What British food do you miss?

[nailonthehead]

I'm looking for a gift for friends who now live in Southern France.We are driving down to stay near them in August this year and staying overnight 1/2 way so can't really take fresh food.

I was going to put a hamper together of say tea,M & S biscuits,chocolate and umm I'm not sure what really.

Looking for some inspiration of what is difficult to get abroad and you might miss.

Any ideas would be great.

tb - we can get black cardamoms here in Paris - do you want me to send you a packet?? Ditto chilli powder.

Cheddar here is orange, no? [vomit]

MrsS - thank you very much for your offer, but I had a lone trip in a car from the Limousin so stocked up big time - both Rusholme for spices and Costco for everything else. The only thing I am surprised about having bought them at Asian grocers in the UK in 250g packs is the price. Fortunately so far, we have been back about once a year, so can stock up on things.

For anyone local to Tours, there is a little epicerie stall in the covered market at the end of the rue des Halles that sells all sorts of loose spices and Pataks pastes.

I've not seen orange cheddar tbh, Mcsomethings and Super U used to have Wyke Farms before they changed to s self-service cheese section. Have also seen it in Carrefour, just normal pale yellow colour, the same as Cantal.

Some of the things I stock up on when I'm visiting my parents in UK:

Curry powder
Scones
Pancakes
Mint jelly
Cranberry Sauce
Tartare Sauce
Cheddar Cheese
Cheshire Cheese
Butter
Cheesecake
Cadbury's Stuff (Cream eggs in season! :))

Luckily travel time is not too long so the dairy stuff is doable.

english muffins and crumpets, squash, banana or strawberry flavoured nesquik (i can only find chocolate) all chutneys and onion marmalades, malt vinegar, lea & perrins worcestershire sauce, packet custard, packet puddings i.e just add milk and butter cheesecake, all bicuits and anything cadbury's, and all crisps!! im homesick!