Food to bring back from London

[Artemis@BC]

Crumpets are at Trader Joe's if you have one, and some stores used to carry them but they were called Australian Toaster Biscuits by Orowheat.

I only had "Australian Toaster Biscuits" once but seem to recall that they were much more like English muffins than crumpets. That brand has been discontinued, though, so it's moot.

[victoriajh]

One Cadbury product we discovered in London was Flake candy bars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flake_(chocolate_bar) They are terrific candy. We are fortunate that there is a British Store in LA that we can get them at.

they do sell those here in a lot of stores here in canada (even in local gas stations!) but in uk they make them with soft serve ice cream in the summer called a "99" they are TO die for- but hard to bring in a suitcase!

[IceAlisa]

Do people think that Trader Joe's crumpets are as good as their English counterparts?

[michiruwater]

This is the brand of crumpets I've been eating in the US since I was a little girl

Of course I can't get them in China (that I am aware of) but now I might have a new recipe project...

[Angelskates]

This is the brand of crumpets I've been eating in the US since I was a little girl

Of course I can't get them in China (that I am aware of) but now I might have a new recipe project...

I've never seen crumpets here. Now you've made me miss them. Mmmmm, hot crumpets with butter and Vegemite If you find a good recipe, send it along!

(All of that chocolate can be bought in Beijing I love Flake and Time Out, and Crunchies (honeycomb covered in chocolate) and peppermint crisps)

[antmanb]

I have to caveat that I have never tried making crumpets but there are two tv chefs in the UK known as the "Hairy Bikers" and I love nearly everything they do. It is their recipe that appears here on the bbc food website so it might be worth checking out.

[Artemis@BC]

they do sell those here in a lot of stores here in canada (even in local gas stations!) but in uk they make them with soft serve ice cream in the summer called a "99" they are TO die for- but hard to bring in a suitcase!

I mentioned the 99s on the previous page. I wonder what would happen, though, if you went to DQ or another soft-serve place here with a Flake in your pocket, got a cone, and then made your own 99? Probably get a lot of jealous looks!

BTW, have you checked the label on the Flake bars sold in Canada? I just assumed they were made in Canada, like the other Canadian Cadbury products (Dairy Milk, Caramilk, Crunchy, and ick cream eggs), and that you'd have to go to a British import store to get a "true" Flake. But maybe not.

[luckiest1]

I'm planning to bring home a good suitcase full of Jamie Oliver products when I make a trip to England. I can get some of his line here but they are hard to find and expensive.

[*Jen*]

Oooh! I thought of something. If you're here before or around Easter...Cadbury cream eggs. If not...salt and vinegar crisps?

I was just thinking of things that my British friends in Russia asked me to bring when I visited them a year ago. That was it. Cadbury cream eggs, Walkers salt and vinegar crisps (yuck) and an assortment of cadbury chocolate bars. You can get a big assorted bag in larger supermarkets

[snowbird]

Penguins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_(biscuit)

http://www.penguinbiscuits.com/

[leesaleesa]

Crumpets are at Trader Joe's if you have one, and some stores used to carry them but they were called Australian Toaster Biscuits by Orowheat.

Publix used to carry Australian toaster biscuits. I would to put them in the microwave just long enough to warm for the butter, because I wanted that maximum rubbery texture.

[kwanatic]

I took a very quick trip to London at the beginning of February (seriously, it was a weekend) but I didn't get the opportunity to try much authentic food. I did buy a gift set of English Breakfast tea, English Tea and English Afternoon tea and I am hooked on it! I have not had any other tea since I got back.

I also bought like 10 GBP worth of candy on the way back. They have a candy bar called Lion that's really good and these caramel wafer things that were amazing! I always like trying candy from different places. My cousin lived in Japan for a year and would always bring back bags of goodies for us to try. Some were good, some were terrible!

[OliviaPug]

I like to bring back Roses (chocolates) and Quality Street (chocolates). This time of year, Quality Street has those fab filled Easter Eggs!

O-

[JasperBoy]

Oooh! I thought of something. If you're here before or around Easter...Cadbury cream eggs.

I lurve Cadbury cream eggs. Or is it creme? anyway, they are only available before Easter. Try as I might to buy enough to last for a month or more, somehow they vanish.
You have to be careful when and where you eat them, because they run, just like a soft boiled egg. Sticky!

There are now mini cream eggs, and they are OK, but a lot of peeling of foil wrap, and they might have too much chocolate (how can that be) in relation to the gooey filling.

Must be on the lookout for Quality Street eggs. I'm sure they are around somewhere.

A benefit to living in Victoria is that many British food products and shops are available in an effort to convince tourists that Victoria is "so British".

[allezfred]

I used to eat creme eggs as a child, but now I find them way too sweet.

[*Jen*]

I used to eat creme eggs as a child, but now I find them way too sweet.

Me too. But most people love them! And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had one this year

[OliviaPug]

Me too. But most people love them! And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had one this year

Me three! I LOVED those things! Now, if I come across one, I sort of peel away the chocolate from the "creme" and cringe at what little creme sticks to the chocolate. Can't believe I ever ate them and liked them. But, then again, I can't believe I used to love pixie sticks!

O-

[Vagabond]

I first encountered a spotted dick in a grocery store in London; I cracked up laughing right there in the aisle. People ate something that sounded like the name of a venereal disease?
It was microwaveable, so I bought a whole pile of them as gag gifts. It actually tastes pretty good.
My neighborhood is mainly Irish, so I can get Curly Wurly bars and Jaffa cakes and so on right in the local supermarket. But no spotted dick!.

An even more astonishing packaged item you can buy in at the food shops in London is this.

Who knew?

[Artemis@BC]

... and these caramel wafer things that were amazing...

Tunnock's Caramel Wafers! They're not my all-time favourite, but they're very high on my nostalgia list: when I was 9-10 I lived for a year about a mile from their factory (in Uddingston, Scotland). Quite a few places around Vancouver carry them, and I buy them whenever I see them.

[mkats]

Me three! I LOVED those things! Now, if I come across one, I sort of peel away the chocolate from the "creme" and cringe at what little creme sticks to the chocolate. Can't believe I ever ate them and liked them. But, then again, I can't believe I used to love pixie sticks!

O-

Oh, pixie sticks... I totally forgot they existed. there was a while in middle school when they were all the rage and some poor uninformed teacher thought they were drugs... massive sweeping of all the lockers in the school and what not...