A space for those who find themselves in a less-familiar land. Share experiences or advice, seek help, ramble at will :)
Food! Glorious food!
A culture's food is arguably one of its most important elements. It is, after all, the daily fuel of the people, the comfort after a long day, and part of the excitement of any given festival or holiday.
As such, when missing home, it is unsurprising that missing the food of home is often part of that parcel.
Thus I put to you these questions:
- What food from home (or a previous residence) do you sorely miss?
- What food from where you are now do you really enjoy?
I look forward to reading your answers!




Seafood. Definitely the seafood.
Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I have been spoiled by the availability and quality of fresh seafood as well as the array of seafood restaurants here. I'm not talking big-box chain restaurants. These are each locally owned and operated, often with their own team of fishermen and shrimpers who catch their own grub. Honestly, each place is better than the last. My favorite dish would be the fried shrimp poboy. I had one today and it was so good.
I've always told my family that no matter how far I travel I will always come home again, if not for the company then definitely for the seafood. :)
Good seafood is divine. Living near a sea (especially one that produces good seafood) gets in your blood, doesn't it? There's nothing quite like it. Sounds wonderful!
I grew up in Alaska (I've moved a lot) and my stepfamily would always make salmon jerky every summer. It was the best thing.
Since I moved to Indiana, my wife introduced me to a Polish pastry called paczki that I really enjoy. Apparently there's a big population of Polish people around here, so they became popular. There's even a Paczki Day.
Salmon jerky sounds delicious! I'm always interested in Polish food, too - there are a lot of Polish people in England but they're usually seen as "other" and their food isn't (to my knowledge) popular outside Polish communities in the UK. It's basically nonexistent here in Japan, too.
I really recommend both salmon jerky and paczki if you get the chance; they are delicious. I find that smoked salmon has a flavor reminiscent of salmon jerky, but it's just not the same.
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and have been living in Scotland for the last 12 years, and I miss all kinds of things - bizarrely I think I miss various kinds of food almost more than anything else. I love Mexican food, and though there's some very nice Mexican restaurants here, they are tailored for British tastes and aren't at all like the Mexican food I remember growing up with. There's nowhere that really does tamales well, horchata is unheard of, and everything's covered in coriander, bleh!
I also miss American junk food, though that's becoming easier and easier to get as American stuff creeps into the British market - Reeses are now obtainable everywhere, I can pick up Ruffles from a nearby store, and larger Tescos have an American food section that contains things like Butterfingers, Snapple, the ubiquitous Marshmallow Fluff, and root beer. But as yet no one has imported Ranch Style Beans, and I neeeeeed them!
I don't remember there being any Mexican restaurants where I lived in the south-east of England, so I'm glad if things are slowly becoming more "properly international" even though they haven't got there yet. "Foreign" food overseas is always tailored to the local taste and it's always such a disappointment if you've always been used to the original, right? I haven't ever had a good fish and chips in Japan, which is pretty ridiculous given that they eat so very much fish and deep-fry pretty much everything if it stands still long enough... Crossing my fingers for you to be able to find your beans before too long!
I've very quickly become very very fond of Hainanese chicken rice, and been making my way through as many different stalls as I can find. It's such a simple-sounding dish, but on the other hand, so good when done right. So good!
Yes! Chicken rice is wonderful. I was thinking about making it the other day, and incidentally also saw a recipe for it on /TheCookbook. You've rekindled my urge to make it!
Oh wow, that looks way easier than my Charmaine Solomon recipe, I might have to give it a go soon! I love love love chicken rice, it is so simple and so delicate and when done right, so delicious.