# Things you didn't expect to miss in a foreign country **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672 "2009-10-13T17:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/61 "2009-10-16T04:24:44Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > But when you go to the other extreme–no billboards, no logos on buses, no come-ons in shop windows–it’s amazing how dreary and lifeless a city can look. Such was the Soviet Union, during the bad old days of 1986. > [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > No adverts in North Korea in 2009… we’ll, one (local) car billboard near the airport. No billboards in Hawaii either, by law. Thank goodness! I can’t think of anything I miss living in Thailand. Such be the benefit of having grown up in desolate West Texas. Pretty much everything is here. Maybe really good Mexican food like in northern New Mexico, but what we have in Bangkok is passable. Sort of. ---
**Author:** ![pharris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@pharris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pharris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/62 "2009-10-16T04:46:01Z")
Living in Germany with my Army (now-ex) husband, I missed sweet corn, tomatoes, and Vidalia onions. Luckily APO addresses aren’t subject to the same customs restrictions that ‘normal’ international shipments are (or at least they weren’t in the late 80’s), and my mom was able to keep me in good supply. I’m from the deep South, but live in Cleveland now. It’s not a foreign country, but dang I miss being able to buy hot boiled peanuts from a roadside vendor. Every time I’m there for a visit, I buy gobs of them, freeze them and ship them home. They’re really very good reheated, but it just isn’t the same as getting that soggy little paper bag full of steaming boiled peanuts, slurping the hot, salty liquid and tossing the shells out the car window. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/63 "2009-10-16T04:53:55Z")
> [@ColdPhoenix](#): > > Good cheese. Leave europe and it just disappears. New Zealand (and, to a lesser extent, Australia) both produce a lot of excellent cheese. Which is no help if you don’t live in Europe, Australia, or NZ, but there you go. 😉 > [@bengangmo](#): > > What about Hokey Pokey ice-cream, can’t get it here ☹ Is there a specific brand you’re looking for? Every reasonably- sized supermarket I’ve ever been in here in Australia has Hokey Pokey icecream. > [@](#): > > I miss a good New Zealand chop and our New Zealand sausages - the only ones you can get here are all those gourmet-y things that sell for like $20NZD a kilo…crappy bloody things.. > > oh - and proper steak and cheese pies…mmmm I love Steak & Cheese pies and haven’t had a decent one in years (whenever I duck back to NZ one of my first stops is usually a dairy to get a steak & cheese pie, a can of Fresh Up, and a Jelly Tip), but there are heaps of New Zealand shops around Australia now that stock Kiwi pretty much everything. Except pies like the sort you get from dairies and petrol stations, which are indeed very tasty. Until recently it was surprisingly difficult to get Maggi Onion Soup Mix here, which makes a wonderful dip that everyone I’ve ever made it for loves, but for some reason Maggi don’t market the stuff in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/64 "2009-10-16T04:58:13Z")
I didn’t expect to miss grass (no not THAT!), but I do. There’s hardly any of the damn stuff here in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/65 "2009-10-16T06:25:29Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > I’m in Guanacaste, so I go to Liberia to get stuff we can’t get in my little town. They have a HUGE fruit section at the Jumbo in Liberia (the big supermarket there). And there are always the people on the side of the bus selling fruit. My coworker made a fruit salad last night with tons of different fruits in it and whenever I go on vacation, I always buy fresh fruit to take on the bus. > > My favorite fruit is from the jungle though. Nothing like wild passion fruit! We can’t let the monkeys see us eating fruit, but if I see something good and no monkeys are in view, I take it. OK, so we did shop in the same places. But the thing is… I’m sure someone from Costa Rica who came to Spain would miss fruit, too. While the fish was a matter of “narrower choices,” the fruit was mostly a matter of “different choices.” Mangos are rare in Spain; this means a Spaniard isn’t used to eating them and a Costa Rican in Spain will miss them. Reinetas? Peras de San Juan? Navelinas? I was stunned the other day to see reinetas in a Scottish supermarket; never seen the other two in a non-mediterranean country. In America you find bananas, in Spain it’s a matter of national pride to buy plátano de Canarias. Most of the apples we saw in Costa Rica were red ones from Canada which only one of us liked; we did find Golden sometimes and every time we fell on them like a flock of vultures. Almost all the grapes we saw were seedless green (moscatel once, near Christmas; most of the grapes grown in my area are black). When we were landing in Madrid the first time, my coworker from Santander was saying he was about ready to kill for some of the little green apples (smaller than reinetas) that farmers near his hometown grow for cider. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/66 "2009-10-16T06:36:02Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > New Zealand (and, to a lesser extent, Australia) both produce a lot of excellent cheese. > > Which is no help if you don’t live in Europe, Australia, or NZ, but there you go. 😉 > > Is there a specific brand you’re looking for? Every reasonably- sized supermarket I’ve ever been in here in Australia has Hokey Pokey icecream. > > I love Steak & Cheese pies and haven’t had a decent one in years (whenever I duck back to NZ one of my first stops is usually a dairy to get a steak & cheese pie, a can of Fresh Up, and a Jelly Tip), but there are heaps of New Zealand shops around Australia now that stock Kiwi pretty much everything. Except pies like the sort you get from dairies and petrol stations, which are indeed very tasty. > > Until recently it was surprisingly difficult to get Maggi Onion Soup Mix here, which makes a wonderful dip that everyone I’ve ever made it for loves, but for some reason Maggi don’t market the stuff in Australia. I really shouldn’t interact with you at all…now you are making things worse for me… mmmm…Jellytips…mmmm Onion dip - best with chicken or green onion ripples…mmmmmm Yeah - but I am living in Singapore - you don’t tend to get too much of the stuff here, unless it is the high end gourmet which is not what I want. I can’t remember the last time I had a proper steak and cheese pie… I remember doing the “pie run” for the warehouse on a Saturday morning, we used to order 60 plus pies…get them fresh from the oven, totally delodious ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/67 "2009-10-16T07:16:19Z")
I just remembered lollycake - do you all have that anywhere else (except Australia)…malt biscuits, condensed milk and fruit puffs? It was YUMMY ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/68 "2009-10-16T07:45:31Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Hmmm…it used to be owned by Schwepps right? I hope they didn’t change the recipe… > > What about Hokey Pokey ice-cream, can’t get it here ☹ Schweppes is owned or distributed by Coke as well > **[Coca-Cola New Zealand - Home Page | Coca-Cola NZ](https://www.coca-cola.com/nz/en)** > > Welcome to the home page of Coca-Cola New Zealand. Discover our brands, product information, and the latest updates from The Coca-Cola Company. & this is sort of like the Marmite thread in the Pit! _Anothe_r way you can tell I wasn’t born in NZ is I don’t like Hokey pokey ice cream! Far too sweet. Or crunchy bars. I suppose you are missing those too! 😃 Martini, are you a kiwi as well? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/69 "2009-10-16T07:46:05Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > We can’t let the monkeys see us eating fruit I expect I can imagine the answer already, but I’m curious: What do the monkeys do if they catch you in the act? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/70 "2009-10-16T08:24:17Z")
> [@maplekiwi](#): > > Martini, are you a kiwi as well? Originally, yes. But I live in Australia now and don’t feel any real affinity towards NZ beyond the various culinary treats produced thereof. 😉 Lollycake is delicious, as is Rice Bubble Square, which I’ve never encountered anywhere outside Australasia. Also, Pavlova (with cream, passionfruit, strawberries, and kiwifruit on top!) doesn’t seem to be very well known outside Australia or NZ either. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/71 "2009-10-16T08:35:07Z")
> [@maplekiwi](#): > > Schweppes is owned or distributed by Coke as well > > [Coca-Cola New Zealand - Home Page | Coca-Cola NZ](http://www.coke.co.nz/assets/img/aboutcocacola/coca-colainnewzealand.pdf) > & this is sort of like the Marmite thread in the Pit! _Anothe_r way you can tell I wasn’t born in NZ is I don’t like Hokey pokey ice cream! Far too sweet. Or crunchy bars. I suppose you are missing those too! 😃 > > Martini, are you a kiwi as well? Hee - I guess you’ve never made home made hokey pokey then? Recipe used to be in the Edmunds (sp?) cook book…sugar, golden syrup melted and stir and bring to boil, add in bicarbonate of soda, stir rapidly then put in tin to cool - we always used to put in freezer. Aslo sultana pasties. Take the left over pastry from a bacon and egg pie, roll it flat, put in sultanas, close like a pie, bake at 180 for about 10 minutes, eat while hot. Totally delicious… ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/72 "2009-10-16T08:38:40Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Originally, yes. But I live in Australia now and don’t feel any real affinity towards NZ beyond the various culinary treats produced thereof. 😉 > > Lollycake is delicious, as is Rice Bubble Square, which I’ve never encountered anywhere outside Australasia. Also, Pavlova (with cream, passionfruit, strawberries, and kiwifruit on top!) doesn’t seem to be very well known outside Australia or NZ either. I always preferred rice krispies (the ones made with cocoa) rather than rice bubble square, but then we go to anzac biscuits, and also custard square - and lamington. Then when she was enthusiastic mum used to make this wonderful biscuit… wine biscuit base, with marshmallow (home made) on top followed by chocolate icing - I loved that, but it never lasted long enough. Oooerr - and gingernuts, its been years since I’ve had a gingernut. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/73 "2009-10-16T14:21:15Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I expect I can imagine the answer already, but I’m curious: What do the monkeys do if they catch you in the act? Then they view us as a competitor and will be less tolerable to having us around them. Capuchins are head-strong, brave little bastards and, if they don’t like us, studying them becomes impossible, especially if they are breaking big branches over our heads. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/74 "2009-10-16T15:38:08Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Chocolate!!! > > Or more specifically, Maltesers > > Real proper rot your teeth stuff, not that crappy stuff they sell in the USA masquerading as chocolate Omighosh, yes. Every time I’ve come back from Europe, I’ve had chocolate withdrawl. I’ve made my wife promise to not let me buy American chocolate in the drug store, no matter how fancy the packaging. > [@aesop](#): > > I’m having trouble parsing this, as I live in Budapest and fagyi is everywhere, it’s cold, and it’s delicious…ymmv, I guess. But you’re spot on about the public transport. It rocks. Fagyi is not as cold as American hard-pack ice cream. I understand and like Gelato/Fagyi, but it’s not what I grew up on, and so it took me a long while to get used to it. Yeah, the public transit is just fucking incredible. I was able to get from my apartment to school 3 different ways. [This map](http://www.bkv.hu/english/downloads/maps/BP-metro_ENG_20090828.pdf) shows just the trams and subways, but they also have [many buses](http://www.bkv.hu/downloads/terkepek/vonalhalozati_090822.jpg), trolleys (buses on electric overhead tracks), a children’s railway, a cogwheel railway, a skilift, and a funicular. [They are also expanding.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Metro#Metro_4) > [@](#): > > If I had to pick one intangible it would be customer service. The US really does shine in this regard. Hungary, not so much. As one of my teachers in Hungary put it: you guys have Standards in the US. When you buy something, you just expect it will work. Here? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/75 "2009-10-16T16:07:45Z")
The first time I lived in England I didn’t expect to miss the sound of big burbling V-8 engines. It took a couple of months to realize that’s what was missing against the backdrop of city traffic. I also came to miss US-style sink taps where the hot and cold streams are merged. Those separate H/C types are awful! When I use the bathroom sink, it’s usually to wash my hands and/or face. When your water temp choices are either freezing or scalding…well, no. Just no. And filling the basin up with warm water and then splashing it wasn’t appealing, either. It felt like I was putting the soap scum and dirt right back on my face. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/76 "2009-10-19T17:39:05Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Just curious, where were you? It doesn’t sound like either the UK nor southern Europe, by what you say. Germany (Niedersachsen). ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/77 "2009-10-19T18:19:16Z")
> [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](#): > > The first time I lived in England I didn’t expect to miss the sound of big burbling V-8 engines. It took a couple of months to realize that’s what was missing against the backdrop of city traffic. > > I also came to miss US-style sink taps where the hot and cold streams are merged. Those separate H/C types are awful! When I use the bathroom sink, it’s usually to wash my hands and/or face. When your water temp choices are either freezing or scalding…well, no. Just no. And filling the basin up with warm water and then splashing it wasn’t appealing, either. It felt like I was putting the soap scum and dirt right back on my face. Hows this for an idea? You fill up ½ the bowl with either hot or cold and repeat the performance with either hot or cold testing at intervals until you get the temp you want. Works a treat, you should try it next time you visit our fair island ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/78 "2009-10-19T20:04:23Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Hows this for an idea? > > You fill up ½ the bowl with either hot or cold and repeat the performance with either hot or cold testing at intervals until you get the temp you want. > > Works a treat, you should try it next time you visit our fair island True, but you probably use more water doing it that way. Then again, I imagine that water shortages aren’t really an issue in the UK, what with there not being any deserts, much less with fifty million people living in them. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/79 "2009-10-19T20:07:59Z")
> [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](#): > > Those separate H/C types are awful! When I use the bathroom sink, it’s usually to wash my hands and/or face. When your water temp choices are either freezing or scalding…well, no. Just no. . I’m in America. For shaving or face-washing I just use the hottest water I can get from my American-style faucet to wet the washrag, and then use that. I imagine that works pretty well with any kind of tap. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672/80 "2009-10-19T20:10:29Z")
When I was vacationing in Argentina I found that I missed being able to eavesdrop. I knew enough Spanish to muddle through things as a tourist, but I couldn’t understand it spoken at full speed. Sitting in a restaurant or on a bus crowded with locals the conversations would be flying around me, and I just felt totally isolated, far more so than if I’m in the same situation in the US. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-expect-to-miss-in-a-foreign-country/513672.md?page=5)