We're really pleased with our free range pork supply - taste is excellent and having lived on an industrial pig farm in Brittany when we first came to France and seen the conditions first hand, I cannot justify buying anything else (which unfortunately means most 'French' pork and pork products as free range isn't the norm).
I don't know what they do to the meat that they put in French sausages but I have yet to find one that doesn't have the texture of an inner tube! Give me good quality British sausages any day. Also, my local Leclerc in Mazamet has started to stock free range pork. Had a lovely roti this weekend which I cooked in a bag to keep it moist. Only 12 euros a kilo as well. Usually get meat from local butcher and he will leave the skin on the pork if I order in advance.
The other things I miss are proper back bacon and jellied eels.
So right Catharine,I get a good choice of delicious free range pork sausages from M&S,much tastier than the 'chipos' from the butcher.At Marks I'm always amused by the look on the faces of non english people when they pick up some scotch eggs.....what on earth is that? Having said that the stores here in Paris are always packed,with French people.
Thanks for your corn meal suggestions! I was hesitant to use polenta because most of our is pre cooked. I’ll try it! 
I'll keep you posted on that Steve but free range rare breed British Bangers as being touted in downtown Dax these days are FAR superior in taste and quality to those widely available in French butchers and supermarkets which are almost entirely produced from factory farmed crap! When did you last spot free range pork for sale in France? Not widely available is it?!!
@CH I'm always happy to say to the checkout woman/girl Mais Madame, vous connaissez pas les Fruits de Passion...? Then of course my OH clonks me on the head, but still it's worth it.
Why on earth would you suggest that?
@ Steve -Hayes - yes I have heard that too re parsnips and ditto on the checkout operator too.
Oh well, you'll be pleased to hear Steve (!) that our local AMAP is now introducing British style sausages as part of the pork packs. These are produced by friends of ours who have a pig farm in the area. So far the response is mixed. Some French people do not like the taste at all. One lady adores them and tries to buy everyone else's sausages! So I can see Brian's point (which is absolutely spot on re evolution btw Mr Milne!) actually happening in front of me - one day the 'French' sausage will evolve due to the perfidious influence of the British Banger!!
I have travelled extensively for work, so it has been my fortune to find food I would never find where I live. From the time I was introduced to the then few UK Indian restaurants until I went to India I now accept I was basically ignorant. With all of the variety gradually available here in Europe I doubt people who have not been there know even 1% of what is available there, such is the huge range. For people who say they don't like curries or very spicy food, that is very, very easy to find too. Likewise hot, spicy food in central and south America. It is a small part of the diet. For most of my years working regularly in Peru my diet was often mainly choclo y papas. Maize and potatoes in English. They are Andean originated vegetables, along with tomatoes, aubergines, chilli and other peppers and a few other things we take for granted. Chillis did not spice people's food anywhere else until well after 'In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue'. Therefore the fear of hot everywhere hides the fact that most places retain what went before that is not. I also love real Italian food. Sure, pasta dominates but along with breads like focaccia, sgabeo and so on and the variety between the Milanesi and Bolognesi dishes we all know and other areas like Venetian or Sicilian food. There is a lot I love.
What I do not miss is so-called British food. My mother learned to 'cook' during WW2, then spent several years cooking for the occupation troops and continued in the same vein once that was over. Potatoes, cabbage or whatever would be boiled to oblivion, meat cooked to shoe sole consistency and so on. I came to despise all of that. There is, however, some brilliant food in the UK. As long it is nothing like the so-called utility food my mother cooked many things are good. I will not be in the same room as Brussels sprouts or potatoes cooked to sludge in water, as for fat or lard cooked food from anywhere in the world it actually makes me feel unwell to smell it so that I will leave or find a polite excuse to do so. Some people thrive on those things. Fine. It is all a matter of taste (or lack of in many cases).
The best of what we prefer, in as far as it is available, is what I prefer by far and would wish on everybody else. However, slapping things down as awful because one does not like them is probably a thinly veiled denial of accepting variety rather than celebrating it. Eat what you want, we all have favourites.
My own is a fabulous beef and ale pie. Alternatively beef and Stilton pie. I make pastry for base and top separately and slightly different so that I get a flaky top crust, the beef is bought lean and in one piece to cut myself. Ale can be varied from a bitter to a stout and Stilton is fairly easy to find hereabouts. Such detail as the mashed potato with it is done without cooking directly in water or adding butter, but I'll let what I use remain my secret. My Swiss-Italian OH who is also widely travelled, some Swiss in-laws and our daughters request it (but don't always get it) as often as they can. Ironically, beef is absolutely my least favourite meat but in the pie, mmmm. If that is not an archetypal British food then who knows what is?
As for sourcing. I 'import' the occasional haggis direct from MacSweens but the rest I find locally and have done so in several countries. Since I do not drink tea the way it is consumed in the UK I have no problem; all of the green and white teas I prefer are easy enough to find and never teabags anyway although I religiously still use a Brown Bessie teapot. I have to search hard for real espresso coffee and sometimes buy Lavazza Qualita Rosso on line. Markets, local shops and supermarkets provide the rest.
Then try the sausage Steve, should the truck ever go so far south as Blagnac. I hear its quite good. I'll get around to trying one as soon as I tire of the cod. Different strokes for different folks.
Someone suggested that parsnips were one of the few foodstuffs people could find in WW2 so then they got sick of them, and the later generations never encountered them. Certainly we had to tell the checkout person what they were called (panais). I'm not sure if that's true, I saw parsnips as the leading exhibit of "forgotten foods" in the botanical gardens in Geneve (ie Switzerland), who didn't suffer the same privations.
I have to give a plug for http://www.mrfishandchips.com/find-us who ply their trade in Herault 34. The (traditional) fish is as good as I've had anywhere.
Tony, a regular in our local group consisting of primarily Brit expats, was longing for authentic fish and chips, as were his friends. So he and his son had a food truck custom built and they now travel far and wide, on a regular schedule, to enclaves of Her Majesty's subjects in France, bringing them authentic English favorites that couldn't be found anywhere in this region. He hits my town the first Monday of each month and the whole gang turns out for a quayside dinner (bring your own silverware, folding table and chairs, wine, etc.). It has become quite popular in the towns on his schedule and the French locals are even getting into it. Big filets and a heavenly batter. Can't miss.
He has Icelandic cod flown in on a frequent schedule. His menu has grown to include other English favorites (battered sausages, pies, etc.), but I am far too enamored with his fish and chips or onion rings to try them. You can check out his menu and schedule at his Cod En Bleu website. Note: It is always advisable to order advance online, a day before. I arrived one evening to find him sold out. Bon Apetit!
Doreen, I too have had a Senseo for almost ten years. I quickly tired of all of the dosettes available and purchased a set of those reusable dosettes in the coffee accessories section at the supermarche. I believe they are made by Melitta. They're great. You can put any coffee you desire in them, at ant strength you like. I currently favo[u]r the Lobodis Bolivie, or for a stronger cup, and Cafe Honduras (found in the bio rayon or the fair trade/equitable section of most of the major markets). Intermarche also has Cubana by Legal, which is another favorite. Our local cave has fresh roasted beans from exotic climes and will grind to order. Their Ethiopean beans will jump start a rough morning.
Lorraine Tilbury: I use the fine polenta for cornbread and corn muffins. It works quite well!
My daughter who has never lived in the UK adores Heinz beans too, they only others that have passed muster - including Carrefour Bio (which I thought were fine) are Tesco own brand - bizarre.
My son who is 16 and has lived in France since he was 4 only likes Heinz beans. Have tried the French similarity but not pass.
Try also Halles Dis beans in tomato sauce- large tin 98 centimes- a little more expensive I know but pretty near the real thing and I think less sugar than many UK brands! Not a great Brit food follower but I like my Marmite, Cheddar and bacon
I have found a French replacement for Heinz Baked Beans - They are Carrefour Bio Haricots Blanc a la sauce tomate. They are in small jars with green and brown labels. They are pretty close to the Heinz taste.