Should you totally give up American foods?

I like this.  

Yeah I just know you want some Philly cheesesteaks, extra dill pickle slices!  

I am going to buy a tortillas press to make my own corn tortillas just cause I can't find any...you guys in the UK are really lucky and have more access to things then I do here on the Isle of Man...

Oh man, the corn tortillas here really aren't nice though.  I'm okay with store bought (UK) flour tortillas but I find the corn tortillas dead nasty.  One of these days, I'm going to spring for the tortilla press & masa harina too...

I think, like others have said, that it is about nostalgia more than other things.  There are days I crave things from the States (or even from my past like dishes my grandmother cooked).  A week ago I craved the ribbon candy she always had in a dish in her parlour.  Isn't smell the sense most connected with memory?  "Taste" is mostly derived from smell, so there you go.

When my husband was in the States he would buy and eat Hobnobs we could get from Wegmans.  He doesn't touch them here. I guess this is a bit like those pies mentioned upthread.  He wasn't eating Hobnobs, he was eating memories of home, sort of.

I remember when I lived in Europe the first time I craved Doritos.  I like them all right normally, but they are not my favourites.  This was before you could really get them everywhere.  I'd lie in bed at night thinking about them when I was drifting off to sleep.  I don't remember eating them first thing when I got home.  IIRC, when my mom asked me what I wanted, I had a hard time coming up with something.  Not that I didn't miss a lot of stuff, just that I knew at that point I could have most things whenever I wanted.

Personally, I miss Scandinavian food more than anything, and buy it whenever I find it on offer somewhere.  I drive my husband a bit nuts about it because we absolutely have to buy it (or stop in and investigate places where it might be).  I know I like the taste of it, but it brings back memories, and that might be the same thing for people buying Cool Whip and Velveeta.

THIS! Well, for me, not Cool Whip( I think whipped up heavy cream tastes loads better) and Velveeta(just...ick.) but, it's more about sweets. I can't explain it, properly in words, but, it's just the fact that I CAN have whatever it is I want, right when I want it.

Yeah I just know you want some Philly cheesesteaks, extra dill pickle slices!  

No,  but I like the idea of what Legs said, it's very poetic. 

The longer I live here, the less things I miss, foodwise. Usually when I think I miss some kind of American junk food or McDonald's or whatever and actually eat it, I feel sick afterwards! But junk food is junk food no matter where you are, so I feel sick after eating a load of fish and chips or crisps here, too. I could easily have eaten healthier in Dallas when I lived there - I lived right next door to a Whole Foods market and a giant Tom Thumb signature store which had everything you could have asked for and Central Market was only a short drive away, which also had organic foods, etc. There were a lot of fast food places, too, but the choice was there to eat healthier or not, so I don't see much difference, to be honest. I started eating healthier here, I think, as a consequence of being married and living in the country where there aren't many fast food restaurants, so now I cook every day whereas when I was single, I just ate mostly junk food. 

@ evilshell,

You Are right! I did not look that far because I was not there very long. I only had few places to try. But that was what I encountered. My point was that yes, we can become frustrated when we don't find what we want! LOL. But I made it, and it was fine without those things. I just substituted something else. I did eat out of the grocery stores a lot in all of my travels and they were all great, weather they were a Sainsbury or Marks and Spencer or more high end Selfridges, and then the small ones in the locales I visted on the continent. The only thing I truly regretted was not eating Indian food on England. We got to it in Amsterdam and it was lovely, but  I would have liked to have tried in in London. We did eat at one chain store...McDonalds in Calais, and the reason was purely research...to see if it tasted the exact same as that in the US. And it did LOL. And we thought is was just as much a waste of time as it was in the US. We split a small cheeseburger and small fries. It was a lark.

The one thing I don't think I will ever do again...is order a rum and coke in France. I got 2 pieces of ice LOL and it cost 10 Euros, and they just put the rum in the glass and gave me a can of coke. Mixed drinks not the norm in Paris evidently. But the wine was wonderful, plentiful and cheap, in France and Germany.


One other thing that happened in Amsterdam...I asked for tap water to drink...they claimed not to have any! I just laughed and got my water bottle out of my back pack after paying an exorbitant amount at another restaurant earlier.

Just one more comment....my ex wife is from Florida, and you can get good 'gator tail there! That's one thing I don't think you can get most other places. Now, I don't miss it, because I am not there, but if I go there, I will eat it, as well as the good BBQ and fresh OJ...

Just one more comment....my ex wife is from Florida, and you can get good 'gator tail there! That's one thing I don't think you can get most other places. Now, I don't miss it, because I am not there, but if I go there, I will eat it, as well as the good BBQ and fresh OJ...

So what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? See, you are completely missing the point.  Assuming your ex is in Seattle.  What does YOU not craving something good from HER home do to prove your argument.  Let's take your own example a bit further to help you see why people may be taking offense (since you don't seem to get it on your own).

Now, I'm using a bit of imagination, so try to stay with me even if your ex isn't like this. Say she is from Florida and maybe knows a few people in Washington who also had Florida ties.  She may enjoy also eating whole foods, organic, locally sourced, whatever.  One day, she finds out that a shop near the Seattle Market is bringing in some gator tail that is just like what she had all through her childhood.  Now, she wouldn't be going there every day or shopping there exclusively, but if she called her friends to tell them what she found and every now and again went there for a taste of her home, is she violating all your dearly held principles? 

Would you dream of telling her that even though she has been eating well and has adjusted nicely to the local culture that she should not treat herself a few times a year to that little taste of home because that would mean she is not properly adjusted to Washington life?  Or let's say gator tail is really fatty.  If it is, is she being disgusting if she is healthy nearly all of the time but every now and again treats herself?  Would you "laugh your ass off" at her if you heard one comment to a fellow Floridian saying that you can find gator near the market and self-righteously assert that she doesn't know how to live like a true Seattle resident and that she is living a worse lifestyle than you because of the odd treat from her childhood. 

I'm willing to bet you eat plenty of stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with Seattle or even American heritage, but none of us accuse you of being unassimilated for it or unhealthy.  What in the world would make you think we don't enjoy a good stilton or fresh, local ingredients?  You are making quite a lot of wrong presumptions based on no experience and being rather snippity in how you go about it.

The one thing I don't think I will ever do again...is order a rum and coke in France. I got 2 pieces of ice LOL and it cost 10 Euros, and they just put the rum in the glass and gave me a can of coke. Mixed drinks not the norm in Paris evidently. But the wine was wonderful, plentiful and cheap, in France and Germany.


One other thing that happened in Amsterdam...I asked for tap water to drink...they claimed not to have any! I just laughed and got my water bottle out of my back pack after paying an exorbitant amount at another restaurant earlier.

Ice is not the norm on the continent, I've been to every country except for Belarus and Andorra and I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten ice in non fast food restaurants.  In much of Europe mixed drinks don't seem as good to me, partially due to the exact measurement you get, and partially because of the lack of mixers.  Luckily I'm a big beer drinker and there's lots of that to try. 

Also in Belgium for sure, and I believe Holland as well, it's actually illegal to serve tap water in restaurants.  Sometimes explanations in English don't translate well from the local  language.  For example, I've asked in loads of museums if I could take pictures and been told that it's 'impossible.'  Well, it's not impossible, I have a camera and it works, but it's not allowed.  I just always assume that the words don't translate directly. 

The one thing I don't think I will ever do again...is order a rum and coke in France. I got 2 pieces of ice LOL and it cost 10 Euros, and they just put the rum in the glass and gave me a can of coke. Mixed drinks not the norm in Paris evidently. But the wine was wonderful, plentiful and cheap, in France and Germany.

I find this in every pub or restaurant I go to here...and in Ireland...When I order a JD and Coke..I get served a glass with ice and a shot of JD and sometimes they ask me if I want a dash of coke or a can...I usually ask for the can..BUT I always always ask for extra ice...and sometimes even ask for a extra glass of ice...

When I was in N. Ireland (ages ago) everybody was mad for what they called "Back-yardy" Turned out they meant rum and coke (Bacardi) 

The one thing I don't think I will ever do again...is order a rum and coke in France. I got 2 pieces of ice LOL and it cost 10 Euros, and they just put the rum in the glass and gave me a can of coke. Mixed drinks not the norm in Paris evidently. But the wine was wonderful, plentiful and cheap, in France and Germany.

The way it was explained to me was here in the UK drink refills are not usually free like they are in most places in the US. so you get a little bit of ice so they can fill your drink all the way to the top.  

The way it was explained to me was here in the UK drink refills are not usually free like they are in most places in the US. so you get a little bit of ice so they can fill your drink all the way to the top.  

Yeah, the only places I can think of that do free refills in the UK are Pizza Hut, Subway and Nando's - and with Subway and Nando's you can add your own ice anyway.

Otherwise, most places you are paying maybe £2 for one glass of Coke/Sprite/whatever and you have to pay again if you want another one... so the less ice they give you, the more drink you get for your money and the less drinks you have to buy (I can usually only afford to get one drink when I'm eating out, so I have to make it last the entire meal) .

Also, at least in the UK, the lack of ice could have something to do with the weather - it's not usually very warm in the UK, even in the summer, so you don't often need a drink to cool yourself down. On the other hand I'm in Arkansas right now where it's been 98 degrees every day this week... I need ice in everything I drink, just so I don't overheat (even the glass of water I have on my bedside table at night has ice in it because it's too hot otherwise)!

If there isn’t much ice in the UK because it’s not too hot, then why in the world don’t they have it in Spain or Italy?  I don’t tend to even notice the amount of ice in my drinks as I prefer them closer to room temp, but I’ve had some hot days and could have killed for a super chilled drink!

If there isn’t much ice in the UK because it’s not too hot, then why in the world don’t they have it in Spain or Italy?  I don’t tend to even notice the amount of ice in my drinks as I prefer them closer to room temp, but I’ve had some hot days and could have killed for a super chilled drink!

That was just my thought on why we don't have much ice in the UK - I have no idea why they don't have it in other, hotter European countries .

I've not read this thread in its entirety but it kind of made me giggle. Our local Aldi was selling Hershey Chocolate syrup last week.  Now I've not had the need to use it or want to use it for years.  However for some weird reason I headed straight to Aldi and picked up two bottles.  I have no idea if I will ever use it.  But I had to have it LOL