One of the things I find myself missing most about England is the food I grew up with and the brand name products I have come to love and trust. You never know quite how much you rely upon the ability to just walk out and buy a product until suddenly it isn’t there anymore and living in the U.S. I find myself increasingly having cravings for one food or another which is difficult to come by on these shores.

For instance, British-style bacon (or Danish bacon really) is pretty difficult to find as America seems to prefer what we call ’streaky bacon’ which, as far as I am concerned looks and tastes more like the bits I have been cutting off and feeding to the birds all my life…but each to their own. ;)  

British chocolate, sweets, biscuits and general junk food are also often tough to find but do find their way into some of the major grocery stores lurking amongst the plethora of American brands. Junk is of course where most cravings lie, so tracking down a source of this is a goldmine and I’ve found a few.

Curry, which is close to becoming the national food of Great Britain, is surprisingly something which took a lot of hunting around to find. Hispanic and Oriental food stuffs are dead easy to come by but curry is another matter and often you’ll need to hunt out a speciality store, or find a good source for a Jar of Patak’s or Madhur Jaffrey paste…or the ingredients to make your own from scratch.

Anyhoo, whenever I come across a good source of British food products in the United States I have been keeping notes so I can find those products again. I figured there are thousands of British expats in America who might also be interested, or Americans who have found a liking for those products for one reason or another who might also be interested in finding them here, so I will be intermittantly blogging those sources right here rather than keeping them to myself.

I have also decided to compile a directory of speciality British food stores and resources which will be added when I have the time and inclination to do so. Many of these are a great one-stop shopping source for all things British-related but the prices reflect the scarcity of the products so I try to find them elsewhere first.

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