200 bags of Tayto, 1,000 Lyons green label

BailMeOut

bobbysands81 wrote: »

They don’t sound Irish.

Hula Hoops no but YR sauce is very Irish.

Rubberchikken

i lived abroad for years particularly germany and never missed 'irish' food.
the whole point of abroad, to me, is eating fireign food.

seasidedub

Rubberchikken wrote: »

i lived abroad for years particularly germany and never missed 'irish' food.
the whole point of abroad, to me, is eating fireign food.

Yeah me too. And seriously- Tayto and crappy blended tea? Tayto are not even good crisps.

The fun living abroad is trying new cuisine.

Cunning Stunt

Barrys have an online store with international shipping. I normally order 3 of the large 160 bag boxes of gold label for delivery here to Denmark and shipping is about a tenner I think. So no need to wait for visitors from Ireland (- which is just as well coz I rarely get any )

0lddog

seasidedub wrote: »

Yeah me too. And seriously- Tayto and crappy blended tea? Tayto are not even good crisps.

The fun living abroad is trying new cuisine.

If I picked up OP correctly, the goodie stash is for someone living in The States.

Do Grits and Black-eyed Peas count as cuisine ?

seasidedub

0lddog wrote: »

If I picked up OP correctly, the goodie stash is for someone living in The States.

Do Grits and Black-eyed Peas count as cuisine ?

There is amazing food in the States. Fantastic fresh ingredients, lots of artisan producers etc. You don't need to eat fast/junk food there. People have the wrong idea about food in the US.

SweetSand

seasidedub wrote: »

There is amazing food in the States. Fantastic fresh ingredients, lots of artisan producers etc. You don't need to eat fast/junk food there. People have the wrong idea about food in the US.

Agh, Seasidedub, you made me laugh please let me know where you live as I would love to come to visit and experience all the fresh produce and artisan food near you. Please don’t take me wrong, I am all up for experiencing new and embracing foods from anywhere I go. I love my food. I love the quality of my food and that’s where US is lacking big time. I am the person buying Pat the Baker at ridiculous price here as I can’t find bread my kids would eat. It’s too sweet. I make my own soda bread which is great. I love to cook and I am mostly good. It is easy to be good when you cook with quality foods. In Ireland you can go to Aldi/Lidl and get a descent steak/lamb/seafood (local butcher even better). Not here. And don’t let me start with restaurants: sooooo overpriced for what they offer and mostly deep fried food/grilled to the state of no recognition of what type of meat you are eating. And we do live 300 meters from farm shop which is great but soooo expensive. I do get bits there, what ever is in season mostly. All in all I totally miss the quality of food in Ireland, you can’t beat it!

seasidedub

SweetSand wrote: »

Agh, Seasidedub, you made me laugh please let me know where you live as I would love to come to visit and experience all the fresh produce and artisan food near you. Please don’t take me wrong, I am all up for experiencing new and embracing foods from anywhere I go. I love my food. I love the quality of my food and that’s where US is lacking big time. I am the person buying Pat the Baker at ridiculous price here as I can’t find bread my kids would eat. It’s too sweet. I make my own soda bread which is great. I love to cook and I am mostly good. It is easy to be good when you cook with quality foods. In Ireland you can go to Aldi/Lidl and get a descent steak/lamb/seafood (local butcher even better). Not here. And don’t let me start with restaurants: sooooo overpriced for what they offer and mostly deep fried food/grilled to the state of no recognition of what type of meat you are eating. And we do live 300 meters from farm shop which is great but soooo expensive. I do get bits there, what ever is in season mostly. All in all I totally miss the quality of food in Ireland, you can’t beat it!

Fair enough. I can only give my own experience- lived in Vermont. Amazing breads, cheeses all locally produced. Good fruit and veg in season and loads of markets selling it, great cherries in season for example. Lovely butter and dairy. Craft beers, grass fed beef.

Lived in northern California too and same there, including great wine.

I know feeding a family is tricky anywhere. Bear in mind a huge number of Irish people fed the kids crappy sausages and fried rubbish - we're on board to be the fattest nation in Europe in a few years based on stats, so in terms of being crap eaters we're not far behind the Yanks. But great food is available in both places.

the_syco

Cunning Stunt wrote: »

Barrys have an online store with international shipping. I normally order 3 of the large 160 bag boxes of gold label for delivery here to Denmark and shipping is about a tenner I think. So no need to wait for visitors from Ireland (- which is just as well coz I rarely get any )

Do you have a link? I ask as I know many who miss decent tea in Canada; any store in Canada will charge you at least twice the price, for small quantities.

Fathom

the_syco wrote: »

Nope. Rashers are like peameal bacon, but often thinner. Found Canadian bacon to be what the Irish would call "streaky bacon".

Good comparison.

Rubberchikken

Rubberchikken wrote: »

i lived abroad for years particularly germany and never missed 'irish' food.
the whole point of abroad, to me, is eating fireign food.

Yeah, you said that already. I don’t think many agree with you. WTF would you live abroad just to eat the food?

If that’s true, the food in your home must be pure muck.

tuxy

JayZeus wrote: »

Yeah, you said that already. I don’t think many agree with you. WTF would you live abroad just to eat the food?

If that’s true, the food in your home must be pure muck.

No matter where you live local fresh food is the best once you figure out the best places to buy it.

tuxy

tuxy wrote: »

No matter where you live local fresh food is the best once you figure out the best places to buy it.

Teabags, biscuits, crisps, chocolate. None of these are fresh food items. Local alternatives may well be available, but Liptons don’t make a teabag that will do in place of Barrys/Lyons and Tayto or King have no equal if you like your cheese and onion the way you did when your Ma brought a 6 pack home with the shopping.

Irish beef beats the locally available ‘fresh’ beef options in many European countries (I’ve lived in a few, for years at a time and spent at least a few weeks in most of the others with work) as an ingredient alone, for just one example. If I want pork sausages for a weekend breakfast, I’ve yet to find anything with the exception of a few British options that will substitute for what I could buy from a butcher in Ireland. Corned beef? Good luck finding anything better overseas.

Fresh breads are always ‘better’ locally, but if I want some brown soda or a wholemeal bread to butter and enjoy with a mug of strong tea, nothing beats a slice or two of McCambridges, bar home made if I could have got the ingredients at times.

Local fresh foods are indeed great in most places but the simple fact of the matter is that if you enjoy eating typically Irish food, there are some things you just need to get from home. And for many who live abroad, those flavours, scents and even just the familiar packaging or labelling is enough to help them feel like they’re not so far away from where they’ll always consider home. Even when we think we’re ‘beyond that stuff’, we’re really not, deep down.

So, if you know Irish people living abroad and you plan to visit, bring them something to remind them of ‘home’. You don’t have to eat it yourself while you’re there, but when you’ve gone, there’s a good chance that in a quiet moment when they’re feeling a little of a very real unspoken sadness (it’s there, just a little bit) that thing you brought despite them saying not to bother will be the thing that connects them to ‘the home place’ and makes it all okay again.

It’s true, really. These little things matter very much. And it’s a nice thing to do for a pal or family anyway, so why wouldn’t you bring a little something they can’t get easily wherever they are now!