I’ve lived in some weird and rural parts and could still find a lot of the staples but what I missed the most was:

Mature cheddar. A robust Everyman cheese that you put in a sarnie or on a cottage pie. I could get all sorts of pretentious cheese from all over the world but no big standard cheddar that could cut it like a basic Cathedral City. All too weak and milky.

Chutney. For the cheese. It’s a weird concept for most. Mrs Balls in SA was the closest on all my travels but it was a weird hybrid of curry and cheese chutney that managed to not go with either, probably because it’s meant for sausages.

Marmite. I have learned to gather those wee jars to take as every Brit immigrant will be clucking for this one once the excitement of being abroad wears off. A good one for when you’re sad.

Bland sausages. Supermarket, generic, Richmond, everyday sausages. I’ve had to adapt hangovers to many different countries because fry ups are far to flavourful for my sorry state and make me emotional.

Salt and vinegar crisps. The best flavour apparently doesn’t exist. See also pickled onion flavour.

Cream of Tomato soup in a can. This with marmite toast is what I have when I’m ill so it’s noticeable in its absence. Hard to make it taste like that without the metallic bit.

Fizzy sweets. It’s a texture thing that other countries mess up.

There’s loads of amazing, tasty, flavourful, and healthy food in the world that absolutely blows all of this out of the water and I definitely tried as much as I could. I ate local and didn’t bother with American fast food etc but sometimes I would miss home and the silly bland crap I grew up with.