unusual items in foreign supermarkets
 

Hi all

We're doing a little project and need some thoughts on where in the world people have seen unusual items in a supermarkets or grocery stores.
You know like roasted chicken potato chips in England or banana catsup in the Bahamas?

I am sure people have seem some wonderful and unsual things!

Oh dear cultural differences here... :) - we would call them 'crisps' in England (chips are the hot ones). They also come in roast beef and mustard flavour (yummy).

As for unusual things, in South Africa and Mauritius (and I guess other parts of Africa as well) Nescafe makes a product called 'Ricoffy' - a blend of coffee and chicory extract. It's a very cheap alternative to pure Nescafe, I kinda like it.

Otherwise all the weird items I've seen have been in the States... like an automatic dishwand with rotating brush head! :eek:

Regards

L/M/E FF

The meat department in a supermarket in Dalian, China. Virtually every part of an animal (cow, pig, chicken, etc.) was displayed for sale, along with parts that I could only guess as to where/what they came from. Not for the squeamish or those who don't like to know where their meat actually comes from, but very interesting.

All I can say is thank heavens for "Western" Supermarkets in Asia, even if they are quite expensive. It can be so comforting to find familiar brands, especially when away from home for long periods!

And Europe, and the US. I don't think chicory/coffee is that weird. But maybe I'm culturally biased :-).

Nah, just a typical FTer. ;)

I see the Cafe du Monde brand of canned coffee/chicory (out of New Orleans) in my local Safeway. Not so unique, really.

Not sure how to translate this, but potato stix in mayonnaise flavor: I've never seen these in America, but only in Europe.

Lamb boullion cubes. Difficult to find stateside as well.

Again, the flavors make them unusual, but the products themselves -- potato stix and bullion -- aren't at all unusual items. And the beauty of free trade is that banana sauce is not so difficult to find in America if you live in a large city or shop on the Internet.

So I guess I'm not sure what the OP means by unusual.

How about fish/lobster flavored potato crisps and nuts in Thailand.

Does unusual packaging count? I was surprised to find mayonaise sold in a large toothpaste tube in Italy.

Prawn flavored "crisps" in the UK

Also - Hamburg Germany - Fresh eels. Yuck!

When I went to Montreal, Cananda a few years ago, they had ketchup-flavored and pickle-flavored potato chips.

I was just waiting for someone to pick on ketchup flavored chips. You can buy those in parts of Maine and even my Wal-Mart here in TX had them so they're not that odd. They're actually really good....if like BBQ chips.

One cool thing at the Coca Cola deal in Atlanta is a room of soda fountains with their various flavors around the USA and another with different sodas from around the world and placards indicating where they're sold. That bitters one from Italy was just plain nasty. (ethnocentrist alert!)

Corn Ice Cream a popular flavour in Thailand

In a tiny trade store on an isolated corner of the Solomon Islands, a friend and I were looking at the tinned meat. We found a tin that didn't have any English writing on the label but judging by the picture on the label was tinned swan. We didn't buy it, so I can't give you a report on what it tasted like.

My friend did buy the African Sea Coconut extract cold remedy. It actually turned out to be basically 100% pure alcohol, which did help his cold, but not his ability to walk in a straight line.

Spotted some smoked lizards on a stick at the hot deli section of a Bangkok supermarket two weeks ago.

Aloe Vera flavored stuff is popular in Germany. In Munich one can buy aloe vera yogurt (with chunks of aloe vera in it) and aloe vera gummi bears just to name two specific examples. The aloe vera yogurt tastes exactly like you'd expect it to taste if you've ever smelled aloe vera.

Ah! Forgot to mention asparagus-creme chocolate bars in Salzburg. Saw some other weird flavors, too, but asparagus is the one that springs to mind right now.