Different Country, Different Food!
By Karmalina
@Karmalina (647)
Australia
April 3, 2007 6:32am CST
As most of you that have heard me ramble on before know I am American, but have lived in Australia for 5 years. You'd think in 2 westernized countries there wouldn't be THAT much of a difference in food, but sheesh! My latest irritation is the fact that I've been craving bacon for about 2 years and the kind I'm used to just isn't common here. Instead of crispy and shriveled and yummy we get "shoulder bacon" and that tastes like ham to me and doesn't nearly fulfill my bacon craving. I have only recently found out that the kind of bacon I like is called "streaky bacon" and I'll most likely have to ask a butcher about it. I also am a big fan of ground beef. Here you buy "beef mince" and it's just not the same at all. I love frozen waffles too and can't find them anywhere. And I can only get grits from the USA foods store over an hour away or order them from there and with the weight of the bag they'd cost heaps. The weirdest thing to me is people eat pancakes with jam, which is allright, but if you say you like syrup on your pancakes most people will look at you like you're crazy. Lamb's also a more common option here than in the US. Any of you guys ever moved and got shocked like this? *starves after talking about that stuff*
4 people like this
6 responses
@Mickie30 (2626)
•
11 Apr 07
When I was in America I craved good English chocolate it isn't the same in America here in the Uk we have lovely milk chocolate which is very sweet and creamy. I sent my friend some in the USA once and it was the first time she tasted it she could not believe how good it tasted compared with the dark chocolate you get there. I miss moutain soda though. I cannot remember the name properly. I tried to get some from ebay once, but it was the wrong stuff. It was called moutain dew and this was soda. It was flat with no fizz in it and it was in a can and very sweet and refreshing on a hot day. If anyone knows the name of it I would be very pleased.
1 person likes this
@ethanmama (1745)
• Philippines
13 Apr 07
I understand what you mean. I'm Chinese Filipino and grew up with traditional Chinese food and studied in a Chinese school. When I went to college (no longer a predominantly Chinese school), I was surprised that my classmates put sauce in their meat buns (siopao) when in our house no sauce was ever used. I learned later that it's a Filipinized version of a traditional Chinese food. It just doesn't taste the same like what we are used to having at home. That's in the same country, mind you.
@14missy (3183)
• Australia
11 Apr 07
I can relate to what you mean. My brother and SIL live in the States and I live in Australia. I have visited the states a few times and cannot believe the difference in not only the type of food but what it is called and how it is cooked. I have actually just moved interstate and there is a huge difference with foods down here too. I call cocktail frankfurts, cherrios and people lok at me strangely. Bizarre as it is actually the same country...
@spiritwolf52 (2300)
•
13 Apr 07
I can relate. I am an American living in Scotland. I have been here over 5 years and I still have my cravings. I drive my hubby crazy. Pancakes here look more like crepes, very thin. What happened to the hotdogs? They are pencil thin and taste like sawdust. I miss my hersheys kisses, big bags of doritos, Italian sausages. I find it hard trying to locate herbs and spices that I grew up with. I am still trying to find tomato puree, their's is more like paste. I miss good Italian food.
It took me awhile to figure out the difference with the bacon. Streaky bacon is still not the same, it's closer, but not the same.
I can order my favorite foods online but the shipping is spendy as are the goods. One thing I really miss is buffalo meat!!!
Lamb is good here but I still look for the New Zealand label.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
3 Apr 07
Welcome to Australia Karmalina.
You don't know how lucky you are...
At least you came here in the 21st century.
I came here in 1970 as a 19 year old from France.
Talk about culture shock!
In 1970... there were practically no food from overseas in the shops. There was the odd French patisserie like "Douce France" in Cremorne... and that was a great shop which I visited every weekend.
There is no demand for American food in Australia... just like I am sure there would not be a high demand for Australian food anywhere in the world... except from Australians living overseas.
Lets face it... American and Australian cuisine does not make the top ten. That is why the ingredients are not there.
French people eat pancakes with butter and brown sugar... and that is how I like them.
Australians don't eat waffles... so you won't find any frozen one. But if you go to a shop like Coles... and you look in their section of imported biscuits from Europe... you will find some waffles. I have seen them.
@chuckt9881 (469)
• Canada
10 Apr 07
I've never moved to another country, but when I vacationed in the Netherlands I did notice some differences. I think the one everyone knows is that the Dutch dip their french fries in mayonnaise, not ketchup. We couldn't even find ketchup in McDonald's unless we wanted to pay for individual packets!
It was also difficult to find a decent cup of steeped tea, or Columbian coffee like I'm used to. (Oh how I wished for a Tim Horton's my whole time there).
There were other differences that I really enjoyed. Like chocolate sprinkles on fresh bread for breakfast; cheese at every meal; yogurt and vanilla pudding for dessert.
But after two weeks of this, we purposely searched out a restaurant that served 'North American' breakfasts: bacon and eggs, toast with jam, dry cereal. The coffee still tasted horrible though.
