When you’ve lived abroad for a long time, there are lots of things you miss about home. Mostly your family, I find, although food seems to have a special power to make me feel a wistful nostalgia for the UK.
I’ve lived in Spain for over four years now but I lived in the Middle East for over eight years before that, which adds up to quite a long time away from home and also quite a lot of sunshine. I love the food here in Seville (see my previous article on what to do and eat if you ever visit Seville, which gives you an idea of some of the joys of eating here) but there are still lots of things I miss from England.
I love to cook and that helps a lot – if I want a dish I’m missing it’s usually pretty easy for me to create it, even if it’s not perfectly suited to the climate (it’s rarely cold enough here for shepherd’s pie, for example, although that doesn’t stop me from making it at least once a year) so the foods I tend to miss the most are either snacks or ingredients that are difficult to lay hands on.
Where are all the cookies?
Mostly I miss biscuits. Most especially: Cadbury’s chocolate fingers, Jammie Dodgers and chocolate Hobnobs. My husband in particular has something of an addiction to chocolate fingers, to the point where we have been known to leave things behind at my sister’s house in order to create more space for them in our luggage.
I was surprised, when I first started shopping here, at the lack of biscuit options: a section that takes up a good-sized aisle in any self-respecting UK supermarket takes up just part of one side of an aisle here.
The choices here tend to be own-brand digestives, a rich tea style biscuit which is in fact more boring and tasteless than a rich tea (something I didn’t even know was possible – the recipe developers have rather exceeded themselves here, I think) and a few other random and not-especially-tasty options. Larger biscuits such as Club Bars or Penguins are unheard of.
All this means that I have started baking my own biscuits when we have a dip in our UK supply between visits, although to be honest I suspect that’s probably better for us all round. (Golden syrup is something we also only have when visitors bring it or we bring it back – again, probably better for us really).
Not quite a biscuit, but close to it, are Farley’s baby rusks. These are far and away my favourite snack (with milk). I’ve never given them to my child because I refuse to share them so if we’re eating cereal he gets the All Bran (the chocolate version, I’m not that evil). We do at least have Coco Pops here, even if they have another name, so that’s a relief.
Other than biscuits, proper sausages are thin on the ground here. We have the most amazing chorizo and various other types of Spanish sausages, mostly made from pork (pork being the main meat here as far as I can see) and there are some sausages that are similar to British sausages but just aren’t quite the same. They’re still delicious but they do taste different and are suited to Spanish recipes more than they are to good old sausage and mash.
The case of the missing vegetables
Despite Spain being a country that has abundant fresh, local produce, there are a few vegetables I haven’t been able to find. I suspect it’s because they are cold weather vegetables that grow better in places with frost, and most of the produce available here is grown in-country.
So there’s no swede (or rutabaga, for any Americans who might be reading) and no turnips. Indeed, my husband, who is Spanish, had never seen a swede or a turnip before I asked him whether one could be procured.
It could not.
We used to carve them for Halloween when I was a kid although there are plenty of pumpkins here and while pumpkin carving isn’t easy, it’s an awful lot easier than trying to carve a swede.
This is me looking on the bright side.
Parsnips are rare and prohibitively expensive; they can be found in small quantities each winter in El Corte Inglés, the Spanish department store, which has a rather fancy food hall. They must sell out pretty quickly because whenever I look I see only the empty shelf with the label; I’ve not yet been in time to actually buy one although in fairness, I’m not sure I’d be willing to pay the prices they charge.
On a similar note, broccolini is rare and there are generally only two or three varieties of potato rather than the 20 British people are used to.
Apples are equally limited in variety and can be very hit and miss in terms of quality, which is a shame because I eat a lot of them. There is apple-growing country in the north of Spain (they make great cider) but I don’t see that reflected in the produce aisle. Perhaps all the apples go for cider?
There are also limited fresh herbs: basil, rosemary and parsley are always available but I have never seen tarragon, lemon balm or marjoram.
Rhubarb also doesn’t seem to be on the radar here; every trip we’ve made back to the UK has involved me buying some with the best of intentions and then forgetting to cook it until I finally spot it sitting in my sister’s kitchen the morning we’re due to leave, just when it’s too late to do anything with it (and when all available suitcase space has already been filled with chocolate fingers).
Cooking your way around the world
One thing that I love about shopping back in the UK is the sheer range of spices and international foods that are available. Pomegranate molasses? No problem (thanks Ottolenghi!). Similarly dukkah, preserved lemons, sumac, barberries and various other delicious ingredients, which are all easy to find.
I also love that I can buy a jar (or fresh!) lemongrass, tamarind, curry leaves, miso paste, kimchi and a hundred different spices just by wandering into my (well, my sister’s) local supermarket.
Here, there are very few spices available. If they’re not used in Spanish cooking then they’re hard to get hold of – I mostly order mine online or buy them when we’re back in the UK (much to the bemusement of airport security when it’s scanning time – last time we flew I had to put all the spices in hand luggage because the suitcase was full of chocolate fingers).
Even the online spice stores don’t stock kimchi or miso though, let alone tamarind.
It has really made me appreciate how diverse the UK’s food culture is. Spain has a strong national food culture and traditional dishes are enduringly popular, even when you’re eating out – there are a huge amount of restaurants and a thriving hospitality sector but almost all of them serve Spanish cuisine.
The population is also less diverse so the range of styles and ingredients you can access so easily in the UK just hasn’t spread here yet.
The bakery aisle
While I can make scones at home, I really miss the Morrisons finest fruit scones.
There are some things I haven’t yet mastered making at home though, such as tea cakes, English muffins, and hot cross buns, which I really wish we had here. It does make me wonder whether the British have a disproportionate affection for baked goods.
Foods I miss, but don’t actually want to eat
Have you ever felt nostalgic for a certain food but without any desire to actually eat it? I have a few of these food ideals but actually if I do eat them when we’re back in England I usually find them disappointing.
First amongst them is fish and chips. I realise this is almost tantamount to treason (don’t confiscate my passport please) but honestly, the chips are never crispy! Maybe there’s a place near you that does better chips but so far I just haven’t enjoyed this as much as I’d hoped to whenever I’ve given it a go.
Another thing I’ve tried that hasn’t lived up to my memory of it is bacon sandwiches on Warburton’s white bread with ketchup and brown sauce (these days I seem to actually prefer brown bread! And I rarely eat ketchup so bacon sandwiches now take the form of BLTs with homemade mustard and maple dressing rather than just bacon.
I do wish we could get British style bacon here though, it seems a terrible omission for such a pork-loving country to be stuck with the cheapest style of American bacon).
Beans on toast is another one – this was a regular teatime meal for us when I was a kid and I used to enjoy it. However, I’ve got literally zero desire to actually eat it in real life. I think for me it’s tied up in the nostalgia of childhood, especially the idea of cold autumn evenings when we would crunch through fallen leaves on the walk home from school then get into a warm, cosy house and have baked beans on toast for tea.
The randoms
I had to try and explain corned beef to my husband yesterday when we saw a tin of it in Carrefour for, I’m not kidding, almost €8. I had to explain that it was typically considered a cheap option. I do like corned beef, especially when it comes sliced from the butcher’s. Needless to say we didn’t buy this particular tin.
What foods do you miss, if you’ve moved, or feel nostalgic for from your childhood? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Images: Suzy Hazelwood, Garitzko, Quadell, Whitebox, James Petts,
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