If you moved abroad, what UK foods would you miss the most?
Posted by VodkaLimesAndSoda@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 92 comments
Imagine you're putting together a care package for yourself. What would you put inside it? I'm curious to see what sort of little or big things you would miss if you ever left the UK when it came to food and drink that is non-perishable and unique to or associated with the UK. Ideally, be specific with brands or items. Equally, you can also mention things that couldn't go in a care package but are unique to the UK, like scotch eggs, a sunday roast, chips and curry sauce, etc.
For me, the biggest priority above everything else would be Yorkshire Tea English Breakfast. English Breakfast tea, especially good tea, seems to be hard to find outside of the Anglosphere. I'd also fill my care package with Bourbon Cream biscuits, Digestives (Plain and Milk Chocolate), Jammy Dodgers, Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Patak's curry paste, Tunnock's Caramel Wafers, and Robinson's Apple & Blackcurrant Squash.
There are probably other items I would miss that I can't think of, but those are the important ones to me that I would really miss.
JourneyThiefer@reddit
The soda bread you get here in NI, dno if GB has it either actually?
picnicspotlover@reddit
No. I miss proper soda bread. When I’m home I eat my body weight in soda bread daily 🤣🤣🤣
Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit
Luckily incredibly easy to make!
picnicspotlover@reddit
I can’t make bread these days because of my health issues. :( I used to make lots of bread. There’s nothing like homemade
LegolasleChat@reddit
Lived overseas for over ten years. Each trip back I'd bring a spare suitcase and ice blocks so I could stock up on stuff I couldn't get, namely Cheddar cheese and other UK specific ones, veggie sausages and other veggie meats. And I'd also take back tins of craft beer, as many as I could within weight limit distributed across my suitcases.
Psychological-Bag272@reddit
Fish and chips and everything else that usually go with it; vinegar, curry sauce... There is just no other countries in the world that makes deep fried battered fish as good as over here. And the chip shop vinegar is not easy to find in other countries.
JourneyThiefer@reddit
Ireland does to be fair
MojoMomma76@reddit
And Australia
CoconutCaptain@reddit
Australia does not do fish and chips like the UK. No vinegar/curry sauce unless you go to a specialist “British” fish and chip shop.
MojoMomma76@reddit
I had some in a fish and chip shop north of Sydney that were perfect. Big bottle of malt vinegar no questions asked and thick fluffy and crunchy chips. If you haven’t travelled, don’t pretend to have. I’ve also had gooduns in New Zealand but the batter is not quite as good and reliable as in Aus.
CoconutCaptain@reddit
If I haven’t travelled hahah what? I’m from the UK and have been living in Australia for 5 years. Great you had one good one but that’s not the standard. New Zealand was fine but also not like from the UK.
Psychological-Bag272@reddit
Oh, didn't knos that as I have never been to Ireland 😅
JourneyThiefer@reddit
It’s literally exactly the same ha ha
BeardedBaldMan@reddit
From experience.
Floury potatoes, dry cure back bacon, lincolnshire sausages, wiltshire cure ham, pork scratchings, good cheddar, quality aged stilton, self raising flour, caster sugar, salted butter, naan, lime pickle, breakfast tea, pies.
Caster sugar is possible to buy where I am but I have to go to the big supermarket and it's not always in stock, as for the self raising flour you just have to make it yourself and it's never quite the same.
loranlily@reddit
Ohhh Wiltshire ham is mine too. Whenever I go home, my first meal is usually a crusty cob/roll/bap etc with Wiltshire ham and wensleydale cheese.
I also second caster sugar and decent SR flour. Neither are impossible to get where I am in the US, but American flour has a different protein content so it never works as well, and caster sugar isn’t common.
Cyril_Sneer_6@reddit
I have friends who live abroad, whenever I visit them they ask for me to bring them cheddar cheese and Yorkshire tea. One of them asks for Marmite.
BeardedBaldMan@reddit
I'd completely forgotten about marmite, which is ridiculous as I'm doing a marmite restock this month
Cyril_Sneer_6@reddit
It is great. When you say restock, do you mean your 3 yearly restock? That stuff lasts for ages! I forgot to mention chocolate, I know the quality has gone downhill in recent years but it's still better than some places (my friends don't live in Belgium or Switzerland)
BeardedBaldMan@reddit
I'll buy six 250g jars which will do me until my visit in December
Kind_Ad5566@reddit
British or Irish sausages.
loranlily@reddit
I’d add back bacon too. I can get it in the US, but it’s expensive and shrinks loads.
Scaredtojumpin@reddit
This is the correct answer! I live abroad and can get almost anything else but hot sausages and miss them 😢
Akuma_nb@reddit
I've lived on multiple countries and currently live abroad. I always miss: British sausages Pies and pasties Black pudding Sticky toffee pudding
Gold_Information9677@reddit
Irn Bru
thirty1twenty1@reddit
I moved to China and cheese was the thing I missed the most. You could get it, but it was very expensive just for standard cheese. Good cheese would cost you a fortune
Ok-Dependent-637@reddit
I had that problem but I've found that a weekly trip to Metro is worthwhile to check for when the cheese gets discounted.
The price of Marmite here is an outrage, but it's a necessity.
I agree with the other poster that mentioned floury potatoes, very hard to find here.
thirty1twenty1@reddit
I asked the guy at my cheese shop if we could get me some Wensleydale. I shit you not he found some and told me it would cost two thousand Hong Kong dollars
Ok-Dependent-637@reddit
Fuck! I just looked on Taobao, and Sainsbury's Wensleydale is 200元 for a small block. Still way better than 2000hkd though!
thirty1twenty1@reddit
He was definitely taking the piss. He took one look at me and saw a guy who can be abused for cheese lol
griffaliff@reddit
I moved to Vienna in 2023 for several months, the food is great and all but bacon just isn't in their culinary repertoire, I missed it a lot.
PerLin107@reddit
Bacon.... and brown sauce or tomato sauce.
holistichandgrenade@reddit
I’ve lived in Canada for 10 years.. I miss so, so many things. Real chips are a big one.
whypaul1@reddit
As a Stokie... Oatcakes.
VitaObscure@reddit
As not a Stokie I miss them down south. Our Sainsbury's stopped keeping them.
klymers@reddit
When I go on holiday, I miss prawn cocktail crisps soooo much. If I'm lucky they might have salt and vinegar.
Significant_Other735@reddit
Irn Bru
smileyhappy@reddit
I moved to Asia and m&s food has most things covered. It was a sad, dark, crumpetless time before they opened up in my country try though.
The one thing I still struggle to get is galaxy minstrels. I often read on here about how chocolate in the uk is crap nowadays, so I hope that when I finally get some minstrels in July, they’ll be as good as I remember.
SunnySylvia@reddit
Literally just cream tea scone
Livid_Distribution19@reddit
Jan or cream first? I’m going to start a Reddit war now 🍿
SunnySylvia@reddit
I genuinely can not comprehend how it can be jam first, of course its cream first!! 😅
TipsyPhippsy@reddit
Indeed, easier to spread jam onto the cream.
SunnySylvia@reddit
This💯
ceciem2100@reddit
Hobnobs, gingernuts, black currant /apple squash, quavers and digestives.
Jigglypuffs_quiff@reddit
Monster munch
Trudi1201@reddit
Sausages because the ones here are not good Bacon - see above Pickled Onion Monster Munch HP sauce Chocolate Squash because it doesn't exist here Instant coffee because I'm the only one who drinks it and I'm not making a pot for me, instant is beyond awful here.
blondererer@reddit
I was thinking I’d want red monster munch, and squash too.
rtrs_bastiat@reddit
Bread that isn't laced with sugar.
SwordTaster@reddit
Living in the US, good chocolate
Macrihanishautomatic@reddit
Gravy
zolo9@reddit
British double cream, whipped to perfection
Full-Suggestion-1320@reddit
Nice British cheese, brocoli, baked beans, wine gums, Maynards milk bottles, and midget gems. A cheese scone and a really good national trust Victoria sandwich.
Broccoli is the vegetable I always miss when I'm in another country it's the best.
MojoMomma76@reddit
When I moved to Ecuador the things I missed the most (and got my Dad to post some) were Tetleys tea, malt loaf, Staffordshire oatcakes. I also missed cloudy cider and steak and kidney pudding and proper gravy but couldn’t find the ingredients to make the latter two and I didn’t have an oven.
MojoMomma76@reddit
I did take a massive pot of Marmite with me.
Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit
When I lived abroad my mum would bring a full sized suitcase - which would be 1/2 her clothes and 1/2 Marmite, Branston Pickle, good sharp cheddar and champagne. Speaks volumes about my tastes lol.
Special-Audience-426@reddit
Cornish Pasties were the only thing I missed.
I would've made some but couldn't find swede and I didn't have an oven
deyterkourjerbs@reddit
I lived in Germany for a while.
Apparently our curries are derived from Bangladesh filtered through a lens of appealing to a British palate. And our Chinese food is a sorta Cantonese/British chip shop fusion.
JourneyThiefer@reddit
Literally why is salt and chilli chicken so hard to find in other places lmao
uncle_monty@reddit
Marmite
Malt Loaf
Proper pork pies
Stilton
halfemptyoasis@reddit
Cheap fresh milk! The French prefer long life milk so my imported €4 weetabix did not hit as it should
Sea-Cupcake-732@reddit
Marmalade.
Cemaes-@reddit
I've experienced it, it was beans on toast. 3 years in Vietnam. I'd occasionally seen baked beans when eating a western meal somewhere and they were always homemade. Nice i suppose and healthier but they weren't a tin of Heinz.
They have lovely bread rolls too but not the same as UK sliced bread.
I'd have paid 500vnd for a nice Heinz beans on Warburtons toast.
handsome_vulpine@reddit
Not so much food, but I hear good ol' British black tea is a little hard to come by cheap in most other countries. That stuff is my petrol. I need it.
VodkaLimesAndSoda@reddit (OP)
Hear hear. I made the mistake of thinking black tea and english breakfast were the same thing, but they absolutely aren't. I bought black tea in continental europe, and it just wasn't the same.
seamus_park@reddit
HP sauce, hands down.
ohshitohgodohno@reddit
Mushy peas! Gravy granules!
ConnectionLeading435@reddit
Baked beans (on my jacket potatoe and on cheese on toast)
VodkaLimesAndSoda@reddit (OP)
I would generally agree with you on baked beans, though Heinz has done a pretty good job of making their baked beans available in most countries across the world.
d00000med@reddit
The Sunday roast. I found a chippy in Cambodia ran by a Yorkshireman, he did roasts every Sunday. I looked forward to it every week
ARC2060@reddit
When we moved to Canada, my kids really missed British sliced bread. They found the bread in Canada too thick and it took them awhile to get used to it. We also missed Greggs sausage rolls and M & S meal deals, especially with a prawn mayonnaise sandwich.
mr_weathervane@reddit
From experience of living abroad, nothing.
Ethelred_Unread@reddit
Lived abroad and in addition to what others have said the biggest thing I missed was sandwiches. Specifically those "meal deal" ones.
There's something not quite right about non-British sliced loaf (not just white - brown and granary too) in combination with ham/cheese/tuna mayo/corned beef etc. Just feels off.
jjgill27@reddit
Tea (Twinings strong English breakfast) and M&S cheese tasters. And decent cheddar too.
Certain-Donut-9175@reddit
Jaffa cakes and marmite.
I would also really miss fish and chips. I live on the north Norfolk coast and we nail fish and chips. I know I can't pack that, but that is something I can't replicate in my own kitchen elsewhere in the world.
Cyril_Sneer_6@reddit
Chip shop chips in Wells is something to behold
Albert_Herring@reddit
When I did, I missed Marmite, poppy and sesame crackers, Whole Earth peanut butter, and good Wensleydale and Cheshire cheeses. That was in Belgium 25 years ago, so no idea what the situation is there now.
OldAdhesiveness570@reddit
Roast dinner
Iamtir3dtoday@reddit
Marmite
Hopefullytodaymate@reddit
I did move abraod and I missed Yorkshire Puddings a lot.
Certain-Donut-9175@reddit
Surely flour, eggs and milk are available in most places? Where did you move to??
Cyril_Sneer_6@reddit
The milk in Europe can be that UHT shit
VodkaLimesAndSoda@reddit (OP)
Shop-bought or homemade? Thankfully, Yorkshire puddings are very simple to make anywhere in the world.
Victoriaspalace@reddit
I moved abroad and I missed "proper" English gravy. A lot of the time in the states, they have sausage gravy that's white and I could never get on with it.
Tall_Stick5608@reddit
Tbh I travel frequently. I don’t eat pork so don’t miss any of the pork products although I’m told things like stornway black pudding and wiltshere ham are elite.
When in Northern Europe I miss good old English tea and affordable supermarkets When in Southern Europe I miss good old English tea and good Indian subcontinent food. When in East Asia I miss good dairy products When in the Arabian peninsula I miss good quality berries / cherries When in Southern Asia I miss good quality steak cuts of meat.
But if I had to pick one product that we do really well here compared to anywhere else in the world is biscuits. Our biscuits are elite at every price point they are pound for pound better than anything in the world in my opinion.
whitelionnnn@reddit
M&S
apeliott@reddit
I moved to Japan.
I miss Warburtons crumpets, dry roasted peanuts, and pork scratchings.
Cyril_Sneer_6@reddit
Dry roasted peanuts are underrated
s_car8@reddit
Crumpets for me too!
questions4all-2022@reddit
I did live abroad for dinner time and funnily enough I had access to everything you listen exclusively the tea. Only options for tea were red label and Lipton.
I would miss, Lincolnshire sausages, crumpets, onion gravy, Cornish pasties, beef pies and sausage rolls.
Now that I live in the UK, I miss xtra crunchy Cheetos that came in a tub (like twiglets) no one sells them here.
Zealousideal-Low3388@reddit
I did move abroad, and will again very shortly
I didn’t miss much that I can remember, I can cook most of the things I like so nbd.
Good Indian food is pretty rare in South America though. Jerk sauce too.
flyingmooset@reddit
Lived in the US. Missed oxo cubes, decent bacon and non-shit chocolate. Thought the cheese was rank until I discovered the good stuff.
lime-enthusiast@reddit
Sausage rolls
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