When we moved I posted this about foods I would miss while in the UK. I don't know if it was pregnancy or what but it turns out the top foods I am looking forward to are - veggie burgers, spinach dip, cool whip, ice cream (the stuff at the store is made with dried milk - not sure who thought this was a good idea...) wheat thins and goldfish. I wanted to do a list of the foods I have found over here that I know I will miss when I return.
This is a list focused on sweets, there is a tomato chutney that I love, pasties and they have lamb burgers to die for, but other than that there really isn't any "real food" I will miss (I don't think... not seeing craving the sausage paste wrapped in puff pastry anytime soon, although some people love it). England is known for their curries, but I had major aversion while pregnant and now Elise can't tolerate them so I can't really comment. The cheese is amazing over here but I think I can find quality cheese in the states (at least in CA). Food is more expensive in general so I hope if I am willing to pay the price I can find similar quality cheese - just need to not fall for the super cheap Kraft stuff (yeah, that isn't how cheddar is supposed to taste people). This list also doesn't cover the fresh baked goods that are so tasty bc those vary by bakery - there is a little place with fresh bread we pick up almost weekly that Hadley and I will definitely miss.
The candy is a bit different over here, for one thing the chocolate is WAY better, they have Twix and KitKats that don't taste anything like the states. The other is their food culture comes into play, the English expect their food to go bad and plan accordingly. They do not expect their candy bar to be good for 12 months minimum like most Americans do so they have a little bit more leeway on what they can design (they also are not shipping items from one side of a massive nation to the other). There is a wafer and caramel bar here that is really tasty but after a month or so gets soggy, the English don't care, they just eat it instead of store it. I can't tell you what this would be like as a developer!! My food nerd is showing so I will get to the good stuff...
Let's start with the basics -
Pure Milk Chocolate, should be savored straight
M&Ms on crack, trust me
Personal favorite out of all the random bars (couldn't post all of them!) this is like a 100 Grand but with nougat instead of caramel
Wafer "pockets" filled with hazelnut cream and coated in chocolate - AMAZING!! There are hardly any peanut butter items over here (some of the high end shops refuse to carry peanut butter items bc they think it risks looking too "American" and the association with poor chocolate ...yes, I talk to candy shop owners, doesn't everyone?) but there are numerous Hazelnut/Praline products.
Caramel outside, chocolate inside.
Slightly fizzy gummies, they are delish and extremely addicting.
I didn't really fall in love with any other gummie type products. I didn't love the textures (more wine gums, starches) or the different flavors such as Elderberry or Elderflower (so popular but tastes like you are chewing on perfume, gag). The exception would be Haribo which you can get in the states although there are a few different versions over here.
The High End Stuff -
Thorntons is comparable to See's in my eyes. I feel in love with the mint truffles with bits of crispy mint honeycomb, I am headed there this week to pick up some to bring in my suitcase. They have some great fruit truffles and a whipped chocolate center one that literally melts in your mouth.
Hotel Chocolat, just good high end chocolate. Cherry truffles are my pick.
Non Candy Sweets -
These are definitely English. Kind of an oatmeal cookie/baked granola bar thing. Caramely and oaty and downright good.
I ate so many of these when we first moved here and I lived down the street from M&S, there are other brands but this is the best. Delicate chocolate cookie, marshmallow top and drenched in chocolate - the proportions are perfect.
Hadley will miss these. They give "biscuits" (which are just cookies but it does sound healthier this way) as snacks to kids. So I started bringing some of my own and she got hooked, vanilla cookie with vanilla creme - nothing fancy but they are yummy. I am pretty sure I have seen similar ones in the states so I will just need to look around.
We tried a lot of typical English items such as digestives, pastilles and pink nougat but the ones I listed are the ones we kept coming back to and I know will be hard to find in the states. It will be interesting to see if there are other foods I miss. I have had so much fun trying all the new foods, we have had to pace ourselves because they are not the most waist friendly items! I think we have tried pretty much every candy I wanted to test!
One food related item I will really miss is the natural colors over here - a few years ago they outlawed all artificial colors. I have worked extensively with artificial colors and have no problem with them and do not find them dangerous. But there are so many things we can do with natural colors that I would just rather not add one more thing. The catch is the colors ARE different, they are not as vibrant and you can only get a few shades and can fade, it took a bit for England to adjust but it is standard now. I honestly can't see it ever happening in the states, I cannot tell you how many consumer reviews I sat though where they said they wanted all natural but didn't want the product to look different, taste different, act different or cost more. We tend to be a very demanding nation, this is great for things such as getting internet on time and customer service but can be a bit difficult in other areas where there has to be a trade off. They don't have many competing brands which is good and bad, it is expensive to own a manufacturing plant so you don't see store brands and 5 different types of the same cereal, competition is always good but when you make the same thing and everyone is just trying to do it cheaper to compete (or have the brightest/best color) then it can cause a once good product to compromise on integrity to stay in business. Americans are not the best at paying for quality, we want it cheap and expect it to be quality. I am not pointing fingers, I cannot wait to get back to the Target dollar bin!! But it does effect our food system. On the flip side though, when you don't have competing brands sometimes the first thing you make isn't always the best - there is a fruit leather over here that is just horrendous and poorly designed, but since there isn't anyone trying to compete they don't bother to change it. I have found the food culture fascinating over here.
Ok - if you actually read that last paragraph, thanks for reading to the bottom and indulging me. This is basically the only record I have of our experiences and I have been trying to capture all I can! When I was younger I honestly believed I would not forget anything, now that I am older I cannot remember where I put my phone.
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