[Sam B]

You know how you all miss gravy, Walkers crisps, good curry and warm houses? Well, does anyone know what Kiwis miss when they emigrate? Is there a forum like this for Kiwis in the UK?

[wiki]

My list was far too long!

I once interviewed a pile of ex-pat Southlanders at a reunion for an article that went in Soutland Times and a couple of other places. If I can find the clipping I'll post the side bar of "most missed foods".

The things I tended to miss were the familiar things - and to be honest it was sort of the opposite of the lists that a lot of UK ex-pats in NZ post.

I wanted Bluebird chips (and for people to stop calling them crisps)
"proper" NZ Cadbury choc (can't tell the difference now)
Fish and chips cooked while I waited and not greasy dregs from an aluminium vat or pie-warmer.
(Never been fond of gravy in either country however! )

I also missed NZ beer - but it started me drinking wine in the UK so no bad thing... :laugh

But what surprised me most was the things I didn't realise I missed until I went back to NZ on holiday after a year.

I grew up in Te Anau and took mountains and lakes for granted - as all my friends did. But when I came back after a year in Manchester I couldn't stop taking "tourist" photos. My friends thought I was mad but I was saying "trust me - compared to Manchester and even the Lake District - Fiordland is stunning"...

Oh yeah, I missed my family *snuggles*

[Jenny & Mark]

As a Kiwi in Canada, the things I have missed the most are:
- Vogel's bread.
- Vegemite.
- Not having to tip everybody for everything.
- Regency Pies with flaky pastry (Whangarei), especially mince & cheese.
- Good gravy.
- Coins that make sense (a 5 cent coin is larger than a 10 cent coin here).
- "Real" sausages and ground beef (no additives).
- NZ prices for NZ wine.
- certain words: frizzy instead of pop and ice-block instead of popsiciles.
- going to an ocean beach and the sound to the surf.
- ocean kayaking with my Dad.

But I don't miss long, winding roads that make me car sick.

Kiwi in Canada. Jenny.

[macs gold]

Coins that make sense (a 5 cent coin is larger than a 10 cent coin here).

Next time you are in NZ you might be in for a bit of a surprise on that one.

[Jenny & Mark]

Right! The five cent coin is now gone and the coins are smaller?!? But do they make sense?

Jenny.

[gil]

Well I never used the old ones, but I must say these do make sense Jenny. It's the first place I've lived outside of UK where I haven't had to struggle with the coins (others were French Francs, Italian Lira and, of course, the Euro!)

Gil

[ellenmelon]

hmmm.

i lived in ireland for three years and the things i missed werent really that big now im back and used to it again if you know what i mean. it all seems so trivial!

this list is not exhaustive!
*vogels bread
*marmite
*cheese that didnt taste like salt was the main ingredient
*CHEAP car insurance
*my wee car (i couldnt drive in ireland because its shockingly expensive for "new" drivers..)
*chips other than cheese and onion
*free across town phone calls

thats all i can think of at the moment anyway... :)

[Glenda]

Not a born Kiwi, but I missed

- different flavoured milkshakes from the dairy (in the UK you can only get banana, chocolate or strawberry);
- NZ Sanitarium milk biscuits;
- beef schnitzel (never found it in the UK);
- pineapple lumps;
- the sound of crickets and cicadas, tuis too (the bird, not beer!).

:)

[K&CS]

My kiwi friend in London misses Toffee Pops and doesn't like the UK Cadburys!

This is a really interesting thread. I'm sure there are similar websites for those going the other way. I found one by accident once on a parenting website. A bunch of NZers were discussing that they were able to claim child benefit in the UK as there is a mutual agreement between the two governments apparently! It's means tested here though.

Keep 'em coming!

[urban78]

You know how you all miss gravy, Walkers crisps, good curry and warm houses? Well, does anyone know what Kiwis miss when they emigrate? Is there a forum like this for Kiwis in the UK?

After asking my partner, they came up with a few things missed while living in London for 2.5 years:

NZ Cadbury chocolate (seems like a common thing for kiwis)

Bluebird chips (can't use Walker's in dip, too thin :laugh )

Pinky's and Perky Nanas

Proper fish n chips (without the skin and bones, and with proper batter)

Might come up with more but those were the main things ;)

Jen

[Glenda]

Got an addition to the list ...

burgers with beetroot in! :eek: :laugh

[kiwidebs]

Got an addition to the list ...

burgers with beetroot in!

Oh, I'd forgotten that. The first time I ordered a burger in a pub in the UK and all I got was a dry burger bun with a meat patty in it. I soon realised I could add the sauce, chutney and the salad on the side....but after a NZ burger it was a real shock.

I missed, but not desperately...

marshmellow easter eggs
Metro mag
Watties beans (can't stand em now :laugh )
Watties sauce (only eat Heinz now :exit )
Cream style sweet corn
The taste of really fresh fruit and vege
Boysenberries
NZ marmite
Black Knight licorice

I soon acclimatised and found substitutes for alot of things - or I got people to bring things in their suitcases when they visited. I do still have nostalgic fits at the supermarket and buy comfort foods that I haven't tried in years. Some are as good as I remembered, most are not. Alot of things I'll try and realise I'd had something very similar in the UK.

Currently I am missing from the UK clotted cream (esp with all the strabs around), a good Indian restaurant in every local block of shops, the Sunday Times and Waitrose, M&S and Sainsburys.

Debs (loving being home but missing the UK a bit :confused: )

[Oregonkiwi]

feijoas!

[Sam B]

Well maybe this proves that it's not really individual superior brands that we miss when we're abroad but the familiarity of what we're used to, as it seems that Kiwis miss all the same things as us! Except maybe M+S foodhall is irreplaceable?

[Jenny & Mark]

Got an addition to the list ...

burgers with beetroot in! :eek: :laugh

Yes!! Me too!! oh... and chicken flavour potato chips. mmm..

Jenny.

[wiki]

Oh yes - proper burgers! Apart from McDonald's I've only had one "takeaway" burger in the UK and it scarred me for life! It was all dry and limp and made of nowt. I wanted my salad and onion and mayo and, yes beetroot!

I also missed pineapple lumps, jet planes and minties. This is why going home for my month-long holidays is always dangerous because all I eat is lollies (and grateful I can call the "lollies") and chips and dip and L&P and DB or Speights ... not to mention mum-cooked meals involving lots of meat (my Dad's a butcher)

It's no wonder I always come back to the UK looking like the side of a house!

[jamie7121]

My wife misses a lot of those already mentioned, vogel bread, pineapple lumps etc but also
Hokey Pokey ice cream
Tararua cheese
Sea food platter from Fishermans table
Beaches
Litter free area (we are in Glasgow which is very bad for litter in some bits)
Holden cars
Bluer skies

[KateD]

My wife misses a lot of those already mentioned, vogel bread, pineapple lumps etc


Tesco and Waitrose (in Edinburgh anyway, so maybe some Glasgow stores too) stock Vogel's. The "classic" is not quite the same - slices too thin! and I haven't seen unsliced anywhere - but the sunflower loaf is a pretty good approximation of the kiwi version.

One fruit I love and haven't seen anywhere here is the tamarillo (on Vogel's toast with brown sugar, but I think that's just me!!!)

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

As a Kiwi in Texas, a few of the things I miss are:

Vegemite
Toffee Pops
Tip Top Ice Cream
Cadbury's Chocolate
Manuka Honey
Weet Bix
Vogel Bread
Greggs Coffee
NZ Lamb and beef

[The Hodges]

Got an addition to the list ...

burgers with beetroot in!

There's at least one restaurant in London that I know that does a burger with beetroot with it, and it is here (http://www.suzeinmayfair.com/index.php?page_id=39). (Right down the bottom of the menu with the sandwiches) :nice1

I've been there a couple of times and I found it really good. Last time I went there I had some ice cream with crushed up honeycomb in it. Mmmm, it was good. Can't remember the name though. :roll

They also do Speights. :D

[bob_the_engineer]

How odd, I asked a friend just this question.

She’s a kiwi and lived in England for three years.

She said she missed the food (a list too big to write, but proper pies, fish and chips and proper burgers were near the top)

She said she really enjoyed living in England, so I asked her what she liked about it.

She said the cheap flights to travel around Europe, and the fact that she was so much slimmer when she lived there.

You can guess my response; I said ok so you miss the opportunity to get out of the UK on a cheap flight and the fact that the food was so poor you got skinny.

She said “yis” but at least I appreciate the scenery here now.

Made me smile Bob

Strangely, many of the things I love here are the things you lot miss when you leave (including the beetroot). The other odd thing is I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of English people I know who actually get off their bum and try living somewhere else, but every other kiwi seems to say “oh yes when I was living in Kenya, India, England, Oz, America”. I guess its because many come home, and I’m not surprised!

[Moorf]

There's at least one restaurant in London that I know that does a burger with beetroot with it, and it is here (http://www.suzeinmayfair.com/index.php?page_id=39). (Right down the bottom of the menu with the sandwiches) :nice1



SUZE KIWI BURGER with EGG, CHEESE, PINEAPPLE, BEETROOT, TOMATO CHUTNEY & FRIES £9.95

HOW MUCH!!! That's nearly $30 for a burger :laugh:laugh

[amaoricangirl]

- Regency Pies with flaky pastry (Whangarei), especially mince & cheese.

Amen to that, my friends and I used to go have a potato top pie at regency pies when we were in high school as it was just down the road. God I miss pies!

My list is quite long after 6 years in NZ, I swear I will put on 10kg in the first 2 weeks im home!!

Pies - "pot pies" are NOT real pies
Fish and chips - been all over the west coast of america, didnt find any real fish and chips - even in seattle. Miss the $2 scoop of chips too.
REAL CHOCOLATE - I had a 'caramello' the day after I got here and was so upset with it :laugh it was yucky. Especially miss flakes and time outs
I think someone already mentioned fejoas
real burgers (i think someone mentioned that too) with carrot, egg and beetroot on them. I think if I had a fish and egg burger I might die and go to heaven.
Fresh Seafood, forgive me on this one, Im not used to 'buying' seafood, usually we just go to the beach and get our own. My family thinks paying for mussels is sinning
Smiley faces - you know the kind you see on the street that smile at you for no reason, or people who ask you how you days going in shops and they actually care
People who understand me - even tho I have acquired a bit of a yankee accent, I still end up repeating myself 2 or 3 times, but I think I bought that one on myself :laugh
I miss the weather, and usually being able to get to the beach in under an hour (15 minutes in Whangarei)
Milo
Biscuits with real chocolate
goody goody gum drop, orange chocolate chip and jellytip ice cream
cruskits
NZ bread especially molenberg, american bread always tastes stale
Sizzler sausages
fruit bursts and milkshakes
Those long donuts with cinnamon sugar on the sides filled with real whipped cream, actually just miss the smell of a real bakery in general
Hollow easter eggs with suprises in them - I havent seen those over this way

Hmm I better end my list there Im starting to feel gluttonous...and left out :laugh

[Sam B]

Just arrived at my motel in Cambridge and my new boss had left me a present at reception with a card saying Sam, try some tastes of NZ - nearly all the things listed on here in it, including pineapple lumps!

[Trigirl]

we got one of those when we arrived from my employer - loads of yummy stuff including whittakers peanut slab which is now one of my favourite things ever! plus some standard bits and pieces like pasta and olive oil to get us through the first day or so. a very nice arriving present!

[wanderingoregonian]

Welcome Sam - my boss left me a lovely box of treats too when I arrived! While the Europeans may not like the chocolate here, as an American I'm thrilled to be free from American "chocolate"...

as for bob_the_engineers comment about the person lossing weight on poor food... I find the food in NZ better, but I'm still losing weight due to all the walking I do now!

[Trigirl]

believe me i love the chocolate here! whittakers seems pretty nice and they have green & blacks here which was pretty much the only chocolate i would eat in the UK - cadbury's tastes c**p wherever you eat it (only my opinion obviously).

[gil]

believe me i love the chocolate here! whittakers seems pretty nice and they have green & blacks here which was pretty much the only chocolate i would eat in the UK - cadbury's tastes c**p wherever you eat it (only my opinion obviously).

Ooh, me too, even the c**p cadbury's !! :o Whittakers rules!

[Caniwi]

MMMM

Reading over this list actually made me realise HOW MANY things I missed! (15 years in Canada)

Jaffas, Pineapple Lumps, Toffee Pops, Perky Nana's, Pixie Caramels!

Burgers with Beetroot (believe it or not, have turned a few Canucks onto this one! - albeit hard to find the right tasting beets!)

REAL sauasages - could never explain how they were different to Nth American ones - now hubby has eaten them in NZ, he agrees.

Mays Pies (South Canterbury - don't know where else in NZ you can get them.

Pinapple Rings, not to mention everything else you can get at the Fish and chip shop - imagine, I don't eat seafood, but still "get" F & C!

Marmite - I have a constant supply coming into the country :laugh

And the number one thing I miss.......Orange Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.....

ooooooh, time for me start thinking about returning to NZ...........:exit

[Ana&Steve]

And the number one thing I miss.......Orange Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.....

Not sure how close to the US border you are, but if you pop down and find a "Thrifty's" or "Rite Aid" drug store, they have orange c.c. ice cream under the "Thrifty's" name brand. I know it won't be as tasty, (not NZ dairy) but if you get desperate, it may do in a pinch!:nice1
Ana

[Caniwi]

ooooh....I'm in Vancouver.....I can do that!!