What Do Brits Living In The US Miss?

[Leeds2]

I am going to visit my DD in New York in July. She has lived in the States for a number of years. I like to take her something from home, usually food, but am running out of original ideas! I usually take tins of baked beans, baked beans with vegan sausages, Bounty, Galaxy, Yorkie etc but would like to take something new. Any ideas? If I ask, she just says it doesn't matter but she is always pleased to receive! I know you can buy a lot of British produce out there, but stuff seems very expensive.

we're always asked to bring crunchy bars!

Our family in the US have appreciated:
Oatcakes
Tunnocks caramel wafers
Tunnocks tea cakes( taken in a metal box to avoid being squashed)
Tablet
Smoked paprika

Strangely, they get very excited about Kite baby clothes too.

They are in a small town though.

Oh for heaven’s sake it’s quite ridiculous how much I’m being quizzed on this!

The OP asked what Brits living in the US miss, I answered with what I missed - as have plenty of other people, why aren’t they being told to bake their own mini rolls or brew their own Worcestershire sauce?!

I lived in Boston. Yes I was once delighted to find Heinz tomato soup in the ‘world foods’ bit of the supermarket at an eye watering mark up, yes I could travel to a grossly overpriced shop called ‘Union Jacks’ about a 50 minute drive away and pay $9 for a bottle of Ribena or pay a premium for an Amazon parcel of ginger nuts that I’d never be home to receive. Yes I could have spent my weekend sterilising glass jars and whipping up a batch of home made lemon curd instead of exploring my new country, volunteering, joining meet up groups and trying to make friends/ build community in a strange land.

I’m not saying I sat weeping over the lack of fruit pastilles, but occasionally I was homesick, and on those occasions it was really nice to go to the cupboard and get out a treat that had come from home - either brought out by a visiting relative or sent in the mail as a kind thought along with a chatty letter from a friend. The OP is visiting her daughter - she’s wanting to take stuff, I suggested some things that in my experience went down well.

For what it’s worth, when I met up in London with a good friend from the states she brought me Trader Joe’s popcorn mix even though I’m overwhelmed with popcorn options right here in the UK. I loved the Trader Joes stuff and it made me smile that she’d done that. Is that ok, or should I have refused it on the grounds I could probably rustle up something similar at home?

Yorkshire gold tea bags (yes you can probably get them at a specialty shop but they are so much more expensive here.) Ti's crumpets are better than nothing but not as good as British ones, IMO.

orange Squash, nice chocolate and mint toothpaste?

With our lot it is Sainsburys Red Label tea bags, and anything with Cadburys on it.

I’m in Maine and get all of these in my local Hannaford, so I think they’re petty easy to find most places.

I most miss malt loaf, beef Monster Munch, and orange Clubs.

As I said in the OP, I do ask and she says nothing. But I like to take something with me that is edible so not clutter and will be eaten, and may be something she misses. I think most guests would take something or other to their host. I will of course take her and her DH out for dinner several times whilst I am there, and I usually take her to Trader Joe's before I leave to stock up as they don't earn a lot.

Crumpets

When I lived in the US in about 1990 I really missed Cadbury’s Flakes, and I couldn’t find mango chutney anywhere (or any Indian foods other than basic curry powder iirc). That may have changed now, and also may depend on which part of America.

we also couldn’t find much decent cheese or proper back bacon but you probably can’t carry that sort of foodstuff in.

My son goes over to North Carolina a couple of times a year to visit his girlfriend and the most popular things are
Tunnocks teacakes
Tomato sauce flavour crisps
Cadbury's chocolate
Shortbread
Crumpets
Marmalade

If she lives in NY, she can get baked beans and chocolate and mango chutney, etc in her local supermarket. What I personally really love is people bringing a bunch of UK magazines. I'm talking Hello, Grazia, Heat and maybe a couple of home interior ones. I never know who half of the people are but it's nice to read anyway.

Or books from UK writers who haven't made it State side yet. THIS is what I miss!

• British chocolate (American chocolate, especially if it’s manufactured by the Hershey company has a weird vomity aftertaste 🤢?
• British crisps (literally anything that’s not cheese or sour cream flavoured because variety of flavours outside of those two are slim pickings here!)
• Sounds weird…..but bread 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 My mum brought me a loaf of Warburtons when she came to visit and I devoured it. (American bread is hard to describe….its sweet and has a really odd, claggy texture)
• Robinson’s squash (my mum brings the little concentrated squeezy bottles)
• Paxo stuffing and bisto gravy
• Biscuits (can sometimes find chocolate digestives and Jaffa Cakes in my local supermarket, but the variety of biscuits is also not very wide here like it is at home!)
• I also asked my mum to bring a tub of Vanish Oxi Action to rescue my white laundry 😂🫣 I’ve tried loads of similar products here but none are as good as Vanish!

Orange squash
Cadburys or Galaxy chocolate
Tea
Curry sauce
Proper coke with proper icing (the cake is so synthetic)
Walkers crisps
Thornton’s toffee

Omg the cheese!!!!

I’ve found plenty that have a similar taste to mature cheddar, but the texture is all wrong 🫠 When I’m cutting mature cheddar, I expect it to crumble a bit. Here the cheese is always quite elasticky?? It’s hard to describe.

So picture me in the supermarket a few weeks back when I spotted Cathedral City 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 Pure joy!

Back off being so defensive @Daisydiary @SagForLife

It’s a nice thought, wanting to make her daughter happy, not an insult to US culture. People do these threads regularly about a multitude of emigrant situations including US to U.K. There’s no need to be so touchy.

Pickled Onion Monster Munch

Agreed. It’s not a competition, everyone misses things from home. Jeez

Crisps in good flavors - here you can only really get plain, salt and vinegar, sour-cream/cheesy ones, and BBQ. My mum brings a box of prawn cocktail, steak, Thai chili, all the interesting ones she can get.
I also really miss galaxy chocolate, especially minstrels and the ones that are like minstrels without the shells.
Not this time, but if you ever go at Easter, Easter eggs.

I emailed World Market to ask them to get in Galaxy Counters (minstrels without shells). They are literally the best chocolate on this planet.

Yes, we could do with some.

Blackcurrant jam. I don’t want blackberry or blueberry.
Scotch eggs and pork pies.

@EconomyClassRockstar, YES! Counters!!!! I had forgotten the name but that's what I meant. They are THE BEST.

@HeddaGarbled - defensive? More like factual! It’s rather silly to perpetuate the myth that it’s hard to find British food in a country the size of the US. It really isn’t 😂 Fair enough, there are certain flavours of things that are hard to come by (blackcurrant as a PP mentions) and it can be harder to import some things than others, but it’s very unlikely that you won’t be able to find good cheese or bread or a bra! That’s just rubbish. Textures may vary but maybe venture outside of Target… Independent delis, even Wholefoods (admittedly expensive) sell great cheese and bread. I simply don’t recognize what’s being written here. I would say that British magazines bought fresh at the airport can be nice, again as a PP mentions.