French MNers. What would you want ...

[ChangeAgainAgainAgain]

As a gift from the UK?

I'm meeting up with my French language partner over Easter. He's French, living in France. We've chatted online a few times (safety issues all fine, I'm with DH, meeting in public in a French town I know well etc). He's a male mid 30s, married with a young child.

I want to take a little token gift, ideally something English. I want to avoid alcohol gifts.

Ideally I'd take a potted Stilton, or some lovely British cheese, but I don't think I can take cheese into the EU any more.

So what do you suggest? I did wonder about some Tracklements condiments. Maybe Horseradish, Picilili, ploughman's chutney, English mustard. Plus perhaps an Easter Egg for his son. What do you think?

@ didgeridid -
How do you manage it? I sent a Christmas present to a French friend and was mortified when they had to pay duty on it.

Or maybe just someone who lives in France being practical? 🙄

We live in France. Wherever I make shortbread my French friends are thrilled. Some of the more obscure gins are really appreciated too.

Can you take chocolate? I thought it counted as dairy if just chocolate so won't allowed. OK on a chocolate biscuit though. I could be wrong, however.

It's mine!

It’s not really always true that you can fInd anything you want though. At least not in Paris .

@sesquipedalianwe have to pay duty in it and factor in the cost in our quote.
If you go on Parcel2Go you can opt to pre pay duty on some couriers like DPD but there are a LOT of items that are prohibited

It’s always been quite hard to find all the ingredients to make traditional British puddings here. Most French people just buy dessert at the patisserie rather than faffing around themselves 🤷‍♀️. Ready made puddings from M&S might work though - our local British shop used to run out of Christmas puddings every year and they were mostly bought by the French customers!

My French colleagues always buy tea, marmalade and shortbread biscuits from M&S when we visit the UK.

Not food, but nice tea towels are also a good gift.

i wouldn’t recommend my own UK to France shopping list - marigold rubber gloves, dried fruit, soft brown sugar (light and dark), smoked paprika, cheap paracetamol / ibuprofen, codeine-based OTC painkillers, cheese and onion crisps, NZ Sauvignon and marmalade!

I also thought you couldn't bring chocolate over??? I would be cautious with chocolate anyway because the French prefer good quality, dark chocolate in general. Definitely not cadburys!

Love PPs personal list. I always bring back loads of cheap painkillers too!

Marmite is a good shout for the shock value.

My friend's DC went to England and fell in love with crumpets and came back with a suitcase full 🤣

You forgot Fairy Liquid 😅 but that probably isn’t a great gift to be fair!

I'm going to go off piste here and mention things you cannot get here not mentioned by @MintoTime

Milton Sea Salt. You cannot for the Love of Brian get crumbly salt, it is all wet and chunky which really puts a dampner on my summer breakfast bruschettas.

It is the one thing I ask my visitors to bring. I have never found it even in the Brit shops.

The French seem to love M&S. When I lived in Canterbury the local M&S foodhall was full of French day trippers stockng up.

Or Cadbury's Fingers apparently

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/11/cadbury-fingers-uproar-france-biscuits-vanish

Fudge is popular too, or those selection boxes of Whittards tea. Something Paddington or Wallace & Grommit themed for the baby. My friends all watched W&G in een gosh class at school

Or Tyrells Crisps? Monoprix often seems to stock them but at wince inducing prices.

Absolute nonsense

Whilst there are a few specialist mail order suppliers of things like hot cross buns etc. they are very expensive and have to be ordered online. You can't just walk into Auchan and get things like sticky toffee pudding, scones, jelly or hot cross buns. You can buy shortbread, digestive biscuits, baked beans etc in the special British section but most French people wouldn't bother looking there so it's still thoughtful and shortbread etc. tends to be a well-received gift.

I would definitely get Marmite, French people LOVE to be all aghast at the very notion of it, it will delight and horrify them in equal measure!

Ah this explains why I couldn't find them last week! We've been overseas for a few years and DS asked for them when we came back but I couldn't find them (except in the world foods section for 3.5euros which was a resounding no)

Having said that, the French cadbury fingers didnt taste the same as the UK ones...

Really good marmalade is delicious in a croissant. A friend’s Mum makes it and brings it over to us when she visits. I’d bring marmalade and Hot Cross Buns. We’ve never seen HCBs here and I think they’d be a nice British traditional food to share.

I was back in the uk last week for a work thing and I think every one of the British participants bought HCBs from M&S to bring back - including me! My kids snaffled them instantly.

An awful lot of puddings are based on flour, butter, sugar and eggs though, not special or hard to get ingredients. I know that unless it uses ladies' finger biscuits and whipped cream and fruit the French tend to buy from a patisserie but a lot of British puddings are pretty easy, some are just assembly jobs, and half the fun would the novelty of making at home for a change.

M&S Cornish Cruncher cheese biscuits are exceedingly moreish!

Did you mean Maldon sea salt? You can get it from Amazon. It's not cheap, but 500g lasts for ages.

www.amazon.fr/-/en/Maldon-250g-500g-Premium-Salt/dp/B00QOY6CBW