Just wondering what sorts of foods do you miss, or crave, from home that aren't all that easy to get when travelling for whatever reason. Whether it's not made or sold where you are or it's just not convienient to get.

For me, no matter where I go, I always want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I get home. Good ole pb and j. MMMMMMM :)

When I am in the USA I really miss Milo and Weet Bix, also Cadbury Picnic's

But then when I return to Australia I miss being able to find decent ribs, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, and Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal :)

There are online stores where I can buy Milo, Weet Bix etc. in the USA and online stores in Australia where I can buy HV Ranch Dressing and the cereal...but I don't miss it enough to pay 10 bucks for a box of cereal :)

I really do miss the ribs though...tried making my own last night and they were good...for home cooked ribs.

Phoebe

Hey Feebster, I miss Australia's XXXX Bitter beer, GREAT STUFF. VERY VERY Tough to get in the US.

As far as missing items from Chicago there are more than a few: Italian Beef sandwiches, Chicago dogs, Chicago style pizza.

I also miss the Greek owned (not Greek food) basic family style restaurants. They serve everything (sandwiches, entrees, salads) the menus are usually huge and much of the food is homemade.

But I know my missing these items is only temporary and I strive to try new dining experiences and especially look for local/regional specialties of where I'm traveling to.

I believe one is a true loser if they primarily go to restaurants or dine on foods that they can readily go to at home while traveling. i.e. Cheesecake Factory in Honolulu.

GET OUT AND EXPERIENCE SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

Chicago style pizza.



New York pizza. ;)

Doesn't matter if I'm away for 3 days or 14 days, when I return home, I always have a slice (of pizza).

I miss Cinnamon Life Cereal and some good Barbeque sauce for cooking.

I don't find that I miss much, if only because when I travel, I travel places which have good local foods of their own, and I'm usually as eager to sample that food as much as I end up missing New York food when I'm getting ready to come back.

If I had to pick, it would probably be pizza - always a good choice here, in NYC...

There's a lot: li hing mui snacks, shave ice, shoyu chicken, arare, a good fried rice, manapua, guriguri from Maui... etc

It's not southern food (like most seem to miss here), but it's what I miss!

aloha

When I am in the USA I really miss Milo...

Feebster, almost all big Chinese grocery stores (supermarkets) in the U.S. sell Milo (and Horlicks). I love to drink them cold. Yummm.....

As kinds of food that I miss when travelling: a tall glass of tangy, freshly brewed, unsweetened iced tea with lots of ice cubes, Popeye's spicy fried chicken, BBQ ribs, corned beef harsh, spinach, corn, okra, collard greens.....

(Southern) belle :)

Ever since I moved away from Cincinnati I miss Skyline Chili and good Bratwurst. We can get frozen Skyline in Florida, but it's not the same. Likewise we can get bratwurst, but it's never as good as the stuff we got fresh from the butcher in Cincinnati. :)

I miss homemade food. --- Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Crawfish Pasta, Boiled Shrimp.

Everytime I go to restaurant outside of New Orleans for dishes like these it is always some horrible attempt at cajun cooking.

Ever since I moved away from Cincinnati I miss Skyline Chili and good Bratwurst. We can get frozen Skyline in Florida, but it's not the same. Likewise we can get bratwurst, but it's never as good as the stuff we got fresh from the butcher in Cincinnati. :)
I understand the chili thing but brats? I've always understood brats to be a WI thing.

My brother currently lives in Cincinnati and I get there often, if you could pm me the name of the brat butcher it would be much appreciated.

I always enjoy the new experience of foreign food, so don't miss home cooking. Except: in the 80s, I was doing research in China, followed by a train trip on the Trans-Siberian Express (a week without food, essentially) to Moscow, which was not then - and probably not now - a culinary center. I fantasized about eating a hamburger with a side of potato salad all across Mongolia and Siberia. And I don't even eat hamburgers :eek:
This, of course, was long before McDonald's moved in to faraway places.

When I've been in Haarlem, just down the tracks from Amsterdam, I found a store called "The American Store" stocked with those products an American out of the country cannot do without (Oreo cookies, Jif peanut butter, Jelly Bellies). Has anyone seen similar type stores for their home country's food products while out touring?

When out of Europe I miss

CHEESE!!!!

Salads made with good a vinaigrette or balsmaic vinager not bottled premixed.

Real crusty bread made without a trace of sugar.

Coffee

When I've been in Haarlem, just down the tracks from Amsterdam, I found a store called "The American Store" stocked with those products an American out of the country cannot do without (Oreo cookies, Jif peanut butter, Jelly Bellies). Has anyone seen similar type stores for their home country's food products while out touring?

There used to be two stores in Paris - one, I believe, named "The Real McCoy" - which stored American processed foods like Velveeta and peanut butter and stuff like that. I know there are scores of ethnic stores in NYC covering just about every country/culture you can think of. Actually, that's true of probably most of the bigger cities in the US, like Chicago, LA, etc.

I miss square sausage, mutton pies and Irn Bru, although you can get the latter in England (where I now live) quite readily now.

As is typical for all Scottish 'delicacies', all of them are terrible for you...

When I've been in Haarlem, just down the tracks from Amsterdam, I found a store called "The American Store" stocked with those products an American out of the country cannot do without (Oreo cookies, Jif peanut butter, Jelly Bellies). Has anyone seen similar type stores for their home country's food products while out touring?

In Shanghai there's a grocery store near the Portman hotel that has a lot of Western foods, including Pop-Tarts. :D Prices are usually at least 100% over what they are in the states, but sometimes it's soooo worth it. I miss Costco hot dogs and creamy yogurt, a la Yoplait. I don't like the watery white stuff.

Oliver's in Hong Kong is also very well stocked for the displaced Westerner, near Central station in the Prince of Wales building.

Slippahs, no musubis? ;)

When away from Chicago:

Trader Joe's frozen pizza

When away from my childhood home (San Francisco):

Dim Sum

When away from Paris:

Viennoisseries and patisserie from Laduree.

When I first started coming to China 10 years ago, I used to long for grapefruit juice and cranberry juice, but in the ensuing years Ocean Spray finally got its act together. Now, I'm pretty content in China (and don't pay the Portman store's ransome prices very often), but ironically enough, I wish someone would set up a decent, clean, no-MSG, Western-style Chinese restaurant (think PF Chang's).

I would especially welcome the "duck" sauce that's commonplace in East Coast Chinese places. In fact, I recently snagged a bunch of sauce packets that I plan on bringing back to China with me both to use and show to local restauranteers. That stuff makes lots of terrible dishes bearable. Same goes for the mustard sauce.

In fact, I recently snagged a bunch of sauce packets that I plan on bringing back to China with me both to use and show to local restauranteers.

What would those Chinese have done without you? ^

Popeye's spicy fried chicken

Don't you mean Popeye's ayam goreng?

When I am in the USA I really miss Milo and Weet Bix, also Cadbury Picnic's
Phoebe

IIRC, Fiesta and HEB Central Market in TX may carry all that.

...I would especially welcome the "duck" sauce that's commonplace in East Coast Chinese places. In fact, I recently snagged a bunch of sauce packets that I plan on bringing back to China with me both to use and show to local restauranteers.....

Don't forget the fortune cookies too. They're unheard of in China, can you believe that?

Don't you mean Popeye's ayam goreng?

Nope, it's ayam goreng pedas, big difference. :D

Don't forget the fortune cookies too. They're unheard of in China, can you believe that?

Didn't Edward Said write about this?

Marmite - spare the inferior Vegemite, Cumberland sausages and proper bacon. When in Saudi, I missed the last 2 a great deal.

I tend to go native when I travel (I haven't been to China, yet). Why eat something that I can get at home?

When I first started coming to China 10 years ago, I used to long for grapefruit juice and cranberry juice, but in the ensuing years Ocean Spray finally got its act together. Now, I'm pretty content in China (and don't pay the Portman store's ransome prices very often), but ironically enough, I wish someone would set up a decent, clean, no-MSG, Western-style Chinese restaurant (think PF Chang's).

I would especially welcome the "duck" sauce that's commonplace in East Coast Chinese places. In fact, I recently snagged a bunch of sauce packets that I plan on bringing back to China with me both to use and show to local restauranteers. That stuff makes lots of terrible dishes bearable. Same goes for the mustard sauce.

I think you forgot to add that you miss chop suey :rolleyes:

When I am in the USA I really miss Milo and Weet Bix, also Cadbury Picnic's

Go to an Asian store for Milo. Very easy to find. Wheatabix are a bit tougher but you can find them if you look. Just look for a store with English wares. Cadbury just isnt the same anywhere outside of the UK. I dont know what the difference is but Cadbury from the UK is 100 times better than anything outside.

I am a bit opposite this thread actually. I miss food from the road when I am at home. Diners and cheesesteaks just dont cut it. I miss spicy food, I miss flavorful food, and I miss light food without 2 pounds of gravy.

I dont know what the difference is but Cadbury from the UK is 100 times better than anything outside.

It has the rather unique feature that it includes vegetable fat as well as milk and cocoa solids. In many places, you're not even allowed to call that mixture 'chocolate'.

That's really what gives it the different flavour.

(That said, they changed something in the flavour when they started using plastic packaging for Dairy Milks. The foil-wrapped bars really were far better...)

I miss Irn Bru
Ah, Irn-Bru. The only successful soft drink which contains no flavourings...only sugar-based colourings :eek::D

Ah, Irn-Bru. The only successful soft drink which contains no flavourings...only sugar-based colourings :eek::D

Ah, Irn Bru, IMHO BMI's best feature. I hope they never minded me swiping some from their lounges :D

Hey, it was the Irn Bru that won me over to BD. Well, that and the little status match thing they did.

I do worry that I'm going to overdose on ammonium ferric citrate, though...

Awesome chocolate and cheese and bread here, and yet I miss...

1. Pancake and bacon/sausage breakfasts in restaurants (actually, pancake houses in general). But because they are very easy to make I'll often make them for Sunday brunch or even for dinner. Can buy mix here, although it tends to be expensive.

2. Bagels, a constant staple of mine in the U.S. And sometimes hot pastrami on rye with mustard. Delis are pretty hard to come by in Geneva.

3. Really thick juicy hamburgers!

However, I've found other treats here to ease the pain, believe me... :D

IMHO BMI's best feature.
It takes the taste of their wines away.

BTW, what Dutch food do you miss Scottsy? Febo? ;)

BTW, what Dutch food do you miss Scottsy? Febo? ;)

Heyyyy, I love Febo, and yes I miss their Krokets (http://www.febo.nl/set_frames/snack.html)! ^

I also miss very very much the chocolate slice we had in EDI! :(

My arteries are hardening now that I'm even thinking about that chocolate (http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/cityguide.cfm?type=eat&vid=1641).

A friend living for a couple of years in Boston did ask me to bring over Yorkshire Tea (http://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/) bags, which made me laugh. Tea bags when outside the UK, fair enough. But where does Yorkshire tea come from? It's not as if the outskirts of Rotherham are sprinkled with tea plantations... :confused:

When away from home, I miss the fresh and spicy foods of Thailand.

Pad gap phao gai por pan: chicken with rice, basil, chilis and egg (breakfast)

Khao tom gai: chicken rice soup (breakfast)

Geng pad prik peht gan gai: long beans with chicken in spicy red chili sauce (lunch/dinner)

Khao nieow gap gai gap naam bplaa prik: sticky rice with chicken, with fish sauce and fresh ground dry roasted chili (Isaan dinner)

Khao nieow with mango and coconut cream (sorry, my Thai gave out on that one): dessert, anytime! :)

When I've been in Haarlem, just down the tracks from Amsterdam, I found a store called "The American Store" stocked with those products an American out of the country cannot do without (Oreo cookies, Jif peanut butter, Jelly Bellies). Has anyone seen similar type stores for their home country's food products while out touring?

I found a similar place in Vientiane(VTE), not too far from the Fountain, right across from the Kob Chai Deu restaurant. They stock lots of American packaged junk food, but also have considerable freezer-cases full of ice cream, American TV dinners, etc.

What I tend to miss the most I think are the particular ways of preparation here in the US vs. elsewhere and there is always some sort of snack food I had in the place I was visiting that I miss when I get back here.
Bringing me TimTams or fizzy Life Savers from Oz or Pocket Coffee from Italy will get you pretty far up the favor chain with me.

On the other hand, I remain convinced to this day that the Brits can't make pizza to save their lifes, the Aussies don't know much about making proper hamburgers and I have yet to find anyone outside of the Chesapeake Bay area who can make a decent crabcake.

JD

When anywhere else in the US, I always miss a good Philly cheesesteak.

When abroad, I miss bagels, Pop-Tarts, and ESPN. I don't miss TGI Fridays or Applebees.

Live-baby-frog-deep-fried-on-a-stick and rice-with-intestines-of-the-closest-animal.

When away from the US: Lima beans.

Perhaps this also illustrates major cultural differences :)

Sometimes when I'm out of the US, I miss Slurpees from 7-11. I know that it's junk food, but every now and then, especially when it's very hot outside, a Slurpee can really hit the spot.

I don't seem to miss specific items until several months have past. Then it's been things like Taco Bell, homemade rice krispy cookies, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. A chance encounter with an American foods section in the basement of a German department store took care of the cookies and I was saved by the Bell in a very unlikely place, WAW.

After one trip in a particularly carnivorous culture, I found myself craving salads. Still have trouble believing that one.

Tex-Mex. Usually our first meal after being away from home for a while, whether domestic or int'l, is Taco Cabana (if we're in a hurry) or Lupe Tortilla (if we're not too tired).

I have spent time in Belarus and Ukraine this year
andf i dont mean in the major cities

I missed EVERYTHING!!!