G'day all,

I was just wondering if any of you guys out there feel homesick in regards to certain products or food that is not widely available down under?
My partner is from the UK and she misses certain British cheeses, marzipan and other products... please discuss and let me know what stuff you miss if there are any specialist english shops out there.

Pete

Marzipan you can get....Darryl Lea does it covered in chocolate ready to eat. And Coles and Woolies sell it by the packet in the baking aisle!

Cheese you just need to find a good deli.. the range in supermarkets here is not as good!

Cheese:

In this regard, Australia is more of a nanny state than the UK, all cheese has to be made from pasturised milk. Most UK cheese is made from unpasturised milk which gives that extra flavour.

Haven't really found any breakfast cereals I like here, have to stick to Kellogs cornflakes or have something else for breakfast. I think some things are a bit sweeter over here, including cereal and I do not like sweet.

I don't really give the topic much thought and certainly would not say I am homesick for breakfast cereal I just accept that there is a slightly different range of products available and do my shopping.

Greggs.....miss all of their stuff, pasties, steak and chicken bakes, stotties the lot.

Sad I know, but there you have it

Pukka pies
Decent kebabs
Melton mowbray pork pie
Sainsburys takeaway butter chicken


Apart from that NOTHING

I miss being able to pop in to any supermarket,bakers etc and pick up a cheap sandwich. I often think of this when I am packing a picnic for the beach, it would be so much easier and tastier than the sandwiches I make

The choice and variety in the supermarkets, even if I didn't buy most of it.
Much easier to get more specialist products in the UK.
Decent sausages
Pork pies
Fresh berries and figs (too expensive here)
Cereals - can't find one I like, agree with bermudashorts in that they're too sweet (like a lot of foods in Australia). Can get sugar-free and normal Alpen, though.
Dairy - yoghurts, ice creams, cheeses (they tend to think that Stilton is the only British cheese. There is a much better choice in specialist shops, but take out a mortgage first.

Ohh Greggs' mini quiches - quiche is just not the same here Mx

Mmmmm, steak bake and a diet Irn Bru, the necessary stodge for a hangover!

You can usually get English Red Leicester, Double Gloucester and there's another one but can't think what it is from Coles and Woolies. Even our local IGA has been know to stock it. Pretty dear compared to 'local' cheese but is worth a treat now and then.

Our local Coles has a small selection of British food - robinsons barley water, Irn Brew (not the diet one though unless someone's botched the order ) colmans mustard, marrowfat and and bachelors mushy peas etc - not much but every now and then they do treat us to Tunnocks tea cakes. They seemed to have given up on Sarson's vinegar though which is a bit of a b**ger MX

A nice pate, specifically Sainsbury duck and orange pate. *sigh*

[QUOTE=micmay3_in_oz;9104676]You can usually get English Red Leicester, Double Gloucester and there's another one but can't think what it is from Coles and Woolies. Even our local IGA has been know to stock it. Pretty dear compared to 'local' cheese but is worth a treat now and then.QUOTE]

Some of these are not British, though, you have to carefully check the label. One Australia brand making British varieties is Maffra, for example, http://www.maffracheese.com.au/cheese.html. To me their Leicester is nothing like the real thing.

I miss pork pies too.... However, over here in Sydney and within about 150 km radius, Coles, Woolies and some other do sell Patchetts Pork Pies, who's bakery is near Sydney airport. However, I have been able to get Pork Pies from some Coles in Perth area too when I have been working over there.

They are not made by Patchetts, but somebody over in WA. I think actually they may be a bit better than the Sydney ones.

Problem is most supermarkets only get one delivery of them a week, so when they are gone, they are gone.

Oh and we are taking proper pork pies here... 50/50 flour and lard pastry with boiled up pigs trotters for the jelly....Not the Southern Jessie Melton Mobray ones

Oh yes, all those pates, plus the fish ones. The only decent pate I've found is the Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm brand.

Smoked mackeral
Smoked haddock
Proper ham and bacon