[Debbie P.]

Ok, here's another sort-of poll for the lucky forumites who've already made it to New Zealand. What is the ONE food item you miss most that was available in your home country but not in NZ (or at least not in the form you recognise)? It can be very specific, e.g. Heinz baked beans, or general - such as an edible sausage! But you can only pick one... :D

Being from the UK, I'm mainly thinking about UK items, but anyone else can join in. It will be interesting to see if any patterns form, and at least the rest of us will know what to stock up on in gallons!

Thanks,

Debbie

[jubjub]

Me - curry

Hubby - No added sugar alpen

[Park City Partner]

Green tomatillo salsa also know as salsa verde. Kiwi salsa verde is more like pesto not mexican salsa verde. I actually had some shipped to me! A bit indulgent but my step-mother was more than happy to do it.

[Carol]

Curry for me too....especially Chinese Take-away curry without a ton of broccoli and cauliflower in it!
:mad:

[jess]

Decent veggie burgers and veggie dogs... Oh for Morningstar Farms!!!

:wah:wah

[spudulike]

Oh gosh - just one! :laugh

I'll do one for each of us - is that cheating? :p

Hubby - decent Indian food
Children - ready brek
Me - decent free range corn fed chicken (they do one here but it's not the same and very small too!)

Louise

[ruthyroo]

Mine changes weekly but at the moment I really miss sandwiches / rolls that don't all have a slice of vinagery beetroot (soaking into the bread and turning it pink), a handfull of cress, a dollop of yucky egg mayo and a dollop of cheese savoury as well as all the actual fillings that you want. Picky I know. I miss decent sandwhich bars with freshly baked baguettes and the exact filling of your choice (and not flippin Subway yuk yuk)...

I find the curries okay, but the chinese takeaways are not - we've had maybe 1 in 2.5 years. And Thai has been really disappointing - expensive, insipid and dull. I know it's an unfair comaprison to make but the chinese / thai / indian takeaway food of Sydney blows most NZ offerings out of the water - Dunners seemed very dull for eating out after that Sydney holiday.

Oh oh I just realised my main missed food - proper chips actually made from cut up potatoes rather than fried frozen ones!! NZ fush and chups will never even come close to beating Scottish ones unless they include 'proper' chips!

[ruthyroo]

Nott hat I am greedy and food obsessed but just had to break the rules (sorry Debs) and add another one...

Decent cheese. For a country that has so much dairy production (and growing) NZ has a really disappointing cheese selection. Maybe it's becuase I am used to eating a lot of European (smelly) cheeses but I find NZ cheese almost uniformly boring and dull. TBH the best ones have been the 'Vintage' blocks of cheddar type in the superkarkets, but virtually all the 'speciality' type cheese have been disapointing. The prohibition on raw milk is part of the problem - hopefully the FSA will soon uplift this restriction and allow NZ cheesemakers to try their hand at something a bit more interesting. Best one so far - sheeps cheese from the Dunedin farmer's market (blue stall in the corner next to the station building) - fantastic feta, pecorino, soft white and blue cheeses. More of this please!

[veronica]

original powdered bisto. everyone who comes out to visit has to bring a packet.

They have bisto here but its not the same.

and on the subject of inedible sausages I have found one type, beef, bacon and tomato that can be rendered edible by stripping off the skin and frying it like a pattie.

[spudulike]

Well as Ruthroo broke the rules so will I :laugh :laugh

I agree with the freshly made sandwiches - you just don't get them here!

Cheese here is very expensive and bland

I miss good quality meat - even Tesco's meat is better than what I've eaten here (with the exception of beef)

I miss being able to go and buy a decent cheescake, gateau, cake..... that isn't overpriced, full of crap cream and overly sweet - although i could learn to bake I suppose ;)

Marmite - they did sell it in New World (called Our Mate but the same) but it seems to have disappeared from the shelves.

I also prefer the 'proper' chips in the UK and don't rate the fush and chups here at all.

I'll be back with more as they occur to me!!!

Louise :D

[Moorf]

Me - Colmans Bread Sauce

Woz - Irn Bru (can get it but not paying their stupid prices)

Both - Black pudding, can't find a decent one here but nothing is going to compare with the Bury Black Puds in the UK :D

[jubjub]

Both - Black pudding, can't find a decent one here but nothing is going to compare with the Bury Black Puds in the UK :D

With your domestic goddess hat on, and your farm contacts, do you not fancy trying to make it?? (but keep it to yourself I think its yukky!;) )

[westies]

I just miss Tesco's!!! and everything in it!!!!

[Moorf]

With your domestic goddess hat on, and your farm contacts, do you not fancy trying to make it?? (but keep it to yourself I think its yukky!;) )

I can cope with having my arm up to the elbow in warm milk, but I draw the line at warm blood ;) - having said that, I do know an organic pork farmer up the road... hmmmmmm (hubby is so going to hate you for putting that idea in my head!) :laugh

[K&CS]

black pudding and irn bru? I'm not coming round to your place again, Helen.....

I really have to wrack my brains here because I am really not craving anything from the UK, but I suppose nice cadbury's chocolate (although it's something I try not to eat anyway!).

Louise, have you tried any other supermarket for Our Mate? I get mine in Woolworth's.

[Carol]

Proper ham.........

the nice dry stuff.

And Gammon steaks.

Oh yes...and scampi!
:wah

[sizzlingbadger]

Nothing springs to mind, got used to a lot of stuff here and really don't miss anything.

Spudulike, Kircladie and Stains has a cheese shop which imports some great smelly European cheeses.

It's one of our treats every once in a while :D

[Moorf]

And if you're in Chch you needn't worry about cheese - the Canterbury Cheesemongers on Salisbury (off Victoria - the road with the casino) is absolutely amazing - lots of smells there too ;)

www.cheesemongers.co.nz (http://www.cheesemongers.co.nz)

[Diny]

Have to agree with Carol .... dry ham is something I miss.

Apart from that I don't really think there's much, I tend to make everything from scratch anyway and 99.99999999% of the ingredients I require are readily available over here.

Talking about cheese ........ a nice wheel of stilton - the real stuff, with the middle dug out and dribbled with port.

Guess it's abit lame to mention Walkers crisps and 'REAL' Cadbury's chocolate ..... but I do still miss them.

Diny

[Moorf]

Talking about cheese ........ a nice wheel of stilton - the real stuff, with the middle dug out and dribbled with port.



*Drool*

[westies]

Have seen ready brek, and walkers crisps here, pricey but nice for a treat!

[spudulike]

Spudulike, Kircladie and Stains has a cheese shop which imports some great smelly European cheeses.

It's one of our treats every once in a while :D

Excellent, I'll have a look! Thanks :)

Louise, have you tried any other supermarket for Our Mate? I get mine in Woolworth's.

I've had a look and couldn't find it in our local Woolworth's but will try elsewhere and stock up - my 2 year old asks for it and also doesn't like the NZ alternative. :roll

Louise

[Smiler]

Didn't miss anything til I read this. :laugh

Me Jacket spuds. The big ones, can't seem to find the right potato's, especially when the bags are sealed.

OH says nothing at all.

My second go is a decent chinese not crammed with cauliflower. Blerghh! Last one was in Melbourne and it's a bit far from Wanganui. :mad:

[Carol]

Just remembered something else.........


Cooking Apples.
:(

[jodieinchch]

Yorkie Bars! Never thought about what UK food I missed until the other day when I sat down to ask my mum what I wanted her to buy for my first night back in the UK! Prawn Cocktail crisps too...! Hopefully going to bring some of them back with me!

[KerryS]

If I was organised (or actually cared enough) I could get what I miss from the British Shop - Cherry Coke, Farleys Rusks (which are both great for hangovers!), Jaffa Cakes, solid block jelly rather than the powdery crystals...
Also suet - I have to order it specially from my butcher. I like making dumplings and suet pudding for comfort food in winter, and grating butter as a substitute is a pain.
I miss my Mum's casserole - I have the recipe, but I just can't replicate it. Smells the same, looks the same, just doesn't taste quite the same...

[Marie P]

My most missed is wonderful Walkers crisps ...Prawn Cocktail or Cheese and onion [all our visitors bring them ,and you can buy them at the British shop but expensive]

Ellen misses Haribo sweets.
Joe misses decent Orange squash [Robinsons special R]
Louise misses her Jam ....tried lots but not found she likes ....she used to have jam butties for her packed lunch everyday for years.
Dave misses decent curry [like everyone says without cauliflower and broccoli]

I still spend a fortune on named brand food like cheerios,coco pops and laughing cow cheese spread.

Marie x

[Charlosparky]

The only thing i miss is a decent breakfast cob (such as bacon/sausage/mushroom/fried egg/tomato) from roadside cafe's around 10am in my workvan with the radio on (i work for a bretheren business so the radios have been removed),

but gotta say as an NZ alternative that i would definitely miss in the UK- Steak & Cheese Pies ROCK!!! :p

[sarahw]

Sausages - the old fave!! I really miss the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference whole range of sausies! - especially the chilli ones. We use Tegel Chicken n' Cheese ones since they're the nearest taste to Pork sausages we've found here!!

Although the bacon here isn't as nice either so a fry-up is a bit of a poor show!

Apart from that I make all our Indian, Thai, Chinese & Italian food from scratch anyway - plenty of specialist suppliers for bits I need for them. We have found a decent (English) Indian in central Welly (Great India if anyone in Welly is gagging for a proper hot curry).

I prefer the Cadbury's choccie out here anyway & Mum posts shipments of tubs of Bisto gravy to us in all the flavours.

I recently posted an English friend who had moved back to Blighty a pack of Jaffas, Snifters, Pineapple chunks etc. from NZ & a few weeks later I had sherbert dib dabs, jaffa cakes & hula hoops in a package on my doorstep - yum! It didn't last long!!

[Debbie P.]

I don't know, you guys - should've guessed you wouldn't be able to stick to one thing (says she, scribbling madly) :D

OH would agree about the steak and cheese pies - he's been pining for them since we last left!

[Debbie P.]

sherbert dib dabs, jaffa cakes & hula hoops in a package on my doorstep - yum! It didn't last long!!

Meant to mention in my last e-mail - these guys deliver abroad: http://www.aquarterof.co.uk. I've never actually ordered anything myself but I go on there occasionally to drawl and remember the good old penny sweet days...

[Avalon]

Well, as Ive found a source of decent brit-style sausages, im going to go with cream, in all its forms. While its nice to be able to cream in cafes, the stuff is bland, watery and just not the same as proper double cream, and then theres the total lack of clotted cream. (its still cream so thats coundt as one choice?)

Great Cheeses - also try Ontrays on Petone. Thinks its on Fitzherbert st. You also get offered a free coffee as you wander round drooling - and you can taste the cheeses. Also probably worth a look at La Bella Italia in Petone (on Nevis Street I think)

[Anita & Marco]

Nothing!!!!!!!

[Avalon]

Sausages - the old fave!! I really miss the Sainsbury's Taste the Difference whole range of sausies! - especially the chilli ones. We use Tegel Chicken n' Cheese ones since they're the nearest taste to Pork sausages we've found here!!

Although the bacon here isn't as nice either so a fry-up is a bit of a poor show!
!!
Sarah -

Seroiusly - pop to Olympic Butchers at Nae Nae and try the superpork or Jubilee sausages. They are tru brit style!

And if you want good bacon, try Freedom Farms. Not perfect - but near as makes no odds. Its thick and it doesnt shrivel to nothing. And though it does have sugar in it - its not sweet.

Im back to having real proper fry ups - and its heaven!

[sidabrine]

An odd one out here - RYE BREAD. A real good sour dry and chewy piece that tastes like sandpaper as it goes down your throat... Nam!!!!

How do you guys get your stuff sent here, I thought food items are not allowed? (I gather there's not much of "food" in a jaffa cake.. :)

[sarahw]

Ooh I used to use 'A quarter of' when I lived in the UK - found them quite expensive though - if I was desperate I could go to the Brit Shop in Welly - just too tight!!!

Avalon - thanks for the tip about the Saussies & bacon - real fry-ups here we come!!! Yay!

[Avalon]

An odd one out here - RYE BREAD. A real good sour dry and chewy piece that tastes like sandpaper as it goes down your throat... Nam!!!!

How do you guys get your stuff sent here, I thought food items are not allowed? (I gather there's not much of "food" in a jaffa cake.. :)
Actually most foods do get through. Mum and dad send regular parcels to me, and so far nothing has been refused. Some parcels have been opened by Maf - but it has all been passed. Dont send anything with honey in it, no meat, and no dairy. If you do get things sent through - ALWAYS list it as foods on the customs declaration and let maf have a look. Be prepared to lose stuff you arent sure about - but if you declare it - you wont get into trouble.

[Stapleton-Gray]

I'm gonna break the rule and go with more than one food item - I'm going to say what I miss most! The entire range of Marks and Spencer's Food!!!! I miss my weekly shop to the land of amazing food!

[Howie]

I miss good vegetarian frozen food, like Morningstar Farms, Bocca burgers and Amy's. You can't even get a crappy frozen pizza here without meat. Although I find the chocolate here much nicer than in the US, I also miss Reece Peanut Butter Cups and Coffee Crisp.

[Mexican in NZ]

ALL MY MEXICAN PRODUCTS OF COURSE!!! Mainly tomatillos, as the other products my dad has brought them for me to auckland. SO i have now the real mix for corn tortillas and sopes, and more, etc... Oh for the ones that like mexican food i recomend you to stop over in the market in the auckland sky city village grounds because there is a mexican family selling mexican food at good price and also yummy, not spicy as mainly kiwis dont like any spicy food but good taste i really recomend you go early cos they have limited quantities of food and they run out of them so fast!!!
Ok,
Love you all!
God Bless,
Adriana

[willsken]

Sarah -

Seroiusly - pop to Olympic Butchers at Nae Nae and try the superpork or Jubilee sausages. They are tru brit style!

And if you want good bacon, try Freedom Farms. Not perfect - but near as makes no odds. Its thick and it doesnt shrivel to nothing. And though it does have sugar in it - its not sweet.

Im back to having real proper fry ups - and its heaven!

We love a good fry up and have them often :o That was the thing I noticed most when we come over. The horrid bacon and sausages. Where is Nae Nae exactly? Could always buy in bulk and freeze the stuff! :roll

[Smiler]

We love a good fry up and have them often :o That was the thing I noticed most when we come over. The horrid bacon and sausages. Where is Nae Nae exactly? Could always buy in bulk and freeze the stuff! :roll

It's a suburb of Welly, well Lower Hutt. :D

Hey Av, you could start a mail order service, SOS - send our sausages ;)

[Avalon]

It's a suburb of Welly, well Lower Hutt. :D

Hey Av, you could start a mail order service, SOS - send our sausages ;)
:laugh

Yeah - one of the "less salubrious" suburbs. They are certainly used to me buying in bulk, and I know they have customers from around NZ who pop in when they are in the area. The boss has just retired though - and he reckoned there was enough seasoning to last through another 2 years.

I tend to but whatever is on show, adn then they get another load from out the back for me. Saves having to keep going back every week.

[willsken]

Sounds good to me! :D

[veronica]

some one on here mentioned not being able to get suet. I buy it in countdown of the shelf (not in the fridge part) and its called shreddo, quality shortening. It is packaged in a container that looks identical to margarine. Would imagine its in all the supermarkets and its just a case of knowing where to look.

[jbharvey]

How about from the Americans, what do you guys miss from the States?

[KerryS]

some one on here mentioned not being able to get suet. I buy it in countdown of the shelf (not in the fridge part) and its called shreddo, quality shortening. It is packaged in a container that looks identical to margarine. Would imagine its in all the supermarkets and its just a case of knowing where to look.

Veronica thank-you so much for this! I always pester my butcher to get me suet, and can occasionally get it in the meat counter at New World.
I've never seen Shreddo, so shall look for it on my next visit to the supermarket.

(Would you believe I asked about 50 Kiwis - no exaggeration - about suet and not one was able to tell me this...)

[KerryS]

How about from the Americans, what do you guys miss from the States?

Reeses Pieces, Oh Henry bars and Ben and Jerry's ice cream...

And the cereal aisle in the supermarket - not to eat, but just to wander down in amazement! I loved living in the States for that alone.

[upnorthkyosa]

And the cereal aisle in the supermarket - not to eat, but just to wander down in amazement! I loved living in the States for that alone.

That is one of the reasons why 1 in 4 of our kids are obese and 1 in 3 will develop juvinile type II diabetes...

Great thread BTW. I'm really learning a lot!

[Ana&Steve]

How about from the Americans, what do you guys miss from the States?
I know I'm not there yet, but I know the answer...good Mexican food!!!
Ana
/bringing all my cookbooks :p

[Moorf]

Ohh Ana - do you have a recipe for an authentic mexican salsa - spent our honeymoon in the Yucatan and for ages afterwards made this amazing salsa but over the years I've lost the recipe....

[betty]

I miss pumpkin pie! And good mexican food. And black beans...

For Americans missing Reeses Peanut Butter Cups - there is a little chocolate store in Takapuna (Auckland, North Shore) that sells them. I think their name is Chocolate Heaven. I think they also sell a few British sodas.

And if you are looking for good sausages - Black Forest Butchery in Albany north of Auckland. It puts those Kiwi sausages and those Kiwi "cheerios" to shame.
http://www.blackforestgourmet.co.nz/


I found a store on the web that sells mexican stuff - Mexi Foods in Dunedin. They sell masa harina so I think I might try making my own tortillas.
http://www.mexifoods.co.nz/
Has anyone bought anything from them?

[Kim39]

Mine has to be Bassets PEPPERMINT CREAMS. Use to go through 3-4 packets a week, whilst driving around the UK on nights. Luckily Zardell brought me 3 packets in the other week and jeeze it felt better than S%^:yes


Kim

[Ana&Steve]

Ohh Ana - do you have a recipe for an authentic mexican salsa - spent our honeymoon in the Yucatan and for ages afterwards made this amazing salsa but over the years I've lost the recipe....
Moorf, I'm so sorry, I somehow missed your post til today! I'm sending a PM...
Ana