What grocery foods/souvenirs from UK supermarkets would you recommend?

Posted by prickly_ash_erio@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 70 comments

Hi! I’m visiting the UK from Japan for about two weeks, and I’d love to bring back some food souvenirs from supermarkets.

Do you have any recommendations for things I should look for?

I’d be especially happy if they meet these conditions:

Something very ordinary and familiar to people living in the UK (I love experiencing local everyday life, and food souvenirs feel like part of that.)
No meat or fresh/perishable items, since I need to bring them back to Japan
Tasty, bad, average — anything is fine. I’m curious about all of it.

I’m already interested in Jaffa Cakes, Quality Street, and OXO!

What would you personally suggest, or what feels “very normal UK” to you?

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WaitWaWhat@reddit

I emigrated from the UK to the US. These are the things I miss every day: Wine gums (a chewy sweet), Lion Bar, Picnic Bar, the many flavors of crisps. Japan has some incredible flavors of crisps, but I do love the UK ones too.

Feel free to give them a try and see if they're worth taking home!

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

Not 100% sure that you can still buy Lion bars and Picnic bars.

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WaitWaWhat@reddit

Wait, what, WHAT?

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JukeboxTears@reddit

Hobknobs, Marmite, Monster Munch

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double-happiness@reddit

Mmm, I bet Marmite would go well with Monster Munch. Potential butty filler there.

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

Worcestershire sauce.

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DiabolicallyOrange@reddit

Hendersons Relish, it's Worcestershire Sauces better cousin!

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

Never seen nor knowingly tasted it.

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Ok_Purple766@reddit

Jaffa cakes

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double-happiness@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_(confectionery) 🤤

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ClarifyingMe@reddit

Percy Pig fizzy tails. Sour goodness.

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jonnoscouser@reddit

Terry's chocolate orange Matchmakers Jammie Dodgers

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cokendsmile@reddit

I came here to say Jamie Dodgers

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jonnoscouser@reddit

We can share the glory! 😊

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cokendsmile@reddit

Glory is all yours

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CiderChugger@reddit

Jam & cream/jam sandwich creams are superior

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_Yorkshire_Pirlo@reddit

Salt and shake crisps

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gse2026@reddit

Colemans English Mustard

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Responsible-Ad-3331@reddit

twiglets ! a very english snack i would say, and very polarising. I think it’s one of our more intriguing offers.

in the same vein Worcester sauce walkers crisps :p

and for sweet i would say custard creams or hobnobs (the kind with chocolate on top)

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

I don't recommend Twiglets. They just taste burnt. They were delicious before they removed the cheese from the recipe.

Buy a jar of Marmite instead.

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DiabolicallyOrange@reddit

I had a bag recently, first time in years, and they're so much worse than they used to be.

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

They used to contain 10% cheese. Then they removed the cheese from the recipe and now they just taste burnt. Such a shame.

Do you remember the Worcestershire sauce ones that they made for a short while too? They were lovely.

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laluLondon@reddit

Get the M&S branded Jaffa cakes, they're so much nicer

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Gelkoid@reddit

Haggis

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SmokeMountain4777@reddit

Scotch eggs and pork pies

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

OP isn't going to get those through customs...

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Intelligent-Iguana@reddit

Marmite, all butter shortbread, crumpets, tea.

Be careful on chocolate - a lot have reduced their actual cocoa content and substituted with palm oil, not nearly as nice. Marks & Spencer chocolate is still good!

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

Read the labels for chocolate. As long as there is no vegetable fat added you are good to go.

I recommend Green and Blacks as it is tastier, in my opinion, than some of the supermarket high end versions.

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Any-Race258@reddit

I'd get some teabags! There's nothing more British than teabags 😂 Earl grey is a favourite of mine.

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

Breakfast Tea for me. 😁

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r_mutt69@reddit

Tunnocks wafer bars AND tunnocks tea cakes. Very specifically a Scottish thing but we love them all over the uk. Yorkshire tea, you won’t find better tea anywhere. Burtons fish and chips crisps or square crisps. Crumpets. Black pudding.

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Auntie_Cagul@reddit

OP won't be able to take Black pudding through customs.

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Hammahnator@reddit

And Tunnocks Caramel Logs drools

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thefattykarate@reddit

Black pudding would technically be classed as fresh produce though.

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r_mutt69@reddit

Ooh yeah. Shame. I can’t think of anything more British. I’d have said haggis too but that would fall under the same thing.

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philff1973@reddit

Party rings

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AngryPandaz@reddit

The chocolate ones are really nice as well!

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CiderChugger@reddit

Quality street is a lot worse than what it used to be. Most people have stopped buying it

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CiderChugger@reddit

Quality street is a lot worse than what it used to be. Most people have stopped buying it

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DaleSnittermanJr@reddit

Since you already plan on Jaffa Cakes, be sure to look for the Yuzu flavour in addition to the classic orange ones — I am absolutely obsessed with the Yuzu ones and stock up on them whenever I see them in the shop.

Also try some McVitie’s Dark Chocolate Digestive Biscuits — these with a cup of tea after a long day are like medicine for me.

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pip_goes_pop@reddit

Chocolate Hob Nobs - top tier biscuit here but not posh, it's very common in UK households.

Marmite if the liquid rules are okay for taking it back (I've lost track of them now) - would be a fun thing to get friends and family to try to see if they're a "lover" or "hater". You can also get marmite flavoured snacks if that's easier.

Yorkshire Tea - a good example of everyday tea that we have with milk and (sometimes) sugar.

Flapjacks - to get around the perishable thing, look for some pre-packed by a brand called Graze (Tesco sell them). These are a common sweet treat made of oats and golden syrup which is popular in the UK.

Also if the liquid rules allow - a traditional jam or marmalade.

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Thunderoussshart@reddit

Mince pies. Unfortunately they are usually only sold around Christmas.

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kalendral_42@reddit

Marmite, bovril, Lily O’Brien chocolates, walkers crisps (various flavours), digestive biscuits )plain, chocolate, or caramel), hobnobs, dandelion & burdock, iron bru, tiger, pg tips or yorkshire tea, Cadburys chocolate - rolos/marvellous creations bar/caramel bar/etc, wine gums or midget gems sweets, Kendal mint cake, treacle toffee

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kwakimaki@reddit

Marmite, Worcestershire sauce, Bovril, Horlicks, Yorkshire Tea

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crankyandhangry@reddit

With the Marmite and Worcestershire sauce, I'd recommend looking up the proper way to eat them. They're not intended to be used in large quantities as they have a strong taste.

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BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit

“Overnight mushy pea kit”.

We put them with fish and chips, pies, some people even put them on their Sunday dinner and there are even recipes for meat-free curry containing them…

They’re quite a versatile staple, they don’t get banged on about as much as baked beans but they arguably play as a side to just as many dishes, if not more…

As to finding them tasty, bad or average that comes down to exposure… The thing about British food is that in the first instance it’s an acquired taste and the international exposure tends to be centred around bad examples.

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wolfie66666@reddit

Marmalade. Oh, and Coleman’s mustard.

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wotsit_sandwich@reddit

As someone who does this exact thing occasionally...

British tea always goes done well. Just ordinary Yorkshire tea or Tetley's. You can buy Twinnings here already. People like to try the British "ordinary" tea.

Celebrations and Heroes are good and being individually wrapped appeal to Japanese omiyagi culture. That would be one of my top picks. They also really give a good representation of British chocolate.

Tunnocks tea cakes is a great gift but it is rare for an entire box to survive the journey without a few smashed ones.

Liquorice or licorice all sorts is good for a giggle, with the expectation that most people won't like it.

Packs of biscuits like Digestives, Custard Creams or HobNobs are good, but as they aren't individually wrapped you need to give them to someone that you know is actually going to eat them and not eat one a week, for the next 6 months.

Penguin bars are also good. TimTams are available in Japan of course but not Penguins.

If you are buying for any young kids, some of the clothes in ASDA and Tesco are super cute with a slightly different style than Japanese clothing. My daughter (Japanese-British) fell in love with the British elementary school gingham dresses and wore them for almost her entire 1st, 2nd and 3rd years at elementary school (in Japan).

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NoteSpellingofLancre@reddit

Cherry Bakewell tarts and mini Battenburg cakes! I buy these every time I’m back in the UK (living in the US now). Also mini Colin Caterpillar cakes from Marks & Spencer’s.

Other fun things… Skips, hula hoops, Discos from the crisp aisle. Lemon curd, a good chunky marmalade. Oat cakes (actually crackers). Custard cream and bourbon biscuits… oof this is all giving me cravings…

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fo55iln00b@reddit

Worchestshire sauce Walkers

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PlanKind3681@reddit

Dandelion & Burdock is a common fizzy drink flavour you don't see elsewhere, but quite divisive. tastes a bit medicinal, like root beer!

Iron Bru is from Scotland, but you can buy it anywhere. again unique flavour.

marmite is a sandwich spread but you'll see it flavouring lots of cheese dishes. worth a try. very strong yeasty flavour.

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thefattykarate@reddit

The Irn Bru sold in England is made in Milton Keynes.

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PlanKind3681@reddit

from as in, invented. it's scotland's 'thing'

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Diamond_hands97@reddit

Beans

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Livid-Needleworker65@reddit

Digestive biscuits.

Mini cheddars.

Branston Baked beans.

Pork scratchings.

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CptBigglesworth@reddit

Maldon sea salt.

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UmaUmaNeigh@reddit

Yorkshire Tea, if you wanna try drinking tea the british way. It's black tea but you should add a little milk.

If you want tea for omiyage, Whittards does individually wrapped teabags in a variety of flavors, but they're quite expensive. Eg: 4 flavours, 25 bags each = 約6000円

Otherwise there are lots of great suggestions in the thread! Just be aware that most snacks aren't individually wrapped if that's important.

I also suggest crumpets, but they're bread so need to be bought on the last day and eaten quite soon, or frozen for storage.

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quagaawarrior@reddit

Brown HP sauce and Hinez ketchup

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Reallyboringname2@reddit

Marmite should top this list, and your toast everyday!

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BoneDirector@reddit

Mint sauce. My dad got sone as a souvenir for himself when he visited, he was shocked when I told him it wasn’t a sweet condiment to put on pancakes 😂

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Ill-Breadfruit5356@reddit

Marmite, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, Branston Pickle, Coleman’s English Mustard. Marmalade. Ambrosia custard (in a carton or a tin). Percy pigs sweets.

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baganerves@reddit

Henderson’s Relish, tin of Baxters Cullen Skink,Marmite,

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laureno101@reddit

Bisto gravy

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Business_Use6987@reddit

Bassets Liqourice allsorts sweets , never seen them outside the uk.

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Mickleborough@reddit

Going with the Tunnocks Tea Cake suggestions - still family owned and made in Scotland, plus it’s not something common. (Tastes nice too.)

Don’t buy Cadbury’s chocolate - now American-owned and seemingly made in Poland or somewhere outside the U.K.

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