Where To Find British Food In America
Categories: British Recipes & FoodOne 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.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:43 pm
When I moved here 23 years ago there was NO. english food - I used to bring tea back and anything else I could carry. World Market Cost Plus sells Lifeboat Tea and Cadburys and Heinz baked beans. I have never been able to get decent sausages - some of the Irish shops make them but they are not that great.
Lizzie
August 13th, 2006 at 10:53 am
[…] One blog I came across today is An Englishman in America, in particular This post about finding British food in America. […]
September 3rd, 2006 at 8:16 pm
For anyone who lives in LA, there is a British restaurant/pub thing, with adjoining British corner shop next door in Santa Monica (I don’t recall exactly where, but it’s easy to stumble across).
Happy Cadbury’s eating and ‘Heat’ magazine reading!
October 26th, 2006 at 5:04 am
As a fellow englishman living in Reno I have to say that it’s a tricky task to fill all those holes that a local Sainsbury’s fills. However Butcher Boy (Rock Blvd, Sparks) sells “country” bacon that tastes almost as good as back home - different shape, but if you close your eyes then that egg, bacon and HP sauce butty tastes just as good. They also do a fairly accurate “British Banger”.
World market has most common items from Cadbury, baked beans, sponge puds in a can, “proper” tea (and biscuits to go with them), HP sauce, Branston and Picallili, Ambrosia Devon Custard.
Still can’t find Lamb stock cubes locally though…
October 26th, 2006 at 5:06 am
Oh, and there’s a good Indian store next to Longs Drugs, opposite from Lowes on Oddie Blvd
Excellent naan in the freezer cabinet and a good selection from Mrs Patak. They even sell Birds custard powder and Heinz beans
October 26th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
World Market is a life saver. I picked up some christmas pudding and mince pies a couple of days ago and have been using them for Bisto gravy and curry mixes for a while…along with whatever chocs and biscuits happen to catch my eye.
Thanks for the Indian and Butcher Boy tip, I’ll definitely be checking them out sometime in the very near future. Trader Joes had some pretty good naan last time I looked as well.
January 1st, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Ralphs now sell yorkshire tea…….yea baby.
and you gotta make sure u read the back of the cadbury chocolate bars. Don’t buy the ones that are under license from hershey’s. Make sure they are british imported. I still miss yorkshire puddings though, anyone know who sells them ready made??
January 18th, 2007 at 12:01 am
When I was in the US last week I was surprised how little British food there are. We whent to a resturant and ordered “fish and chips ” from there most ordered menu and they asked if I would like fries with that…I just looked blank at them. when i go again in next month ill try some of the sites suggested above. i missed roast potatoes and descent sausages so much lol
March 7th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
www.goodwoods.com is a great Site for British foods. It’s a little pricey considering we all know the British prices for these things but nonetheless it’s a great way to feel at home.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:12 am
I am a Canadian who grew up in Victoria,BC which is VERY British as well. I too was surprised by the differences in food when I came down the United States. I can’t stand Herseys chocolate, couldn’t find marmite or Heinz Beans, even the chinese food noodles I had always purchased were not the same(most chinese restaurants in Chicago use spaghetti noodles). It even surprised me about the sausage…closest I could find is by a small butcher and they call it breakfast wsuasage..
I think I was in more culture shock than someone from a different continent..after all werent the US and Canada almost identical, we shared so much I couldn’t believe the food was so different. I have since discovered that Canadian chocolate is identical to what the US refers to as European and a lot of others things I thought of a North American weren’t.
World Market is a wonderful source for many things, but I am even mroe delighted becuase we had a Jewel grocery store open by us recently and they have an ‘International’ section which included British. I can now get my marmite, choclate etc a lot cheaper than what World Market sells it for.
May 9th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
www.britsintheus.com is a good place to find websites that have British foods in the US. They also have several differents categories.