Having lived in Berlin, I was surprised at certain “typical” USA products that were not easily found in Germany (back then) and wondered if things have changed.
In Kabul there are a couple of stores that carry a lot of expat type food, including the above. It’s only a matter of time of course until they get targeted.
Damn - forgot to ask:
What country do you live in?
From my experience back in the day in Berlin, all of those three were hard to find, if at all. You could find maple syrup in some upscale shops (the pure form, and quite expensive) and peanut butter and popcorn in, of all places, only at “health food stores” and also, not always available.
I can remember making popcorn from scratch and having Germans look on in awe, and then when I put butter and salt on it (instead of sugar) they were kind of grossed out - but those who tried it, liked it.
I live outside Oslo, Norway. Maple syrup, as well as maple-flavored pancake syrup, can be found in larger supermarkets in this area. Every little corner grocery store has peanut butter and popcorn.
I’m in the UK and the supermarket near me sells all three.
Peanut butter is something you’d find even in a local corner shop.
Maple syrup is in most of the supermarkets around here.
Dried popcorn kernels I’ve only really seen in large supermarkets or health food shops. Bags of ready made (sweet) stuff can be found anywhere from a petrol station or newsagents up to a supermarket, with the microwave variety on most supermarket shelves.
In Australia/New Zealand - all 3 items readily available at all supermarkets.
There’s a notion I’ve seen voiced online that peanut butter is hard to track down here. Not at all, you might have to go to a specialist store to get American brands (Jif?) but any supermarket and most smaller convenience stores stock peanut butter, smooth and crunchy.
Those other items are readily available in supermarkets too.
Germany calling! My local supermarket carries all three, although I usually buy microwave popcorn rather than the kernels. Microwave popcorn is available in either sweet or salty, and peanut butter in crunchy or smooth.
But just try and find chocolate chips. I always buy them in quantity on my trips Stateside and awe our friends over the following months with my exotic chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm, chocolate chip cookies.
Thanks all for your replies.
I guess it has been awhile since I lived in Germany, and it sounds like more products are easily available there, as well as elsewhere around the world!
So much for my theory that those products are still difficult to find…
Sweden:
You’ll find all the here, though maple syrup is horribly expensive.
My wife and I visited England a back in 1990, and asked on-line US ex-pat friends there what we should bring that they couldn’t get. We wound up bringing Cap’n Crunch cereal and grape Kool-Aid - grape-flavored anything seems to be obscure in England, that spot in the flavor world occupied by blackcurrant.
What’s horribly expensive? The real stuff is pretty expensive in the US, but the fake crap is cheap. The two should never be confused.