Hunting for British Food
Hunting for British Food
“One of the more durable misconceptions among travelers is that it isn’t possible to get a good meal in Britain. This simply isn’t true. I know. I’ve lived here almost 20 years and I recently had one.”
Thank you Bill Bryson for reminding us of the stereotypes of English food. No one can really judge their own cultural food impartially – if rusks are the first solid food you ate, digestive biscuits are what your grandmother bribed you with, and ‘fizzy drink’ meant Ribena with a teaspoon of Epsom salts dissolved in it – then so be it, that’s what’s imprinted on your brain reminding you of home food.
Being a recent immigrant from Devon, I searched out the meta food groups first – the best pub for fish and chips, British ales and lagers and bangers and mash. In a most fortunate co-incidence all of these converge at Fiddler’s Green on Fairbanks Avenue, just two miles from my house. But every now and then I get a pang for some more obscure food – Branston Pickle or decent English cheese (you know the ones with flavor) or even MrKipplings cakes. Oddly enough I even get pangs for items that I don’t even eat back in the UK but I am taken over with the imperative to find it anyway.
Unfortunately there is no one place to find all of the items that remind me of my childhood. Whilst out and about I have come across various locations and some quite bizarre locations to find English goodies.
Here’s what I’ve found.
There are designated British shops – Orlando has The British Shoppe and Disney’s Epcot also has one although expect to Disney prices. At The British Shoppe you are probably going to find a lot of foods you may after, you will even find frozen sausage rolls and bacon with some meat on it. It is nice finding a corner shop with a lot of British goodies and they will try and for fill your requests of random goods you crave. John the owner told me that the most popular item there is the Flake.http://www.thebritishshoppe.com/
The second place quite honestly took a bit of getting my head around. As a fair-skinned lad (Oh just watch me go from white to red in twenty seconds of the Florida sun) I had never considered the ‘ethnic’ label applying to myself. But there they were custard creams, OXO, Marmite, Wine Gums, Paxo stuffing and Iron Bru (Ok I just pretended that was not there, that stuff really is odd tasting) all neatly displayed in the Ethnic Isle of our local Publix Supermarket. The first time I spotted these, I overcame my surprise at being labeled ‘ethnic” and stood there soaking in the experience. It was like I was surrounded by an oasis of goodness , light shinning above it and everything.
I exchanged my basket for a cart and stocked up. At home, I showed a worrying interest in the kitchen, as I moved things around to create my own ethnic cupboard. I now had my private stash!
Once I had a cupboard to stock, I started seeing British products everywhere – and not just in EthnicLand. Publix also sold English jam right there beside American jelly, and English malt vinegar in the pickle section – I snapped these up.
I nagged other English people I met for tips on other places to look. A Scottish grandma told me Trader Joe’s had a great selection of English cheeses, and frozen steak and ale pies. (Thankfully, we just had the first one in Central Florida open up near us, or it would have been quite the road trip. ) Even Walmart had a few randomly placed items like Ribena and Cadbury’s Easter Eggs.
Having adjusted to the idea that I was Ethnic, I decided to check out the International Food Market on LB Mcloed in Orlando It had a lot of British foods there including bread, bacon; even the holy grail of Branston Pickle. Customer service was lacking and didn’t come close to the nice chat I had with John at the British Shoppe. Someone suggested I check out Caribbean food Markets since many Caribbean nations are in the British Commonwealth and share some of our food culture as well as a love for cricket. At our local Caribbean store The owners Narine and Rosemarie took me on a tour of the store and we found Ambrosia rice and Ovaltine.
I didn’t expect it, but I’ve found that living in America is like one endless treasure hunt – I never know when I will find a little something that reminds me of home, though I am prepared to experiment with substitutes too. FYI the new Oreo blondes taste just like custard creams.
What “Ethnic English Foods’ have you found in your area? And what foods remind you of home the most?
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