The lamentation thread of missed foods for the displaced among us

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

Semi-inspired by the bbq thread currently going....

Era, I moved to the Midwestern US for grad school, up from the south, and I miss crawfish like it's a physical pain. I also will not touch bbq here in Indiana outside of one small place - been burned too many times by oversalted, dried out garbage. I'll make my own pulled pork and fry my own catfish, but I'm not touching a lot of shit here. In fact, to be honest, we rarely eat out unless we go to Indy or Chicago because food is sad here. I travel a few times a year for conferences and the thing I look forward to most (besides, y'know, the intellectual stimulation) is being in a place where the pinnacle of cuisine isn't a deep fried slab of pork on a bun.

I also try to get my hands on fresh oysters when I travel. That sea-salt goodness with hot sauce and a bit of lemon. Sigh.

I'm sure I'm not alone in here, so let's make each other hungry and sad. Are you separated from the foods you love most? Regale me with your tragic stories.

Photo tax:

Hypron · Dec 30, 2018

I moved to NZ from France a decade ago, and what I miss the most is just being able to buy good baguettes/bread from any bakery :(

I want bread like the above rather than the shitty sliced bread everyone seems to eat here...

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

Oh, I can only imagine. I hear amazing bakeries are basically as ubiquitous as air in France.

Nothing Loud · Dec 30, 2018

I'm excited to move out of Texas but I know I'm gonna miss Tex-Mex. Mexican food anywhere else has been garbage compared to what I'm used to, even in California. My husband moved here from California and said he never had anything in Cali like we have here, either. Ugh.

as mentioned in my other thread, I really miss produce from Colombia.

ElectricBlanketFire · Dec 30, 2018

Oof I lived in Indiana for 7 years. I feel you OP.

Nothing Loud · Dec 30, 2018

Hypron said:
I moved to NZ from France a decade ago, and what I miss the most is just miss being able to buy good baguettes/bread from any bakery :(

I want bread like the above rather than the shitty sliced bread everyone seems to eat here...

I miss this most about France too.

House_Of_Lightning · Dec 30, 2018

There's a ton of food I miss since moving back to the states from Shanghai.

jianbing being one of them.

Mr. Bad Example · Dec 30, 2018

I moved to the UK from the US over eleven years ago, and in all that time, I've only found one Chinese restaurant in the entire country that actually serves sesame chicken. It's in Newcastle, FYI.

(Yes, I know it's not actual authentic Chinese food. That doesn't stop me from craving it like Gollum with the One Ring.)

butzopower · Dec 30, 2018

Biscuits and gravy ain't the same in London.

Deleted member 5853 · Dec 30, 2018

I miss Chinese jianbing so much.

That, and this:

Dominos India's Calzones. They had this spicy tangy sauce in them that was super damn good.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

Mr. Bad Example said:
I moved to the UK from the US over eleven years ago, and in all that time, I've only found one Chinese restaurant in the entire country that actually serves sesame chicken. It's in Newcastle, FYI.

(Yes, I know it's not actual authentic Chinese food. That doesn't stop me from craving it like Gollum with the One Ring.)

Nah man, I feel this. There's one little hole in the wall place which is very not authentic but greasy and delicious that I miss from my hometown.

PersonAndStuff · Dec 30, 2018

There is okay Chinese food in West LA but it's just okay. I miss the cheap salt and pepper chicken from my hometown.

Summer · Dec 30, 2018

I used to live in Berlin and miss the kebabs you can get there.

You can get kebabs in London too obviously but they're just not the same, I've always been disappointed. But I will keep searching!

Deleted member 4367 · Dec 30, 2018

I miss boiled peanuts being available tons of places. Ball parks, side of the road etc.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

ElectricBlanketFire said:
Oof I lived in Indiana for 7 years. I feel you OP.

Missed this one on my first read but man, the struggle here is severe. And when new restaurants open, they might be okay for the first year or so and then the quality inevitably goes down.

Zoidn · Dec 30, 2018

I'm from Germany but currently living in Dublin and man do I miss the bread. You can buy stuff here that sorta looks like the bread I can get back home, but it's just not comparable.

Also like Summer mentioned, the common style of döner kebab in Germany just doesn't seem to be a thing here either

8bit · Dec 30, 2018

It's worth trying to find decent recipes and doing it yourself or you have to search out retailers that will carry your wishes.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

8bit said:
It's worth trying to find decent recipes and doing it yourself or you have to search out retailers that will carry your wishes.

Not for crawfish or oysters though. sad4ever

But I do this with some things for sure.

The Namekian · Dec 30, 2018

Cold Cheese Pizza....

MarioW · Dec 30, 2018

Hypron said:
I moved to NZ from France a decade ago, and what I miss the most is just being able to buy good baguettes/bread from any bakery :(

I want bread like the above rather than the shitty sliced bread everyone seems to eat here...

Where do you live in NZ?

Bread here isn't going to match France, especially at the small stores labeled "bakery" which are usually places that just sell basic old school slices, buns, and pies. But there are good, speciality bakers around in the bigger cities. Worth seeking out if are craving good bread.

guiloahhhhh · Dec 30, 2018

Interesting thread.

Born in Canada originally moved to the US. The A@W being different was my personal cross to bear. I dreamed of Papa Burgers and GOOD root beer. Frosty with the mug. A craftmanship. A point of emphasis. A pride that the American A@W's could never envision much less to try match. Old dutch chips man those are the best. Ketchup in Particular. Coffee Crisp and Kinder stuff. The cadbury chocolate that is rarely here in the states. Tim Hortons and the coffee latte drink (although quality has gone down as I understand it.)

Lived a year in Southern China. I could write a lot about the food there. The fresh fried dumplings. The mantoe deserts (bread lightly fried with a sweet honey sauce. glorious desert). Whole fishes steamed with green onion and dark sauces. Just the variety and difference in everything. American Chinese food isn't worse, it's just something else entirely then what you get there. All the meats not overly fried just cooked in the sauces and vegetables with that. Ironically the Taro pies from there Mcdonalds lol.

Lived 8 months in Indian as well. The butter chicken and any curry just so well made. The curry nice and thick and milky not runny at all. So many weird Kolkata street snacks and chats. Pani Puris are literally a godamn rupee. (like 5 cents or less). You could just sit their all day eating it. Bhel Purri, Bhatata purri. The Biryani so soft and flavor ful my God. The tandori chicken and pudina was amazing. The chai god like and had everywhere for a damn rupee. Everytime I go to Indian now I have to get thumbs up or Limca. I would drink Kingfisher and KF blue if I could get my hands on it. I would eat countless guavas for days. Just insane.

Nostremitus · Dec 30, 2018

I'm not Korean, but I miss Korean Street food. Does that count?

jay · Dec 30, 2018

Sorry for the perceived snobbiness that comes with being from NY and having food preferences, but I do miss pizza and bagels. You can't even get a fucking egg bagel and I'm only a few states away.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

guiloahhhhh said:
Interesting thread.

Born in Canada originally moved to the US. The A@W being different was my personal cross to bear. I dreamed of Papa Burgers and GOOD root beer. Frosty with the mug. A craftmanship. A point of emphasis. A pride that the American A@W's could never envision much less to try match. Old dutch chips man those are the best. Ketchup in Particular. Coffee Crisp and Kinder stuff. The cadbury chocolate that is rarely here in the states. Tim Hortons and the coffee latte drink (although quality has gone down as I understand it.)

Lived a year in Southern China. I could write a lot about the food there. The fresh fried dumplings. The mantoe deserts (bread lightly fried with a sweet honey sauce. glorious desert). Whole fishes steamed with green onion and dark sauces. Just the variety and difference in everything. American Chinese food isn't worse, it's just something else entirely then what you get there. All the meats not overly fried just cooked in the sauces and vegetables with that. Ironically the Taro pies from there Mcdonalds lol.

Lived 8 months in Indian as well. The butter chicken and any curry just so well made. The curry nice and thick and milky not runny at all. So many weird Kolkata street snacks and chats. Pani Puris are literally a godamn rupee. (like 5 cents or less). You could just sit their all day eating it. Bhel Purri, Bhatata purri. The Biryani so soft and flavor ful my God. The tandori chicken and pudina was amazing. The chai god like and had everywhere for a damn rupee. Everytime I go to Indian now I have to get thumbs up or Limca. I would drink Kingfisher and KF blue if I could get my hands on it. I would eat countless guavas for days. Just insane.

Oh my god, seriously, good root beer is a revelation. It's complex, with layered flavors. There's stuff that happens in your mouth. I don't drink soda anymore, but I'll make the occasional exception for a good root beer, because there's nothing like it.

Also I want all that Indian food. That sounds like heaven.

jay said:
Sorry for the perceived snobbiness that comes with being from NY and having food preferences, but I do miss pizza and bagels. You can't even get a fucking egg bagel and I'm only a few states away.

Nah man, it's fine. That's what this is for. One of my colleagues here has bagels shipped once a year as a treat.

PanickyFool · Dec 30, 2018

Moved back to NYC after school in the South.

New York City bakeries (and BBQ) universally suck.

Peter Pan doughnuts suck.

Of course when I was in the South I was known to FedEx Pizza.

Jisgsaw · Dec 30, 2018

Hypron said:
I moved to NZ from France a decade ago, and what I miss the most is just being able to buy good baguettes/bread from any bakery :(

I want bread like the above rather than the shitty sliced bread everyone seems to eat here...

So much this. I don't get why no other country manages to reproduce a basic baguette, let alone nicer stuff like croissants and pains au chocolat.

They even have stuff that looks the same (and is called the same), but the taste definitively isn't there.

PanickyFool · Dec 30, 2018

Jisgsaw said:
So much this. I don't get why no other country manages to reproduce a basic baguette, let alone nicer stuff like croissants and pains au chocolat.

Here in Queens we have a verified french dude making verified authentic baguettes, croissants, and pains au chocolat. The amount of butter Jacque uses is likely illegal in the New York City nanny state.

Now answer me this! How come outside of the USA I can never find a good chocolate chip cookie, the greatest and completely unrivaled sweet treat on this planet!

Hypron · Dec 30, 2018

MarioW said:
Where do you live in NZ?

Bread here isn't going to match France, especially at the small stores labeled "bakery" which are usually places that just sell basic old school slices, buns, and pies. But there are good, speciality bakers around in the bigger cities. Worth seeking out if are craving good bread.

Yeah I'm not saying it's impossible to find good bread, but when compared with France where even in your random tiny town you can get delicious bread, the availability just doesn't compare haha. I live in Auckland so there are places not too far that have good bread, although they also tend to be rather expensive. My parents live around the Bay of Plenty and there was a bakery close to Whakatāne that made absolutely delicious bread, but sadly it recently closed down :(

I think if the default bread wasn't sliced bread the quality would probably be much higher across the board.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 30, 2018

I read something recently that said the quality and type of flour typically used in various regions had a lot to do with bread. The article was specifically about why Southern (US) biscuits were different, but there were some other examples, too. It's a subtle thing, but that could be part of it.

Dennis8K · Dec 30, 2018

Currently living in US but I miss European bread and cheese.

You can get raw milk European cheese here but it is so expensive. Good bread, no chance. Even worse for specialty breads like rugbrød.

Internally in the US, I miss the Pho I could get in Boston now that I am in Nashville.

Deleted member 12028 · Dec 30, 2018

Originally from cincy and moved to the west coast. I miss skyline chili, frischs, and White Castle.

Braindead · Dec 30, 2018

As a Brummie (Birmingham UK) in South Florida, I miss a good Balti.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 31, 2018

wads said:
Originally from cincy and moved to the west coast. I miss skyline chili, frischs, and White Castle.

I do not get skyline chili at all but I know y'all are dedicated to it.

Natiko · Dec 31, 2018

It could be worse. Some of us have the displeasure of having been born here. Thankfully (or unfortunately) for me, I barely like variety in my food as is and eat very few things anyways.

Chikor · Dec 31, 2018

House_Of_Lightning said:
There's a ton of food I miss since moving back to the states from Shanghai.

jianbing being one of them.

There are now a couple of places in Seattle that do them, but they all don't put the cracker in so it's like a weak, wet handshake of a jianbig. People eat it with fucking forks.
It also cost like $7.
Man, can China hurry the fuck up and talk over the world already.

p.s.
The day that I discovered that you can bring anything to a jianging place and they will put it in, no question asked, was the greatest moment of personal growth in my life.

Kapryov · Dec 31, 2018

No longer displaced, but I really miss pull-n-peel twizzlers from my time in the US. I actually hate the normal waxy twizzlers, but loooved those pull-n-peel ones. All the different flavours too! Ugh.
Actually I miss US candy in general, you guys have no idea what good chocolate is but really have the other sweets down. Especially the weird seasonal flavours.

Also I really want a real Philly cheesesteak. There are attempts in a couple of Australian restaurants but they never get it right.

Dr. Monkey · Dec 31, 2018

Natiko said:
It could be worse. Some of us have the displeasure of having been born here. Thankfully (or unfortunately) for me, I barely like variety in my food as is and eat very few things anyways.

I still like you, Natiko.

Must be easier though if you're not into variety? I get bored and want different stuff all the time. I started delving into food delivery boxes to get ingredients difficult to find here but damn they are spendy.

Deleted member 45211 · Dec 31, 2018

PanickyFool said:
Here in Queens we have a verified french dude making verified authentic baguettes, croissants, and pains au chocolat. The amount of butter Jacque uses is likely illegal in the New York City nanny state.

Now answer me this! How come outside of the USA I can never find a good chocolate chip cookie, the greatest and completely unrivaled sweet treat on this planet!

Are you talking about La Boulangerie in Forest Hills? Although I think the owner there is Francois.

Chikor · Dec 31, 2018

I really miss good, simple hummus.

It's fucking hard to find it in the US and it's usually expensive and/or complicated.

Sulik2 · Dec 31, 2018

I'd kill for a good coney island in the South. A proper cheap breakfast or two coneys and extra crispy fries for lunch.

Xiaomi · Dec 31, 2018

Moving to Taiwan from Texas there is so much western food I miss having easy access to. Good Mexican and Tex-Mex food is the big one. Suffice it to say that an island on which most people have never spoken to someone from Mexico is not very good at recreating Mexican food. Street tacos are so simple and delicious and yet they don't exist over here. Most Mexican food is simply incorrect, the worst offenders being the kind that gets served at general "Western food" restaurants that also serve shit like spaghetti and chicken wings. Even my Mexican friend who owns a restaurant has a hard time, as ingredients like masa harina are hard to come by. This is what I want:

Also missed is Texas barbecue, particularly brisket, which should be smoked and seasoned simply with no or optional sauce if you're an out-of-towner. You can get decent sausage from German restaurants, and grilling is popular here, but to get smoked meat you'll probably need to go out to the mountains and find an aboriginal village, and even then it's not the same as what I dream about:

The last thing is something I can make myself but no one seems to understand around here: decent burgers. I'm talking all-beef burgers with good buns and appropriate meat-to-bun ratios. Here, almost every restaurant burger has at least 50% pork in it, which destroys the flavor of a good burg, making it bland, they don't use a hot enough pan, so it's soft and crustless, and the beef they use is too lean, which means it's dry. Also, they don't shape the patty properly, so it ends up more like a slightly flattened meatball on a bun, instead of a patty. This would be so easy to fix, but it turns out this is just how Taiwanese people make burgers, so there's nothing I can do.

Natiko · Dec 31, 2018

Dr. Monkey said:
I still like you, Natiko.

Must be easier though if you're not into variety? I get bored and want different stuff all the time. I started delving into food delivery boxes to get ingredients difficult to find here but damn they are spendy.

Yeah, it's a blessing and a curse. That being said it still doesn't fill one with enthusiasm when your state's specialty is pork tenderloin garbage.

PanickyFool · Dec 31, 2018

BatterseaPS said:
Are you talking about La Boulangerie in Forest Hills? Although I think the owner there is Francois.

Ah! Correct. Wrong generic French name

Kitsunelaine · Dec 31, 2018

Hypron said:
I moved to NZ from France a decade ago, and what I miss the most is just being able to buy good baguettes/bread from any bakery :(

I want bread like the above rather than the shitty sliced bread everyone seems to eat here...

How're the fish & chips over there?

Arebours · Dec 31, 2018

Swede living in Japan here. I am desperate for decent bread, swedish cheese, sour cream, and lingon berries.

Robot With Feelings · Dec 31, 2018

Chikor said:
I really miss good, simple hummus.

It's fucking hard to find it in the US and it's usually expensive and/or complicated.

Why don't you make your own?

BladeoftheImmortal · Dec 31, 2018

I'm in China and I miss good Mexican food.

Drek · Dec 31, 2018

Jisgsaw said:
So much this. I don't get why no other country manages to reproduce a basic baguette, let alone nicer stuff like croissants and pains au chocolat.

They even have stuff that looks the same (and is called the same), but the taste definitively isn't there.

Butter. What constitutes butter differs from region to region/country to country. French butter is noted for being especially high in fat content while also never being salted.

Really great butter = really great bread. That goes even more for croissants and other higher butter content dough.

Dennis8K · Dec 31, 2018

American can't fucking do kebab for the life of them I swear.

The only meat I think the US does better than anywhere else is smoked brisket.

Ramathevoice · Dec 31, 2018

Being 1/2 Indian and living in France, not being able to easily find proper paneer is extremely annoying.

The lamentation thread of missed foods for the displaced among us

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