Foods I can't find in my present location and regional specialties.

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

Funny thing is....you all have just as much food over there. It's just stuff that you are used to seeing, so you don't necessarily think of it as -too much-.

I found just as much junk and crap to eat when I lived over there, as one can here.

Crisps in 15 or more different flavours, all sorts of sweeties....jam tarts, bakewell tarts.....

Shall I go on?

D...who misses Irn Bru

Right on the money! I've never seen so many meat flavoured crisps! 25 varieties of digestive biscuits .. it's funny how much we take familiar foods for granted.

And BeauC, I couldn't agree more.

 

[Emmababy]

you can never have too many meat flavoured products.

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

lol

 

[gluegungeisha]

fftopic: I agree with Miss Neecerie. The problem isn't that We have too much, it's that all first world nations have too much. The problem is actually in distribution, and nutrition. Those who live at poverty level in America buy what they can afford and food manufacturers aren't stupid. If you bring Doritos and McDonald's in at prices far lower than that of local produce and organic meats, guess what people on a budget are forced to buy? And then guess how their palates shape and then re-purchase??

There is more than enough food produced by all of the world to feed everyone, but still it doesn't happen, because there's not enough business in it.

Sorry. I'm a Slow Food member, so I'm all over this kind of thing.fftopic:

Yay, I love Slow Food!

Ever since coming back from Dharamsala, I've been desperately craving Tibetan momos -- they're basically dumplings, but there is something absolutely, addictively AMAZING about them that I just can't put my finger on! I haven't even heard of them in the US.

Albuquerque lacks great pizza. I'm originally a New Yorker -- an Italian New Yorker. This will not do.

Albuquerque also lacks great vegetarian cuisine. I am sooo sick of paying extra at a restaurant to eat a frozen, processed veggie burger! They're really not that hard to make. I love handmade vegetarian Chinese meat substitutes -- there's this one hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Chinatown, NY that makes a mean (mock) mango duck. Very creative preparation.

 

[Viola]

If you bring Doritos and McDonald's in at prices far lower than that of local produce and organic meats, guess what people on a budget are forced to buy?

I never had Doritos and rarely McDonalds as a kid because they were "too expensive."

Staples like rice and beans and pasta and mashed potato flakes were our cheap eats. Which aren't GOOD for you, in the sense they're all starch, but the prepackaged junk foods ain't cheap per serving.

-Viola

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

fftopic: GGGeisha, what is that lipstick you're avatar is wearing??

 

[pigeon toe]

I can't find a single Italian place in California that serves either Italian ice or garlic knots. That's pretty much all I miss about living on Long Island!

I also fell in love with 99's (soft serve ice cream with a Cadbury Flake) when I went to Ireland. I could eat 10 of those a day. They are amazing!

 

[gluegungeisha]

fftopic: GGGeisha, what is that lipstick you're avatar is wearing??

Eek! It was actually my MUA's from a shoot I did yesterday, but she said it's Chanel -- didn't catch the shade. The lipliner is Anna Sui.

The lipstick stayed very well through the day, and I looooved the shade, but Chanel is one of the top 20 "brands of concern" on the EWG's cosmetic safety database...yikes. I'm personally going to jump for Besame. Dr. Hauschka's is the best in terms of shade and quality, but it's so pricey!

 

[pigeon toe]

They don't have Flaming Hot Cheetos or Flaming Hot Fritos in New York, it seems. I brought some with me from Texas but they are all gone now!

No!!! I would die without my Flaming Hot Cheetos! Now I'm never moving to New York!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I never had Doritos and rarely McDonalds as a kid because they were "too expensive."

Staples like rice and beans and pasta and mashed potato flakes were our cheap eats. Which aren't GOOD for you, in the sense they're all starch, but the prepackaged junk foods ain't cheap per serving.

-Viola

Rice and Beans are actually decent for you if served together, since they make a complete protein. Which is why Brazil isn't more malnutritioned then it is.

mmmm I ate rice and beans 2 times a day for 8 months or so.

 

[beaucaillou]

I never had Doritos and rarely McDonalds as a kid because they were "too expensive."

Staples like rice and beans and pasta and mashed potato flakes were our cheap eats. Which aren't GOOD for you, in the sense they're all starch, but the prepackaged junk foods ain't cheap per serving.

-Viola

This elucidates what I'm talking about:

http://www.queenstribune.com/news/1180036428.html

 

[Viola]

This elucidates what I'm talking about:

http://www.queenstribune.com/news/1180036428.html

Yeah, I read that and some other articles on it. None of the guys involved seemed to know how to shop on a budget. Its forty bucks a week. Those aren't NICE choices in the sense of hitting up Trader Joe's, but you shouldn't have to be missing meals.

One of the Congressmen involved was boo-hooing about no steak.

-Viola

 

[beaucaillou]

Yeah, I read that and some other articles on it. None of the guys involved seemed to know how to shop on a budget. Its forty bucks a week. Those aren't NICE choices in the sense of hitting up Trader Joe's, but you shouldn't have to be missing meals.

One of the Congressmen involved was boo-hooing about no steak.

-Viola

40$ a week for a single person or couple, definitely. A small family or people with babies have to consider things like diapers, formula, et. al. I think too we have to consider things like 1) single parents 2) families where members have multiple jobs and then time becomes the number one issue. I'm sure it often seems economical and easier to just hit a dollar menu somewhere then to spend time cooking a meal.

And produce isn't that cheap anymore. Seasonal fruits and vegetables can be, but with gas prices and how much fuel it actually takes to get the product to market, well, it's not like I remember when I was little. Plus, produce spoils quickly which is another factor.

 

[Viola]

40$ a week for a single person or couple, definitely. A small family or people with babies have to consider things like diapers, formula, et. al. I think too we have to consider things like 1) single parents 2) families where members have multiple jobs and then time becomes the number one issue. I'm sure it often seems economical and easier to just hit a dollar menu somewhere then to spend time cooking a meal.

And produce isn't that cheap anymore. Seasonal fruits and vegetables can be, but with gas prices and how much fuel it actually takes to get the product to market, well, it's not like I remember when I was little. Plus, produce spoils quickly which is another factor.

Its $40.00 a person. The family where the Congressman and his wife did it got $80. With little kids that means you can really feed multiple people on that, their portions are smaller, or you can offset the higher cost of produce.

I was just gobsmacked by these grown-@ss men in positions of power who do not know how to purchase groceries economically. Yeah, I want you in charge of fiscal policy, Congressman Dumb-butt.

-Viola

 

[Flivver]

Vernor's Ginger Ale...a Detroit original, is available throughout much of the U.S. But not here in New England. And there's nothing else quite like it.

I've been known to bring home a supply of Vernor's when traveling to Detroit on business.

 

[Smithy]

Being a Kiwi in Norway there's one or two things that I can't buy here. Big ones on the list are:

Vegemite and Marmite (you can get the English Marmite here but it's not the same)
Biltong from Fred's Fine Foods in Auckland
Sausage rolls
Steak and cheese pies (actually any kind of meat pie)
Arnott's Cheddar Shapes
Traditional Kiwi white bread
Kumara

Luckily though there's a few shops which stock British goods for homesick expats so I can buy HP or Daddies Sauce, decent marmelade, good tea, biscuits, etc.

 

[John in Covina]

SHRIMP TOAST is available at Yang Chow in Chinatown Los Angeles?

Woo-Hooo!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Speaking of British delicacies, how about good cheap Stateside source for Bovril? I know it can be ordered at hijack prices by specialty shops, but there's gotta be a better and cheaper way. I was introduced to the magic of Liquid Cow by a British pal years ago, and there really *is* nothing like it on a cold winter morning.

 

[Smithy]

You can get it in NZ Lizzie but that's not much help!

My Mum used to give us Bovril when we were sick. That and arrowroot biscuits, worked a trick!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Speaking of British delicacies, how about good cheap Stateside source for Bovril? I know it can be ordered at hijack prices by specialty shops, but there's gotta be a better and cheaper way. I was introduced to the magic of Liquid Cow by a British pal years ago, and there really *is* nothing like it on a cold winter morning.

Oh I do sympathise.....Ribena is also only at 'hijack' prices here...although I can find it easily....

It has thus turned into a treat...to be savored for as long as I can make a small bottle last.

and don't even get me started on Irn Bru....


D.....sobs in a corner