# You move to a different country. What food from home do you most miss? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069 "2010-06-30T15:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/81 "2010-07-01T18:08:05Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > I’ll take your word on the other stuff, but powdered iced tea?! Are you joking?! That’s an abomination unto Luzianne and generations of southern American grandmothers! > > (For the uninitiated, iced tea should be brewed from black tea - I’m partial to Luzianne brand, but others could make a case for Tetley’s or such - and then sweetened with diabetes-inducing amounts of sugar, diluted to taste, and served over ice. Lemon or mint optional. Powdered tea is to iced tea as Nescafe is to coffee. Ain’t the same animal!) …I like powdered iced tea. It’s not even remotely the same as real tea, it’s like its own vaguely tea-flavoured entity, but it’s pretty good on its own merits. I got my father to bring me a canister of Nestea mix when he came to visit. But I also have a bunch of tea bags for whenever I want to make real sweet tea. I moved from the southern US to Northern Ireland. I miss Mexican food dreadfully. There’s one place here that’s pretty good, but it’s different enough from the Tex-Mex at home that it’s just not the same. I would also love to have some biscuits and gravy, but the sausage here just isn’t right for it and I’m not actually ambitious enough to make my own. I’m also very carefully hoarding my last box of Zatarains dirty rice mix because I love that stuff but am not even remotely interested in trying to figure out how to duplicate it on my own. I also thought for a while that I would kill to have a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese until I actually found it for sale for £4 a box. I didn’t want it that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/82 "2010-07-01T18:15:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You lose access to good grits as soon as you’re north of Kentucky or west of Missouri. What’s the difference between good grits, and regular grits? Or, are you talking about the ability to buy grits in a restaurant? I can’t think of anything I’d miss. Maple syrup, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/83 "2010-07-01T18:35:57Z")
> [@Fuji](#): > > Good pizza. It’s easy to find pizza here, but good pizza is another matter entirely. For the first three years or so that I was here, the best pizza that I could find was from the frozen food section at the supermarket! Pathetic. Even the place I know go to for pizza only makes an adequate pie of generic style, and they still put weird crap like sweetcorn on it. I’m from New England, so my favorite style of pizza is Greek, especially with spinach & feta. Not going to happen over here. You can buy Greek style in a few places in Dublin. Do you have Apache Pizza down there in the sticks? It’s as good as any chain pizza I’ve had in the US. As fer Mexican, I’ve only ever visited the US and that’s the main thing I miss from there foodwise. LaSalsa in Galway is decent but they have no outlets in Dublin (as yet). There are several new burrito places in Dublin that I haven’t tried yet. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/84 "2010-07-01T19:23:15Z")
> [@missred](#): > > - cocoa wheat What on earth is cocoa wheat? Is it like semolina with cocoa powder? Also, what do you do with it? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/85 "2010-07-01T19:41:50Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I cannot imagine life without cheese. I’ve only extensively traveled in Europe, where this is obviously not much of a problem. > > The only quintessentially American thing I can think of offhand is ketchup. Everywhere else in the world I have ever been, the ketchup tastes like sweetened, watered-down tomato soup and it’s absolutely disgusting. Aw, crap, I forgot about this one. When I had ketchup in Poland, I discovered a truth about myself, and about life in general: ketchup should taste like Heinz, or like Hunt’s. No other options on this planet taste like “ketchup” … they taste like some weird tomato-based abomination. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/86 "2010-07-01T19:57:01Z")
When I spent a month in Spain in 1973 I really missed Burger King, or any meat that didn’t taste like olive oil. Today, I’d probably miss buffalo wings. I can’t think of any other American food I couldn’t cook myself. I don’t imagine bags of chicken wings in the freezer sections outside the U.S. (obviously I could be wrong, I don’t travel much these days, lots of stuff I don’t know about out there). ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/87 "2010-07-01T20:05:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > You can buy Greek style in a few places in Dublin. You can? Next time I’m planning a trip to Dublin (not anytime soon) I’ll have to hit you up for a location or two. > [@](#): > > Do you have Apache Pizza down there in the sticks? It’s as good as any chain pizza I’ve had in the US. When I was in Temple Bar last year with a couple visiting US friends, I actually did try an Apache pie. I thought it was OK, above average for Irish pizza, but my friends were less than impressed. I’ve probably been over here long enough that my expectations have already been sufficiently lowered. Checking the website, I see that they have a couple outlets in Cork, but their pizza was not exceptional enough to warrant a trip into the “big city” for me. I also notice that you didn’t contradict what I had to say about the culinary abortion that is Irish sausage! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/88 "2010-07-01T20:07:03Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > … they taste like some weird tomato-based abomination. Yep, that’s ketchup. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/89 "2010-07-01T22:26:46Z")
US to Germany many a moon ago, and my greatest craving was for Slurpees, of all things. I _dreamed_ about Slurpees in my first year here. It’s still top on my list when I visit the States, but after the first, it’s not so critical for the rest of my stay. I will never lose my longing for good, authentic Mexican food. I used to crave foods like baby back ribs and big burgers because I had no access to them, but I’ve gotten over that in the fullness of time. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/90 "2010-07-02T01:31:04Z")
When we were in Australia, there was actually a little Mexican restaurant nearby. My husband took me there for my birthday one year. There was virtually no spice used in their cooking. The tacos had plain ground beef in them with some lettuce and (Australian) cheddar cheese thrown on top. It was hilarious - and awful at the same time. What’s even funnier is that I just googled the place and they have a Facebook fan page with a whole Wall full of people raving about how great the food is. ---
**Author:** ![Marcus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Marcus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/91 "2010-07-02T04:52:31Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’m just repeating this because truer words have never been spoken. > > Whenever I fall on hard times, I ask myself, ‘‘Do I have cheese?’’ And I usually do. It really helps put things in perspective. Amen. Just spent nearly 6 months in India, with nearly no cheese, except Indian paneer. Some cheese was available at “western” shops, but was more expensive than back home! And the heat doesn’t do it much good either 🙂 Cheese. Don’t need a lot. It’s like uranium. Just a bit keeps you running for ages, but no good without it! ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/92 "2010-07-02T05:15:38Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > That was very likely me. And in the unlikely event I ever live outside the South again, I’ll be needing care packages of grits and Luzianne Iced Tea (I’ll brew it and sweeten it myself). Alas, don’t move to Australia. I can get Lipton (and well I should do, Luzianne is gross, sorry) but grits are hard to come by. I can order them from the American store in Melbourne, but holy shit - I could order gold for less! And sometimes for no reason customs gets a bug up their butt and they don’t come through at all. Then there’s no grits, and I am sad. ☹ No proper Martha White Self-Rising Corn Meal, either. Biscuits I can make, but meh, it would be nice if I could get them with dinner. No sweet tea, but that’s ok since I’m losing weight. I can get Poptarts sometimes now, but that’s a recent thing. I used to miss them like crazy. Grape flavored _anything_ is pretty rare and a sure sign of an American import. Very recently I can get all kinds of things like Reeses Miniatures that I used to miss, and there are Cherrios, but they are…not really? These are “multi-grain” Cherrios, with sticky sugar yuck on them. I want real Cherrios that haven’t been on the boat for weeks. Real Mexican food would be good. I’m homesick. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/93 "2010-07-02T05:19:22Z")
> [@C3](#): > > When I moved to Australia from the U.S., the things I missed most were Mexican food, American-style pizza and turkey for Thanksgiving. I don’t even like turkey, but it seemed weird to either skip Thanksgiving or to have the frozen turkey breast I found in the back of the grocery store freezer. > > There were lots of foods I liked better in Australia, though, especially the bread. Where were you C3? I forgot, I used to know. I get fresh turkey from the butcher, but I have to order it weeks in advance. And they are tiny. They are like chickens with pretentions… Agree on the bread though. And coffee! ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/94 "2010-07-02T05:55:09Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > What on earth is cocoa wheat? Is it like semolina with cocoa powder? Also, what do you do with it? It’s cocoa flavored cream of wheat. As you sweeten it yourself, you can use splenda or sugar. I like a spoon full of peanut butter stirred in once in a while too. I grew up in the county where it is made and always thought that it was available anywhere, just like cream of wheat. Alas, when I moved out west for a while as a young woman, I found that wasn’t so. It was on my first grocery list when I moved back. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/95 "2010-07-02T06:03:51Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > US to Germany many a moon ago, and my greatest craving was for Slurpees, of all things. I _dreamed_ about Slurpees in my first year here. It’s still top on my list when I visit the States, but after the first, it’s not so critical for the rest of my stay. I once spent several months craving Dr. Pepper, of all things. I hardly ever even drink Dr. Pepper, so I have no idea where that came from. I just thought of it one day and then…I wanted it. And since I could not get it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/96 "2010-07-02T06:27:34Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Every American I know that has moved to China or Cameroon has developed a single-minded obsession with cheese. Life without cheese sucks. You have to change pretty much all of your cooking habits. > > American breakfast is also a common craving. While we are used to eating a variety of foods for lunch and dinner, we tend to be pretty conservative with our breakfasts. You never quite get used to spicy noodles first thing in the morning. Totally agree with the cheese thing as well. My wife and I splurged last year and bought a super expensive oven from Ikea, but it is an honest to goodness oven, not a crappy toaster oven. Unfortunately most of the dinners we bake are casseroles which require cheese, cream of mushroom soup, or both. I can find those things in Beijing, but we still have to travel a good distance to the international stores. And it’s expensive. Pancakes are very easy to make and you should be able to find all the ingredients at the local store. Of course, with no syrup is it really worth it? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/97 "2010-07-02T06:57:17Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I once spent several months craving Dr. Pepper, of all things. I hardly ever even drink Dr. Pepper, so I have no idea where that came from. I just thought of it one day and then…I wanted it. And since I could not get it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Truer words were never spoken. I crave things often on the basis that they cannot be had. Grape Kool-Aid, of all things. It was great when I was seven, but I don’t suppose I’d voluntarily had it for ten years before I left the US, and now I’d hurt you and a whole stack of other people for a glass of it. But if I got off the plane today I’d have one glass and then I wouldn’t want it anymore. It used to be Poptarts. I wanted them so badly. I’d devour an entire box on the rare occasion I could con someone from the US to send me one. Now I can get them in lots of places, I don’t want Poptarts anymore. Ditto so many other things - Reeses, Butterfinger, Hershey’s Kisses, Krispy Kremes, etc. Now that I can get them anywhere, meh. It’s maddening. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/98 "2010-07-02T07:28:46Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > I live in Japan, and think that food here is better than in the US, in general. For sure! I’m obsessed with the food here. I foresee a huge problem when I move back to the US. The only thing I really miss is certain fruit - not that they are unattainable just expensive. I’m tired of eating mikan and bananas. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/99 "2010-07-02T08:59:13Z")
So it really sounds like it would actually be worth opening an american food import business in Australia, and bring in a lot of the basics. I know that a friend of mine who emigrated to Perth always complains about the lack of dunkin donuts style donuts. Apparently Australian donuts are different? And maybe a turkey farm on the side? I would be willing to send down packages of grape koolaid to any expats with a koolaid jones =) [have you thought of getting the [canned cheese](http://www.healthyharvest.com/redfeather-cannedcheese.aspx)? I have heard it is actually ok for casseroles - more like velveeta than a sharpish cheddar, a friend uses it while camping so they don’t take up cooler space] ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069/100 "2010-07-02T10:37:36Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > When I spent a month in Spain in 1973 I really missed Burger King, or any meat that didn’t taste like olive oil. > > Today, I’d probably miss buffalo wings. I can’t think of any other American food I couldn’t cook myself. I don’t imagine bags of chicken wings in the freezer sections outside the U.S. (obviously I could be wrong, I don’t travel much these days, lots of stuff I don’t know about out there). There are buffalo wings in Spain now, or something trying to resemble them; quite a few restaurant chains specialize in “American-style food”. You won’t find them in small towns, but most provincial capitals have at least one. Chicken wings can also be bought raw (it used to be that nobody would sell you just the wings) but I don’t remember seeing bags of frozen raw wings. BK has been around for a while but yeah, it wasn’t here in '73. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-move-to-a-different-country-what-food-from-home-do-you-most-miss/545069.md?page=6)