A Girl...

When I was in South East Asia I craved peanut butter and by the end of week four willingly spent nearly $18US for a small jar and some crackers.

Learning my lesson, I brought peanut butter with me to India and instead craved a simple cup of orange pekoe with a spot of milk that didn’t taste like the goat, although that my have been my overactive imagination.

I lived overseas for 15 years so I got the chance to miss a lot. Some of the following would depend on where I lived: 24-hour grocery stores, American movies without subtitles or weird dubbing, normal keyboards, 24-hour pharmacies, great pho, nutritional information on all packaged foods, pre-peeled, pre-chopped veggies, the right to handle produce before buying it, customer is always right attitude, air conditioning everywhere, smoke-free restaurants/bars, etc., cheap gas, real ketchup, proper-tasting Diet Pepsi, free bread baskets in restaurants, prompt service in restaurants, being able to wear sneakers around town without looking weird, and NPR. I'm sure I could think of more, but you get the picture. I also miss tons of stuff I can ONLY get overseas.

I'm from the UK and have lived in the states and Japan. Both times I missed baked beans, custard, marmite and proper cadbury's chocolate but hardly eat them when I'm home. Okay that's a total lie. I eat cadbury's chocolate pretty much 24 hours a day.

Simon lived in the UK for a year, so he's always bringing back cans upon cans of baked beans too. That and PG Tips, which we can get here but at about ten times the price.

In my 5 years on a submarine, I once spent 78 days continuously submerged. In that time I missed; fresh air, sunshine, fresh veggies, sleep, adequate water for regular showers, privacy (freedom from the company of 120 other un-showered guys) and the company of women.
Once in port though, any port, I found the local versions of all the things I missed to be wonderfully satisfying.
I’d go completely native before I was 10 feet off the brow…and I never understood the guys looking for a McDonalds and an American beer.

I'm finding that the things I miss from home get weirder and more specific the longer I'm away (four and a half years and counting). At the start it was the usual - Barry's tea bags, Irish sausages, blah blah. Now I'm finding it's a particular type of bacon from a certain butcher in my home town, or Marks & Spencer ready prepared crispy duck, or Fiacla (delicious tasting Irish brand) toothpaste. Oddly enough, I don't ask for this stuff to be shipped over to me and instead try to enjoy as much of it as I can while I'm at home (if one can be said to enjoy toothpaste). I figure it's because I know I won't be here forever and these things are so much better in small and spaced out quantities. I am preparing to put on about ten pounds as soon as I go back, though...

Tim Horton's iced cappucino and timbits, real maple syrup, certain television shows, MAC cosmetics and the change of seasons if I was somewhere where they didn't have fall and winter.

Nutella, vegemite & the sounds/smells of dusk during aussie summers.

When I lived in France I missed decent Mexican food, even though there was a restaurant right down the street from me, it was well, not great. Ben and Jerry's until I discovered said Mexican restaurant sold it and made friends with someone who had access to a US commissary. But that's about it. I really missed eating on the go. That just wasn't done and I was so used to it.
But I truly loved eating all the foods that my area had to offer and now I desperately miss it and always ask people to sneak some French mayonaise to me as it's just different. I miss my daily ham sandwiches on half a baguette dripping with mayo. Sooooo good. Sigh.

I'd need access to Diet Coke. But you knew that :)

last summer, before going to cairo to visit a certain newgyptian (who clued me into your blog) i asked what she'd like from the states. she replied "mexican food", and so i brought with me and gave to her as a b-day present, some beans, hard tortilla shells and jalapenos. i think there may have been salsa as well. while there's something to be said for local flavor, globalization by way of being able to get good mexican (or whatever) in whatever country isn't a bad idea either.

Red Vines! There are no Red Vines in NYC, only nasty Twizzlers. I miss my Red Vines and have had many a west coaster send me some. I've also carried tamales from CA on board and brought them home with me because there just is not good Mexican food up here.

as someone who relives study abroad every summer with students, and being married to someone who is still studying abroad, he loved this place for the air conditioning, me on the other hand, as long as i have coffee and shoes, i'm good to go.

the amazing thing is, i am more than willing to go without or change brands. i adapt. maybe this makes me weird, or maybe it means that i take it for granted since i do it so much. whatever it means, i am open to finding the new stuff.

(oh, i do know that i can live without the post office in any country.)

Angella--They have Diet Coke abroad (in Europe at least), but the stuff I've had is always a little different that what we get here (assuming we get the same thing in the US and Canada). I wonder how you'd like the foreign stuff? If you can ever get your hands on some Mexican Diet Coke (Mexicoke), give it a shot! (I gushed about it in my archives once or twice.)

Molly--I can't believe they don't have Red Vines in New York! Twizzlers aren't even in the same food group as far as I'm concerned. That is, Twizzlers are NOT food. Blech.

OMG, hello, I grew up in Africa, the amount that I missed Eggo waffles growing up COULD NOT BE RIVALED.

That, and Skittles. And speaking of brothers, my older one (by 15 years) brought me, for Christmas in Tunis in 1990: A 5-pound bag of Skittles, a 5-pound bag of 3 Musketeers, and a 5-pound bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Oh but holy moly it was HEAVEN.

It's funny you should mention this, because I'm moving to Thailand in a few short months and I've been thinking about the things I will miss. So far, the list includes: ubiquitous wireless Internet access, CVS, my Blockbuster freedom pass (although I'm sure Netflix is way better, but I'm a creature of habit), eating with a knife and fork (over there they eat with a fork and spoon), handshakes, NPR, snow, *Mexican food*, 7 eleven slurpies, my Volkswagen beetle, my adorable nieces, bagels with cream cheese (that one's gonna be tough...), greasy pizza at 1 a.m., US Weekly...I'd better stop there or I'm going to start to doubt my decision to move!!

If Simon were your brother...yeah, well never mind.

I'd want a few Trader Joe's treats from the States. Or perhaps some Chipotle. Actually now that taco bell has that new veggie style crunch wrap supreme, that would be kind of awesome. Though when I lived in Spain, I was down the street from a Burger King, McDonald's, Subway and Dunkin Donuts, so I never felt I missed much. But yeah, a really good chipotle would make my day.

After two weeks in China, Emily and I were craving something familiar to eat, so we got a pizza one evening in our hostel cafe.

Imagine if your only familiarity with Kung Pao chicken was having somebody describe it to you, and maybe a recipe badly translated from Chinese to English. The product you might create is probably roughly analagous to the Chinese version of pizza.

After 18 months of nothing but local Guatemalan brand Gallo, which I gather makes Coors look bold and full-flavored by comparison, my brother and his wife were desperate for good American microbrews when they came home for Xmas.

I'd miss British TV, it's brilliant. But I wish we could get Big Red chewing gum over here. When I visited New York I chewed so much of it I burned the top layer of skin off my tongue.
Oh, and Mexican food really is virtually non-existent in the UK, as I noted here: http://bokker.vox.com/library/post/burrito-virgin.html

The first thing that came to mind when reading this post was This Charming Man's lovely gift of Mexican food (which he mentioned above.) Yes, that is something I definitely miss here, though I hear they will be opening a "gourmet" Mexican restaurant here soon. (I much prefer the non-gourmet, sloppy, heartburn-causing stuff though, I think.)

This Charming Man was also kind enough to bring me a bottle of my favorite perfume - a scent I have been using for about 8 years now, and without which I become oddly grumpy.

Other things brought to me from abroad - Clinique moisturizer and Aveeno's facial wash (though I'm over that now that I've discovered Neutrogena is sold here at a reasonable price).

Things I miss for which they do not have acceptable substitutes in Egypt - tofu, soy milk, cookie dough, and ground filter coffee (of course, one can find delicious blends of the turkish stuff all over the place).

oof. now i'm hungry.

We get peanut butter M&Ms and pop tarts posted to us from Chris' Dad so he doesn't feel so home sick for the States. We are trying to figure out a way that doesn't cost us our home (or a limb or something) to get a case of cherry coke sent over. Yep, we having nothing fun down under...

Ha. You know... After 3 years, I don't miss any of the things I thought I'd miss. Before I left the States, I had this long list in my head of what I'd miss... mostly candy. Now, the only thing I REALLY miss is Target. It's the first - and I mean FIRST - place I go when I visit home. And it's not like we don't have all that stuff here (medicines, shampoo, etc), it's just a comfort thing.

Oh, and toiletries. I refuse to give up Kiehl's. But that's not a "home" thing, they just don't ship further east than Germany.

Ice cream, I thought I'd die without mint chip ice cream. Ice cream in the Czech Republic, in general, is crap. But I don't even notice that anymore, either. And I miss good vegetarian foods (morning star farms breakfast patties, burger crumbles, etc). Vegetarian food is just starting to get better here...

What I DO miss is plastic sandwich bags. When my mom sends me care packages, she puts bottles, etc, in little Glad sandwich bags, in case they leak... I horde those. I wash them and tuck them away and never, ever use them unless I absolutely have to.

I'm going to echo Angella's need for diet coke. If I don't have one each day I feel weird. Is that bad? Probably.

Oy, I hadn't thought about missing Trader Joe's until you said it. Half the stuff in our house comes from TJ's! I'm pretty adaptable, tho, and easily become addicted to local items when traveling. :)

I IMed with Simon a little yesterday afternoon and he confirmed that the tacos did indeed make it through security and into the waiting bellies of his hosts.

The only two things I missed when I lived in Ireland for a year were Mountain Dew and Oreos. My mom sent me a care package and OMG, was I in heaven with my can of MD and my package of Oreos.

Now, I miss things from Ireland with an unholy passion. The four biggies are (I can get Barry's at my local; they import it): Airwaves gum, Tayto Salt and Vinegar, Moro bar and Club Rock Shandy. I talk about Moro and Rock Shandy so much on my blog, those are the two number one searches that bring people to my site.

My uncle did extensive business travel to Ireland last year and he brought me six bags of Tayto, four Moros and four Rock Shandys. I still have almost all of it left because I don't want to waste it.

Coke is different overseas and I actually prefer European Coke to US Coke. So I drink lots of it while I'm there.

When I was in Denmark for 8 weeks many years ago, I missed cookies. Every cookie-like pastry I could get my hands on turned out to be dry and brittle. I would have done just about anything for a little Nestle's Tollhouse love. A culture that can produce the most decadent hot cocoa I have ever experienced and pastry of the more donut variety that is to die for can't seem to get the cookie right.

I don't miss American food so much since I don't really eat it but I missed the hell out of cable tv and certain shows down to the familiar timeslots. I still remember when I was going to undergrad in Montreal and we used to have to watch certain shows on that one channel and they were all at the weirdest times.

Then there were smaller things-like even in Canadian grocery stores at the time you didn't have the little convenient plastic tags they would just scan (this was at Provigo) and they'd look at me all slack jawed when I asked.

And that's not even a huge difference-I mean, it was bloody Canada for cripes sake (before sulky Canadians jump on me-I'm Canadian...originally from Quebec).

Whenever we would go to India I'd miss an insane number of things-not media, oddly, because India was sensory overload so even though we go for 1 to 2 months at a time I don't really have the mental time to miss them...but things like being able to drink cold water straight from the tap rather than have it be boiled and drink it tepid because my bloody relatives can't imagine why we'd want to have it refrigerated AFTER having it boiled even though we're in a steaming hot country. Being able to wear a tank top. Being able to ride a train without feeling like I'm going to get pushed on to the tracks and die (not kidding, that's how my aunt died in Mumbai a few years ago).

Yeah...I've changed my citizenship twice now and I even have another passport but I'm despondently Merkin at heart :).

By the way, I wrote back to you...sorry for being out of touch so long after being like "write to me!" I was really really sick last week.

Generally I only look at boob photos but I make an exception to look at your tomatoes, and vote for you.

Monkey--Oh man, COLD WATER. I hear you on that one.

My favorite food is Mexican food. I love snacking on chips and salsa (or guacamole). When I was in Asia for a month, I missed potatoes. At the moment I'm missing food I ate in South Africa: kingclip, peri-peri chicken, and Cadbury P.S. bars (I think that's what they're called).

When I spent a month in Germany one summer, of all the most random things I missed were ice cubes! Drinks never came with ice. Towards the end of the month we went to a party at someone's house and they had an icemaker in their fridge door and we nearly bowed down and worshiped it.