Canada is a very large country. You may have mentioned in another post where you're headed, but I can't be arsed to search.

Basically, if you live in or near Toronto you can get anything. This might be true from what I've heard of Vancouver and certainly is of Montreal.

Anywhere else it's crap.

I'm curious as to what counts as small city living.

Oooh... Moncton?

Well I agree.

It's just that these things that one can't get in small cities are widely available here, so perhaps it doesn't count.

Maybe this idea that Canada is only Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal is just a bit...well...snobbish?

Or practical.

Look, I'm sure you're immensely satisfied with Moncton and good for you. But have you ever been to Toronto?

Yes, a few times.

I also lived in Montreal for nine months before moving to Moncton.

Canada is no more only Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto than England is just London. Or France is just Paris.

I've said before that in some ways Moncton and NB aren't as advanced as some places.

But this idea that so many things are routinely unavailable is just a crock.

Agreed. It comes down to people not knowing where to look and/or shopping in Canada the same way they did in the UK.

I live in a 'small city' and I think Toronto is over-rated. That's a common opinion in central and western Canada. Luckily here in Regina we have stores with lots and lots of good food to buy so we never have to go there again. In the late 60's on holiday, seeing the sights, riding the TTC, touring ROM, daytrip on the train to Niagara Falls, even weekend leaves in 72 drinking Younge St dry Toronto was nice, but I haven't had any desire to go there in 30 years or more.
Good cheese is expensive here, so is booze and tobacco products. Mediocre cheese is less expensive, but still dear by your standards because of protectionism. We have to impose duties on wholesale dairy imports to keep our milk producers in business because the US subsidises their dairy farmers and so the price here is high. I compromise by buying when I see cheese I like on sale or reduced for quick sale. Not only bacon but pork sausages will go up in price now, and I wouldn't be surprised at a marginal increase in other meat prices just because of demand. No need to become vegan yet, as I see it, explore buying from local producers at the farmgate and a whole new range of culinary possibilities may open up. So you don't yet have to stop and examine that swollen raccoon on the shoulder of the road :-), the critteur de jour.

A lot of problems with food comes down to how well you know where you are living and how prepared you are to track down what you want. I have been pleasantly surprised by lots of fresh Canadian foods, seafood, lobster and beef and pork and great veggies and decent mixed cereal breads. Not from supermarkets though. I refuse to eat anything that has had a month of international air travel. Prepared things are generally horrid as there's always a bit of maple syrup lurked in or Something that's going to make you glow in the dark. I'm going great guns with the cheese, but it's not cheap. I have found decent local goats cheese, local cheddar and Brie. I haven't had good bacon, but am going to try harder to get something better. Sausages are great from the Farmers Markets.

Ok I realise I am going to attract a whole bunch of comments here, but the other way around is true as well... Yes, it might be difficult to find food you love and are used to here, but it is equally difficult to find food Canadians love and are used to in the UK. I am Canadian, with a british hubby living here, and we are fortunate that cheese is not high on hubby's list of requirements (an oddity, I know), and we have found sausages that he likes.

When we travel to the UK, I do not eat the cheese there (yuck, too strong), not keen on the bacon (too "sour", sausages are ok though. Not that they are not good, they are not just what I am used to or like. If I moved to the UK, would I ever get used to the stuff there or would I seek the food I am used to? I guess I might try and get used to what's readily available, and seek only the stuff I love when absolutely necessary and to satisfy a craving. But I certainly do not expect to find cheap maple syrup, tourtiere or even squeaky cheese (yup I like it) in the local Tesco's. I also don't expect it at Save-on-foods in BC either... It's all supply and demand isn't it?

That being said I'm all for helping hubby feel at home here, hence our search for foods he's used to eating and likes. If that means paying more for cheese and sausages, so be it

When you go to the UK just pour lots of sugar over your food and it'll taste just like stuff in Canada.

My local butchers/grocers/general store sells locally baked bread of all sorts, including low salt/sugar versions.

The two main supermarket chains here sell the same stuff from the same bakers in the same wrappers.

Does this happen nowhere else?

Not everything has sugar on it. And maple syrup has a distinctive flavour. Saying that you can replace maple syrup with sugar is equivalent to saying that UK cheese can be replaced with brick cheese... Obviously not the case according to all the posts here

Personally (and that's just my personal taste not the opinion of every canadian) I find there is too much reliance on red meat and fatty meat stuff in meals in the UK. I always have indigestion when travelling to the UK. Pork pies, sausages and bacon and deep fried eggs and fried bread and fried mushrooms at breakfast...sausages and meat pies and pasties accompanied by chips for other meals. Or maybe hubby misses that stuff too much and we end up having a smorgasbord of UK foods when we go over...

Pork Pies... what I wouldnt give for a nice pork pie around now...

Totally agree with that statement.