There are a few American foods that get stuck in my head like a culinary itch that I can’t scratch. My list usually includes: chicken biscuits from Chick-fil-A, anything from the Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque, the turkey salad from Dion’s Pizza in Albuquerque, Oreo Blizzards from Dairy Queen, purple (aka Wild Berry, and yes, the UK version tastes completely different) Skittles, green chile anything, and Rainbow Chip frosting.
Thanks to my recent parcel from Hatch, I can cross green chile off that list. Pretty much anything restaurant related I have to let be, but once a year I get to indulge in splashing a ridiculous amount of cash on some imported American groceries. I always choose before Thanksgiving as the time of year to splurge on American foods; it seems only right.
So this weekend I stocked up: a bag of purple Skittles, a Take 5 Bar, a box of Stovetop Stuffing (so gross and so good all at the same time), American pancake syrup, and a tub of rainbow chip frosting. I’d died and gone to high cholesterol heaven. My recommendations for getting American food selections in London: big Tesco’s have semi-decent American food aisles. Waitrose carries canned packed pumpkin. But the American food mecca in London has to be Partridges in Sloane Square, where I make my annual pilgrimage.
Likewise, if you have a bit of extra time on your hands, Not Without Salt has much better recipe for homemade rainbow chip frosting than I could ever come up with.
What tastes like home to you? Or if you live in another country, what foods do you miss the most?
