On the other hand, the Mexican ex-pat I sat next to on a flight from Guadalajara to Chicago in 1997 managed to bring in a gallon Ziploc bag of homemade chorizo. We were talking about it in the plane beforehand, and she was resigning herself to losing it at Customs; but I saw her later at baggage claim, and she triumphantly displayed it. I don’t know how she got it in, but she went home with her abuela’s chorizo and was very pleased thereby.
Interesting! My grandfather and great-grandfather were coal miners in southern Ohio, but apparently the pepperoni rolls were invented in 1927. That was well after they were out of the mines. Well, my great-grandfater died in the mine.
Ha, my brother who lives in Costa Rica always wants homemade brownies when he visits.
I suggest you ask them. If they’ve been to the US there may be some things they want from here. Like office supplies. Yes, office supplies! One of my professors traded sabbaticals with colleagues in France. When they came to the US they brought cheese, mustard, wine, etc. He asked what he could bring them when he came to France. “You know those replacement erasers you stick on the end of a pencil when the real eraser wears out? Can you bring a few kilos of those?” My prof thought trading French food for cap erasers was a great deal for him!
I agree that it’s probably best to ask the relatives what they want or might want. Like perhaps they’re diabetic, so they don’t want maple syrup or candy. Or they never, ever cook for themselves, so spices would be useless. They might be annoyingly not specific as to what they want. (“I’m sure whatever you bring, we will appreciate.”)