dgsyd1

I have two things that I dislike a lot over here. The first is the stuff that passes for Chedder over here, it's the wrong colour usually, and has no flavour to it. Even the extra sharp is milder than a medium English Chedder.
The second is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which I find totally disgusting. In fact on the several occasions when someone has been making comments to me about how bad English food is, I always say "I don't think anyone from a country that invented the peanut butter & jelly sandwich, and fast food is in any position to criticise another country's culinary skills." Luckily all the people I know have a good sense of humour, so we all have a good laugh about it.

Jan Alaska

Can I just thank the Germans for populating this area of Michigan and bringing along wonderful sauerkraut (?sp.) ......... NOT !!! hubby insists on eating it whenever we have sausages (usually Bratwurst) it stinks the kitchen out and the variety he favours is Bavarian which means it has what my kids refer to as "fleas" in it .. caraway seeds I'm informed ... Yuk !

Jan

Dunca

BAD FOOD:
Bread - Good bread needs to be #1 thing to be found. Took me a month to find bread I really liked (a bagette from a patissere!) haven't looked back since.
Bacon - All streaky rind and no meat, again took a month to find something that resembled non-rasher bacon.
Chocolate - Still getting sent my monthly cadbury food parcel. Watch out for any US made cadburys chocolate (made under licence by hershy!!!) not the same...Must say in US favour that Ghirardelli is nice
Beer - I'm not talking as a beer specialist here, what I miss most is a good pint of pissy larger. US larger seems to taste a bit more flowery by comparison
Chips (& Fish) - Please someone open some chip shops over here, I miss chips NOT FRIES....
Scones - This is a side note to the Biscuit discussion, I think its McDonalds who offer Scones with bacon at breakfast...Savory Scones!!! I just don't understand
Fruit & veg - Not really bad (found some really nice organic shops and farmers markets), but does freak me out whenever I visit a Safeway or a Albertsons, rows and rows of shiney, same sized, same shaped bits of fruit and veg...What happened to variety, where does all the ugly food go!

GOOD FOOD:
Burgers - has to be said a good burger is quite hard to beat
Milk Shakes - Can't beat them. No, literally you cant beat them it would break your wisk, v. tastey

Is it weird that food they do well is not that good for you...Ponder...

Don't forget Wine - Good ozzy wine, half the price you would expect (and the US stuff is pretty good aswell)

Last but by no means least has any one else tried the Monte Cristo, Turkey, ham, swiss and cheddar cheese on white bread, dipped in batter and deep fried. Sprinkled with powdered sugar, served with jam. How can that be classified good/bad its just wierd. Takes the mick out of a Glasgow deep fried mars bar.

In general though I have to say you can get great produce, over here, and if you don't mind cooking you can make stuff you miss. apart from:

Pot Noodles
Savory Rice
Mushy Peas
Cup O Soups
Walkers Crisps
Irn Bru
Marmite

ahh chemically induced UK foods I miss them...

...Duncan

FlyergirlUK

Ah, found the KKs, lurking in the Giant and bought myself one with fudge topping and 'custard' in the middle - absolute bliss!!

I agree with ya on the choccy Dunca but the milkshakes suck here, ('specially the choccy ones, totally revolting)! As for the bread, Pepparidge Farm bread gets my vote anyday.
Marmite can be found in my local Giant, (found that out after purchasing some for a hideous price from my local Brit store).

The net is a wonderful place if you're desperate for some Brit grub, there are several different online Brit stores with quite a wide range, between them, of goodies you can buy.

memorex

I really have to Draw the Line with Blue Bunny Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter !!!

Takes Getting Used To !!!

Mem..

dbj1000

Oh, but we've got Mushy Peas (the real flourescent green ones from the UK), Marmite and Pot Noodles in our local Kroger

(must just be those Californicators who don't like chemically enhanced food!)

TRPardoe

Gefilte fish is eaten cold with horsradish. try it, it's fine.

Matzoh balls are made with Matzoh meal, the original biblical "unleavened" bread meal. Rather bland flavoured but ok.

Neither of them will poison you - try them once at least.

Have you actually tried the candied yams with marshmallow ?

One of the joys of travelling/living in foreign parts is the chance to experiment with different foods than one grew up with.

TRPardoe

I find Marmite in the Baking section. Must be because it says "Yeast extract" on the label.

TRPardoe

I have never found a lamb's kidney yet, or a pig's one. These US critters obviously don't have them.

Make your Steak and Kidney with Beef kidney, or if that is too strong flavoured use Veal kidney. Both are available in Publix and Walmart.

ms_bhon

Yes, its true- one thing that drives me nuts is all the added sugar over here. (and I'm American and grew up eating the stuff!).

Its important to read labels. Take a jar of spagehtti sauce, for instance. Most of the brands will have added sugar. But there will be some (maybe Newman's own, maybe Ragu light, most brands at Whole Foods) that won't. Choose carefully.

The same with bread. Read labels. Shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joes or your local french style bakery. Not all bread will have added sugar.

And you're right, "American" cheese is crap... but there are some good local "cheddars". Try Tillamook from Oregon, New York State or Vermont made. Get the "extra sharp". With the exception of Tillamook, skip the prepackaged types like Kraft. Trader Joes and Whole Foods have excellent cheese sections, with hardier cheeses like you're used to.

I love all sorts of good food- and trying out different foods is one of the joys of travelling. But you won't always like some of the local products... think the bread sucks here? Try Hong Kong... Or try getting decent Tex-Mex even in London... its all a matter of perspective, I guess...

NC Penguin

I've yet to try gefilte fish but I don't want to try the stuff in a jar. I've eaten matzo balls (in soup) and they're OK but bland.

I won't forget the first (and only) time I ate sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows. My mother-in-law to-be prepared them as part of the Thanksgiving meal in 2000 and despite the odd sight (Brits don't mix marshmallows with anything except cookies and chocolate really), I did try them and it was pretty yucky!

I always will try eating anything once but I find no desire to eat foods that have been artificially coloured blue or green.

NC Penguin

The availability of any product/foodstuff in the US is wholly dependant on where you live and the people who live in a particular area.

I've seen lamb's kidneys and pig's kidneys in local grocery stores. Also, I was in the largest Chinese grocery store in NC yesterday (it actually might be the second largest since an even bigger one opened in the last 4-5 months), and saw beef tripe, duck's tongues, chicken feet (two types), sheep's uterus (that's what the label said and it didn't look like any animal part I'd seen before), beef tongues and other edible oddities, some of which I don't eat.

tuckersworld

I
I live in a rural area of washington state and the local high schools have a thing called FFA (stand's for future farmers of america) they raise farm animals pig's,cow's,sheep anything that they can show at the local and state fairs,well when they are done showing the animals they slaughter and sell the meat and entrails. FFA is a nationwide program maybe you could find if this program exists in you area.

rincewind

Here are the strangest things I've been introduced to:

1) Mountain Oysters - if you know what they are, you know why.

2) Sea Food - I find the seafood here smells gross. Something on a platter I ate didn't agree with me. I miss me fish 'n' chips.

3) Sweet Potato Pie - and sweet potatoes in general

4) A Milky Way bar, which is in fact a Mars Bar. Damned confusing.

5) Corn Dogs - man they taste disgusting.

6) Swamp Platter - :scared: Gator tail, soft-shell turtle, etc.

7) Grits - living in the south it's a crime to have instant grits. Either way they suck.

8) The cream in donuts and other cakes. It’s like eating raw sugar dipped in the juice of Mountain Oysters.

9) Hot dogs with cheese in the middle.

10) Anything with cheese already added. Man they love cheese.


The foods I love:

1) Beef Jerky (peppered)

2) Twinkies

3) Moon Pies - come on....it's a Wagon Wheel

4) KFC extra crispy - but leave the biscuits alone.

5) Dairy Queen Burgers.

6) Most things as long as it doesn't have cheese already added (like the damn hot dogs).

FlyergirlUK

Cheers for the heads-up TW!
Hubby once did the FFA thing in his younger days in Texas and I'm sure that he'd know where to look.