Why do you think food is so important to us expats?

I think I've been able to adjust to things pretty well here in the UK, despite differences in language, healthcare, stores, lifestyle, etc.  But the one thing that I can't get used to is the difference in food!  It bothers me to not be able to find the same brands or products that I cooked with before.  My husband and I love to cook, but every time we make a favorite recipe, it comes out tasting different, because we always have to substitute at least one of the ingredients, or else use something that just tastes very different here (the vegetable broth, for example).  The fact that there is a Food Talk board here, tells me that I'm not the only one missing the foods from back home.  I'm just curious if anyone feels the same way, that the food is the hardest thing to adjust to?  Why is it that you think food is so important to us?

familiarity brings comfort really. To be honest some the european foods and products to me are way better but I still I go for a packet of Oreo cookies or some Doritos chips now and again!! It happens to any person that moves from one country to another. I crave some yummy Puerto Rican foods from time to time and Phil's become addicted to Puerto Rican coffee...it's one of the first things he looks for when my mum sends a care package

B/c, dammit, Tex Mex food is just yummy!  

I remember when I first moved to France, I had to stay in this dire caravan camp, and the food was vile.  A bunch of us sat up one night just sharing aloud what we'd like to eat if we could have whatever we wanted right then and there.

Man, some people were actually weeping at the end of that session!  That food was so rank, I lost 8 lbs. I didn't need to lose in just 4 weeks.  

I agree...familiarity...what you have been used to all your life..it gives you comfort...

Ex Pat I so agree..honest to goodness Tex Mex...I would die for a good tamale....

Last year when we when back for a visit..my friend Michelle is married to a Mexican man (Ruben) he is lovely! Has lived all his life in the US but was born in Mexico and his family came into the US when he was 6month..anyways I told them I would love to go eat Mexican and he had his momma make us 50 homemade tamales..and green chilie sauce OMG they were gorgeous! Everyone was stuffed on them...next morning he made scrambled eggs and chorizo and took tortillas and cut them in strips and fried them and served it with the eggs..

I agree as well!  It really is comforting.  Finding that Oscar Meyer Bacon here was like finding gold   Why do you think I go back to NY 5 times a year?  To see my family, hell no   (OK, I am kind of kidding!!!)

...next morning he made scrambled eggs and chorizo and took tortillas and cut them in strips and fried them and served it with the eggs..

Yum...that's called migas....and one of the only ways I'll eat eggs. I always put tomato and cilantro in mine though. Now I'm craving it thank you very much. hehe

I ate mine with the green chilie sauce....


she made it with tiny green tomatoe'y kind of things and green chilies..and it was YUM!

“Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Food is part of our culture, our memories, our habits. For expats, it's simple; it reminds of home, of what we know. It gives us some security, especially at a time when we are at our most insecure.


“When from a long distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, still, alone, more fragile, but with more vitality, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and taste of things remain poised for a long time, like souls, ready to remind us...”

—Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past


“…and every Saturday we’d get a case of beer and fry up some fish. We’d fry it in meal and egg batter, you know, and when it was all brown and crisp — not hard, though — we’d break open that cold beer…” Marie’s eyes went soft as the memory of just such a meal sometime, somewhere transfixed her.

—Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

Quotes from PBS's the Meaning of Food

I ate mine with the green chilie sauce....
she made it with tiny green tomatoe'y kind of things and green chilies..and it was YUM!

We call it Chilaquiles - good stuff! Over here I just use Doritos that are going stale, break them up into my scrambled eggs, scramble the eggs with crumbled spicy sausage (if you see Hull's Mexican Salsa beef sausage, its' good) and onions, and add some chili flakes, top it with salsa when it's done.

Familiar foods are absolutely the fastest way to stave off homesickness! There is comfort in eating something from home, hence the term "comfort foods".

Since I have left New Orleans, I live for the care packages from family there. The past 2 1/2 months have been very tough...no more care packages as foodstuffs are in such shortage there. And, I'm out of a bunch of stuff! Hopefully, I'll be able to get some things before coming over in January.

That all makes sense!

Familiar foods are absolutely the fastest way to stave off homesickness! There is comfort in eating something from home, hence the term "comfort foods".

It could just be my pregnancy talking, or it could be that need for American foods that I can't get a hold of here, but I find myself longing for a jar of Cheez Whiz or a block of Velveeta--things that I never bought in the US!!

When I get really homesick, and craving the comfort food that I grew up with, I can usually manage to cook it!! For instance, my grandma used to make the yummiest potato soup, (this is really good soup weather) and I make it really yummy as well!!! My hubby loves it, especially when I do a potato and corn chowder. Also, I do southern gravy, with bisquits, (not cookies!) and my son loves that as well. I remember it took me AGES to learn from my mom just how to cook the gravy without burning it, or it being lumpy. When I'm sick, grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, and of course, all the mexican foods that I love. There's nothing better than a grilled quesadilla, stuff it with scrambled eggs and salsa.......with some tater tots on the side........just found out that Morrisons has them!!!! Oh, my, now I am HUNGRY!! Point being, you won't starve for your comfort foods, you can duplicate it here............(pretty much)