My International Store Cupboards

When I first came to England back in 1989, it was nigh on impossible to get any of my favourite things from “back home” in the grocery store - or anywhere else for that matter! Even maple syrup was pretty much impossible to find, and cost prohibitive if you ever did manage to locate it. So whenever we visited Canada or the US, I’d bring things back with me. (I was always very careful only to import legal foodstuffs of course!) My parents would also bring things with them when they came to visit - their suitcases often containing more treats for me than clothes for them.

Nowadays, it is a different story. Maple syrup is readily available in grocery stores, and even things like Bisquick and Stove Top stuffing can be obtained from some retailers. For trickier items, there are websites who specialise in importing the things folks miss from their home countries, and selling them on at a rather inflated but gratefully accepted prices. They are especially handy for things like dill pickles and corn syrup, both things that I would never consider carrying in a suitcase, but two of the things I miss the most. Just imagine what would happen to your clothes if a container of either of those broke!

Although there are many attempts at “dill pickles” in British grocery stores, I have never, ever found dill pickles that taste like the real thing to me anywhere outside of North America. And you can substitute Lyle’s Golden Syrup, a perennial British classic, for corn syrup in most recipes, nut I really can tell the difference. And then there are those things you just can’t buy here - like Sweet Green Pickle relish. A popular UK pickle manufacturer, Branston, briefly flirted with a very good British version of this, but apparently it did not sell well and it soon disappeared off the shelves, much to the disappointment of my whole family.

You see, although my husband is British, he lived in the US for several years while he was growing up. As for our son, he spent so much time visiting his lovely Grandparents in Canada while he was growing up, he got used to a lot of North American favourites. I found some Rocky Mountain marshmallows in Costco the other day (thank goodness Costco are over here too) and he held them hostage until I promised we would make Rice Krispies Squares! Proper North American marshmallows are hard to find over here too. I can’t quite put a finger on how, but the ones made over here are just somehow different.

This is in no way a criticism of British food, the majority of which I have come to know and love over the last twenty years. There is nothing like a cup of proper British tea and the British version of Heinz Baked Beans is by far my favourite. I prefer yogurt made in England to the sort available in North America, Branston Pickle is amazing, and some of the chutneys and sauces over here are so delicious I can hardly begin to describe them. British food and ingredients are wonderful. In fact, it always made me smile that after a few years I began taking some of my parent’s British favourites over to them in my suitcase when we visited!

But if you open up my food cupboards, you will find Skippy peanut butter sitting next to Derbyshire honey, Jell-O pudding near the Hartley’s gelatine and Oreos on the same shelf as Hovis or McVities Digestive Biscuits. There are dill pickles, sweet pickle relish and maple syrup in my fridge. I go to great lengths - and expense - to be sure there is always a tin of Tim Horton’s coffee around, as well as my favourite North American baking ingredients - from corn syrup to cornmeal.

My store cupboard, as well as the things I make in my kitchen, will always have an international flavour. It just goes to show, you can take the girl out of Canada, but you can’t take the Canadian out of the girl!


By the way, I’m participating in Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesdays at the Table today over on the Recipe of the Week page at my site The 21st Century Housewife. Do go and visit!