Putting a food hamper of British food for an American

[calamityjam]

I am going to send a good friend of mine a hamper of British food for Xmas. He is in Vegas for Xmas and I would like ideas of food to put in it that he won't be able to buy in the states or that is better over here or typically British

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions. He is American and not posh at all, so the suggestions are perfect. Postage anywhere between 20 and 35 quid depending on weight. It's a Xmas gift so it will be worth it. Honestly it's a perfect gift for him.

Oh meant to add he doesn't have dietary restrictions and a good mix of sweet and savoury would be good I reckon.

I came on to say Marmite, but see it is the first post here

Reading this makes me realise how much we love sharp vinegar type flavours. How about pork scratchings!

Are you sure about the cost? I just sent a ... ? 700 gram parcel for £22 to Missouri. Royal Mail.

Ooh pork scratchings is a good call. I'd say pickled eggs but they wouldn't last the journey. Loads of crisp flavours. Good tea. Jelly! I mean Hartley's cubes. Worcestershire sauce? Maldon sea salt?

Niknak crisps
Monster munch - pickled onion
Pink wafer biscuits
Jam n cream biscuits or jammy dodgers

If he cooks then a range of the seasoning/packet mixes

• shepherd pie
• beef casserole
• bread sauce
• sage and onion stuffing

Lemon curd it's one of those random foods you never see anywhere else

Jars of anything are going to be heavy/expensive to post though. If you can send it ASAP you might still be ok for cheap last posting dates.

They would survive the journey but frozen Yorkshire puddings would be fun.

We have to fill a suitcase with Crunchies when we visit an american cousin.

Lovely idea OP

An English friend of mine living in America likes us to send:
Yorkshire tea
Mini cheddars
Marmite
M&S chocolate
In fact, any UK chocolate is better than the US stuff!

For crisps I'd send things like quavers, prawn cocktail skips.
Galaxy chocolate goes down well with our Canadian relatives.
Definitely Maltesers and Crunchie bars
How about some old fashioned sweets like the pink shrimps, bananas etc.

Oh and Percy pigs!

Mr Kipling pies
Parma violets
Bubble gum
Rowntrees fruit pastilles
Werthers original toffees
Hedgehog snowballs
Colmans mustard
Twiglets

Pickles? Apparently they aren't really common in the US but some real cheese connoisseurs quite like them. Mini jars of posh chutney and/or piccalilli, maybe.
Chocolate hobnobs
Digestives
Mars bars - I think I heard that American mars bars are different to ours.
Decent chocolate. Not cadburys, it's shit now. Something like Seed and Bean, or Montezuma's.
Blackcurrant jam!

Chuck in a Christmas cracker too, they don't have them there! (Hopefully he'll have someone to pull it with? )

Just to say that there are places here in the US that do mail order of British and other foreign foods. That may well save you a lot on postage although the items themselves will be more expensive due to the company's import costs. Worth checking out.

Also it's untrue that there aren't Christmas crackers here. Used to be an issue with sending them through the post I believe but they're readily available now. Tons of places have them in store and even more online.

For me it would be meat flavoured crisps like beef. For DH probably galaxy chocolate.

terra whereabouts are you? We were on the West coast, but when we visited the East coast found it much easier to get British things... also it was several years ago...!

Aren’t they hideously expensive? We were in a grocery store and there was a ‘british food’ section - very ordinary rich tea biscuits, teabags etc and really expensive (you’d think they were ‘luxury’ brands!).

I always get asked to bring/send chocolate and tins of biscuits.

Mince pies.

Good English cheese, if you're allowed to send that, pork pies, same caveat applies. Chutney and jams.

I lived in Chicago and could get almost everything mentioned here in the “British” section of my local supermarket and an even wider selection if I went to World Market. So I’d just focus on what he’d like as an individual or go for less well-known brands.

Things which I find difficult to find in the US

Marmite
Brown Sauce
Pimms (although not really the season)
Gold Tea Bags
Digestive biscuits (they have graham crackers which are just not the same)
Mango chutney
Maldon Sea Salt (it is eye watering yet expensive over there)
Tunnocks tea cakes
Really nice cheddar like Montgomery’s
Treacle (they have molasses, which is different)
Clotted cream
Christmas cracker
Celebrations tin
Any of the common biscuits (rich tea, bourbon, jammy dodger)

Oh yes - Paxo! And mince pies, as a pp said.