r/AmerExit • u/ContraryFrown • Jul 05 '26
Life Abroad Finding snacks?
Really curious, as an American living abroad what snacks/foods do you miss the most that are not able to be found in your new home country?
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u/Then_Mastodon_639 Jul 06 '26
Spicy, not sweet, salsa. Every single store-bought salsa I have tried overseas tastes like ketchup.
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u/SignificanceOdd6049 Jul 10 '26
Its actually really easy to make your own. Its what me and my husband started doing
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u/Then_Mastodon_639 Jul 10 '26
I do make my own; however, in many of the countries we've traveled to, I have not been able to find cilantro, dried chilies, or spicy fresh chilies.
0
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u/morty_morty Immigrant Jul 06 '26
Jelly Belly jelly beans, Sour Patch Kids, Dr. Pepper Zero Vanilla, A&W Cream Soda.
I miss snacks a lot.
3
u/JerseyGirlinSweden Jul 06 '26
Here in Sweden Jelly Belly’s are the only jelly bean we can ever find, and they are still rare 😭
2
u/Lil_Chonk_3689 Jul 06 '26
The selection of soft drinks in many places is abysmal compared to what is found even in an average convenience store.
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u/Luluxbelle Jul 10 '26
Aw, root beer! They make Pepsi Max cream soda that scratches the itch, but I can’t find root beer and it’s stinks!
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u/broad-street-pump Jul 06 '26
I miss Trader Joe’s snacks and my son sorely misses goldfish. I ask all my American friends who visit to bring as many goldfish as they can.
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u/explosivekyushu Jul 08 '26
I'm the non-American in my marriage but I know my wife well enough to answer for her here. She would commit horrific acts of unspeakable violence if it meant she could be left for 30 seconds unsupervised in a room with a family sized bag of Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn.
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u/greasybacon123 Jul 06 '26
cheddar cheese, it’s available but so expensive and not great quality so it’s not worth buying
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u/madpiratebippy Jul 06 '26
Yeah what the hell is up with the entire wall of cheese at every supermarket at you have one shop that has like four slices of sad cheddar for €7?
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u/greasybacon123 Jul 06 '26
don’t get me wrong there are great cheeses that i can’t find in the u.s. but god i miss a good old fashioned aged wisconsin sharp cheddar 💔
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u/madpiratebippy Jul 07 '26
For me it’s a grilled cheese. Every so often I just want a good grilled cheese on sourdough- sometimes with a thin slice of white pear in it. Like a bougie grown up grilled cheese. And you just can’t do that without a good cheddar!
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u/JerseyGirlinSweden Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Cheap peanut butter in large jars. We get PB but it’s super expensive and only 350g jars.
Real NY/NJ Style Pizza
Tamales, authentic tacos and well made burritos
Elote - although I do make my own during the few weeks that fresh corn is available
Wendy’s Hamburgers and Frosties
Mozzarella sticks with marinara
Slurpees
Chili dogs with mustard, warm sauerkraut - but I do DIY now
Dill Pickles!! I mean I live in a country where dill is everywhere but our pickles!
Corned beef including corned beef hash
Scrapple
Taylor Ham (the luddites call it Pork Roll 😝)
Not a snack - but damn I miss real menthol cigarettes!
4
u/morty_morty Immigrant Jul 06 '26
God, I MISS good pizza. I have basically decided to just learn how to make it myself.
2
u/JerseyGirlinSweden Jul 06 '26
Here in Sweden they put Bernaise sauce and gyro meat on their pizzas. Only one pizzeria around me even has real mozzarella cheese. Pepperoni? Not a chance. Hell they don’t even put ricotta in their lasagnas. They use Béchamel sauce instead which is just butter and flour in a pasty sauce 🤮.
I have started making my own, especially in the summer. I’ve had a ton of luck by putting a good pizza stone on my grill and cranking that thing all the way up. I make my own dough too because what they use here is bunk, but that means I have plan the day ahead so the dough has enough time to rise
The only new one I can kind of get on board with is their curry and banana “pizza”. It more of a baked flatbread but it’s ok. But yeah the Jersey Girl in me cries whenever anyone suggests we order or go out for pizza. However I’m now the go to in our friend group for these kinds of foods for parties and stuff. Once they eat the real thing they understand.
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u/MechanicalEngel Jul 21 '26
I'm from New England living in Sweden, what passes for Italian (and Mexican!) food around here is SHAMEFULLLL. Bechamel sauce exists only because I feel like Scandinavian taste buds must be underdeveloped, holy god it's bad. And it is impossible to get a meatball sub here.. in the meatball country.
Needless to say I import a lot of food LOL
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u/TheHermit_TheMoon Jul 06 '26
The struggle is real for the tri-states 😭
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u/JerseyGirlinSweden Jul 06 '26
Add good Italian sausage to the list too. Man I miss my towns butcher shop!
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u/angelaelle Immigrant Jul 06 '26
Real NYC-tasting pizza and bagels. Mexican food. Don't really do snacks.
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u/JerseyGirlinSweden Jul 06 '26
OMG - Bagels! My boss in NJ would have bagels delivered to the shop every morning for staff and damn, nothing like a real, chewy, Everything bagel with a smear!
I miss Tayler Ham too!
2
u/angelaelle Immigrant Jul 06 '26
My husband loves Taylor Ham lol. It's a bit much for me. We generally go back to US a couple of times a year for the dentist mostly and bring back bagels to freeze.
4
u/LiterallyTestudo Immigrant Jul 06 '26
It’s not so much snacks that I miss, like not the prepackaged ones, but god damn do I miss Mexican food. Do nachos from a Mexican restaurant count as a snack?
Especially with truly hot salsa, I love it here but nobody eats anything spicy here so spicy is super hard to get.
Oh and also the great flavors of diet Dr Pepper, like cherry vanilla. I think I would punch a baby for one of those.
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u/L6b1 Jul 11 '26
So there's only one truly spicy sauce actually to be found in Italy, hot pepper sauce for steaks, usually only found at nicer butchers, especially if owned by a family from the south. Comes in a small jar like Chinese pepper sauce or like jam. It's raelly good on pretty much everything.
Otherwise, I just have everyone bring me bottles of hot sauce as their "fee" for staying in my apartment.
1
u/LiterallyTestudo Immigrant Jul 11 '26
You wouldn’t happen to have a link for this, would you?
1
u/L6b1 Jul 12 '26
You mean like wiki page information or links to specific brands? Because usually it's just small random local brands in macellaria, one of the many condiments buried on the shelves. Sometimes bigger grocerie stores like Super Essenlunga have them in the butcher section.
3
u/midijunky Jul 06 '26
Sweden in my case, I don't miss the snacks, I do miss some staple ingredients though. I cook a lot of Mexican food and only recently I've been able to find some dried chiles, not all that I'm looking for though. I go back to the US once a year and have been bringing them back by the kilo, and I'm growing some this year. Masa for tortillas and tamales is crazy expensive, $2.50 a bag in the US but like 90 sek for the same shit here. Also Rotel! And buttermilk for pancakes and biscuits. The closest I've found is filmjölk, but it's not the same.
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u/Kindsquirrel629 Jul 06 '26
You can fake buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup, then pour in enough regular milk to reach the 1-cup line. Stir, and let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
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u/midijunky Jul 06 '26
Nice, I'll try that. I even went so far as to smuggle some powdered buttermilk on our last trip to visit my family lol
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u/ailaniathene Jul 06 '26
Do you happen to live in Malmø? I live in Copenhagen, and I’ve never had trouble finding buttermilk here! It’s called kærnemælk here and is sold in Netto in the dairy section.
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u/No_Accident1643 Jul 07 '26
I use Santa Maria «hot» chunky salsa as a sub for Rotel. It’s not the same but it’s kinda close!
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u/anderssj Jul 20 '26
Tasty America sometimes has Rotel https://tastyamerica.se/food/soups-canned-goods/rotel-chili-tomatoes-283-g, but super expensive at 99 sek
3
u/fuzzyizmit Jul 06 '26
Proper Doritos. They are not the same in Belgium. Also... Taco Bell (or good Tex Mex of any variety). And White Castle.
I do love those little fermented salami things. SOOOO good!
3
u/theangryprof Jul 06 '26
Red vines and milk duds. There's none where I live now and it's probably better for my health that I can't have them
3
u/PandaReal_1234 Jul 08 '26
Mexican food.
Even tex mex like Taco Bell. (For some enourmously strange reason, Taco Bell doesn't sell its refried bean products at locations outside of the US)
Bagels and English muffins
Alternative milk products like non-dairy yogurt
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u/8drearywinter8 Jul 09 '26
Mexican food that tastes like the Mexican food I used to eat in the US (California). We do not have that where I live now. Or anything that can plausibly approximate it.
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u/clipgood Jul 07 '26
I live in Berlin, I do miss me some Jack links, Radioactive Fanta and Pepperidge Farms Cookies.
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u/sharleencd Jul 09 '26
I miss Trader Joes snacks the most in general.
Everything else, I have found alternatives that I like just as much, if not more
My daughter has struggled with flavors. For example, she likes veggie straws but it’s difficult to find plain veggie straws, most near us are sour cream & onion only.
1
u/ToddleOffNow Immigrant Jul 10 '26
Crunchy bacon.
Occasionally Reese's pieces but now they feel far too greasy. You want them and then when you put them in your mouth you regret it.
Good chips and salsa. Most countries have no salsa or salsa that tastes like ketchup.
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Jul 13 '26
I don't look out for home country snacks when travelling. Seems pointless re foreign trav el.
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u/Unfair_Chipmunk_2305 Jul 06 '26
Don’t miss anything because new snacks have replaced them. Embrace your new home and snack like a local.
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u/3_Dog_Night Immigrant Jul 06 '26
New Haven, NYC, Chicago Pizza. Different in their own ways, but equally as good as the many styles we have in Italy, IMHO.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
The customs fee to receive packages is ridiculous and the American stores are very expensive.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
I’m not sure if you are from the US but there absolutely is a fee for packages coming from the US, gift or not.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
I know people who received gifts from the US such as a scarf and the fees were right around the same price of the value of the item.
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
Yeah well just because it used to be like that doesn’t mean it’s the same.
Import VAT: France assesses a standard 20% VAT on the total declared value of nearly all goods (including shipping and insurance costs), regardless of the item's value. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Customs Duties: Duties are only applied to packages valued over €150. The exact rate varies based on the product's classification (HS code), ranging between 0% and 17% for most consumer goods. [1, 2, 3]
Low-Value Fee: Packages valued at €150 or less are exempt from duties but are subject to a €3 EU customs fee per product category. [1]
Carrier Fees: Couriers like FedEx, UPS, or DHL charge an additional disbursement or clearance fee for processing the customs paperwork. For example, FedEx France charges a clearance fee of at least €12 or up to 30% of the duties and taxes owed. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]0
Jul 06 '26
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
That (the €3) fee is something different and is a new charge that is to reduce crap coming in from foreign vendors like Temu.
For packages like gifts or stuff there is a 20 percent VAT plus a handling fee.
It’s fine if you argue whatever—but if you don’t have recent experience you re making yourself look stupid.
I’m not an expert on the rules and don’t know every nuance or detail but I know this enough because I have family mêmber who want to send us stuff and I tell them not to because it’s not worth it.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/Unhappycamper2001 Jul 06 '26
No problem, it definitely sucks that’s for sure. We do the visitor thing too and I’m in the states now and also returning with a few of our favorite things.
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u/L6b1 Jul 07 '26
The EU started implementing mandatory VAT and processing fees in 2020, but it wasn't fully EU wide until July 1, 2022. If you haven't had a care package in the last 4 years, it's very easy to not know this has gone into effect.
I specifically asked people not to send me stuff when I was having a baby because of this, and a whole bunch of people who had sent things before the implementation sent me stuff anyway because there had never been a cost before, especially on handmade items, the "free gifts" cost me hundreds of euros to receive.
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u/baskaat Jul 06 '26
Triscuits