The only English (sorry Scots etc.) food that I miss are some regional cheeses (eg. Lancashire creamy, single Gloucester), but even if they were available here, I 'd be reluctant to buy them as they probably wouldn’t travel well. Before we moved here full-time, I remember being very disappointed with some Cantal from our Cockermouth deli (the town’s twinned with Millau, which although in the Aveyron isn’t that far from the Cantal).
And as posted elsewhere previously, I can now get a glass of draught IPA (albeit Californian) on our monthly coffee bean runs to Rodez. So overall I’m very happy with what I can get locally from an Algerian shop in Figeac that also has lots of Levantine foods and spices.
And anything I can’t get locally I’ll order from mesépices.com
However certain foods are a no-no in Europe - decent mangoes, pink guavas, grenadillas, pawpaws and papayas. Though you might strike lucky with the odd avo.
I’ve not tried the mangos but I order avocados when in season and they’re the best I’ve ever tasted.
Plus almost all the stones self propagated in the compost and I now have 40 odd avocado plants in the house !
Mangoes from Brazil bought in Denmark: no-go. They’re never good. Mangoes from Brazil in Brazil: the best. But the Indian and Pakistani mangoes I find here are absolutely yummy.
I did not come to (or stayed in) Denmark for the food, hehe. It’s mostly quite lousy. However, there are a few things I’ll miss from here: æblekage and ris à l’amande, two desserts I love.
When I arrived here 20 years ago, there was a lot I missed from Brazil and was impossible to find. So every trip back home we shipped one or two boxes to DK filled with Brazilian goodies. My taste changed in time, and I started missing fewer and fewer things. Other things became easily available here. And finding the ingredients I can make my own recipes like the famous cheese bread or passion fruit mousse.
Last month in Toulouse I found a shop that had most of my beloved items like guava sweets and jam
As someone who gets grumpy at the lazy interchange of English and British, this is perfectly acceptable. Just so long as you don’t start talking about English passports and driving licences, or “British” law for that matter.
Edited to add: I suppose there probably is British law, now that Northern Ireland still has one foot in the EU.
Well, the jar of Potter’s Malt Extract With Cod Liver Oil arrived safely. I contacted the seller to ask if the jar was made of glass, and if so would they make sure it was well wrapped, and it was!
Will report back if I feel it’s done me any good, but what I can say is that it is yummy, as it was back in the early 1950s.
Really?Switzerland was heavily reliant on imported food and the ordinary people suffered differed greatly in the two W Wars. Rationing was in place from 1936 to 1948.
We have good friends who came to France post war as things were so bad in Switzerland.
Thanks cat for the info on the crowd farming people. My first purchase arrived via chronofresh yesterday. Huge mangos and delicious pomegranates. It’s a very good idea, well explained and well executed. Just having come back a short holiday in Spain I feel that it fits in to the positive, entrepreneurial attitude of Spain.
Posted the above just over a year ago, but learned today that the shop is now closed because the owners have retired. Don’t know of anywhere similar in the area, and online quickly becomes pricey, so will probably going to have to rely on a few Dutch friends to bring down bulk supplies.
You’ve reminded me of Blue Cheshire which used to be a favourite of mine. On searching I came across John Bourne’s Blue Cheshire cheese. See The Cheese Shop, Nantwich.
I miss ALL foods!!! Currently unable to eat normally after an operation (jawbone reconstruction after radiotherapy induced osteonécrose). Being fed via a nasogastric tube thingy! It’s better than starving to death of course but I miss tasting real food. It should be temporary until I regain my swallowing ability. Grateful for the medical care that allowed this operation (IUFC in Nice).
but I order avocados 
when in season and they’re the best I’ve ever tasted.
