The only things I canāt find here or the costs are eye watering and I either buy in the UK or have a friend smuggle over are:
Bisto gravy granules, both beef & chicken.
Oxo cubles, beef, chicken.
Colemanās Mustard, mint sauce, horseradish sauce.
Mulligatawny Soup in a tin.
Marmite.
Sarsons malt vinegar
Spiced pickling vinegar
Umm, I feel a begging email to my dealer smuggler friend in the making.
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I agree with Marmite although I can buy it locally at most supermarkets and dog charity shops if I was really desperate.
ā¦ and Laguiole is the third member of that trio.
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From the pucture I took of the packet apart from the chemistry set of crap they add its only reconisable ingredient was 4.5% beef fat. As I use beef dripping to cook with, as it gets hot it changes to a lovely light brown and all the beef smell comes through, its easy to make that into real gravy without the crap they use.
I know, youāre just trying to wind up us foodiesā¦
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Salers is my favourite cheese with Cantal a close second. When I shopped at Dutch markets I liked some of the old Goudas.
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If youāre in SW France, and like old Dutch cheeses, you might also enjoy Old Rodez - the Aveyronās version of Parmesan created by emigrĆ© Italians in the C19th.
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Those red cubes have an interesting history.
THE OXO CUBE CELEBRATED ITS 100 YEARS BIRTHDAY in 2008.
In 1840 concentrated meat extract was invented in London, by a German chemist named Justis von Liebig.
However as it required 30 kilos of beef to make one kilo of extract, with the price of beef in Europe it was a non starter.
In Uruguay at the time, a young railway engineer also with German origins called George Christian Giebert, read about the work of Liebig and wrote to him.
Giebert was given the license to produce the beef extract at Fray Bentos, on the banks of the River Plate in Uruguay.
A company was set up in London in 1865 named the Liebeg Extract of Meat Company, with a share issue of 150,000 pounds to build a purpose designed meat plantā¦
Prior to this, the cattle in Argentina and Uruguay were slaughtered only for the skins, as there was no refrigeration to transport the beef.
From 800 kilos per month initially, the company was producing 500 tons a month by 1878.
The meat was being thrown out for the making of Tallow until in 1878 the first corned beef was produced. This corned beef which later became known world wide as Fray Bentos Corned Beef.
The staff at each plant was over 5,000 killing 1200 cattle a day on the ground, in teams of 5 men, on a kill floor the size of two football fields.
Each team has to dress 60 cattle a day, split them with a clever and clean up their area when finished.
The beef extract was sold in glass bottles in the same manner as Bovril today, until 1908 when the first Oxo cubes were manufactured.
The Oxo cube was so successful, they sponsored the 1908 Olympic Games in London, with all the athletes given Oxo drinks for energy. The very first sponsored Olympic Games.
The Liebig Extract company was killing 6,000 cattle per week, in Fray Bentos and another 6,000 cattle per week in Entre Rios Argentina, all for Oxo and corned beefā¦
The beef extract company was taken over the Lord Vestey, beef empire in 1924.
In 1968 the company was again taken over by Brooke Bond Tea company.
With the sale of the company, came over 2-3 million hectares of farm land and herds of cattle in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Rhodesia, Kenya and South Africa.
Unilever took over the company in 1984, followed by Campbells Soup, who sold the UK operation to Premier Food in 2006
The Oxo brand is still produced in South Africa today by the Mars Group.
The name Oxo has been used for childrenās games ( similar to naughtās and crosses) and even a racehorse that won the English Grand National.
There was an Oxo family on television every night in England, for nearly 40 years until 1999 suggesting meat recipeās utilizing the Oxo cube.
Most of all Oxo opened the doors of the South American beef industry, to the rest of the world.
A little cube in a red box captivated the interest of every major food company in the world, the previous owners of the brand is like a corporate whoās who.
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I need Laguiole in my life ā¦!!
I can smuggle in May from Netherlands:
Marmite (big jars from Albert Hein)
HP Sauce
Shit Cheese
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Iām in the CĆ©vennes so plenty of very very nice cheeseā¦
Iām in the Lot Valley, so ditto.
Actually passed over the Cevennes this afternoon driving back from Antibes - the greeny-grey colour of the late winter landscape reminded me of teenage years on the Pennines.
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Oh! Maybe one day we will meet and I could recount my stories of life drawing classes at Edinburgh College of Art back in the early 80ās.
I was petrified seeing naked modelsā¦(I studied architecture but we had to learn to draw and scriptā¦)ā¦happy daysā¦
Yes I agree on the cheese front unless you can find a local producer in NL
HP sauce has changed taste since the Dutch took over production and I no longer buy it . But Marmite is food from the Gods 
Iāll risk it when making my Snake & Sidney pies, I even drink it sometimes when out fishing in Winter. Brings back memories of going to school in Winter with a thermos full of OXO.
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Iām sitting sipping Chablis in Chablis, I think that counts as cheerful news. Iām enjoying it anyway 
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My Dutch friends bring me jars of Thai fried garlic in chili paste.
I imagine itās obligatory!
What % are the THC levels, in this shit cheese ? 
Ok Wozzaā¦I will bring some and sort out logistics later 
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