for all the lovely comments on yesterdays whiskey post - it went down a lot better then I had expected. Liquor posts may have to become another feature across the year.