Why eat local when you can eat jet set!

Hi,

Before the holidays, I stopped by H-Mart late one evening to pick up some vegetables. There was an older man with a much younger Asian woman who seemed to be his mail-order bride. He was showing her all the wonderful vegetables she could get, "Just like at your home." Everything was going well until she got excited about some cherries. He began to explain these cherries were not locally grown, could not possibly taste good, had flown in from somewhere on the globe and lost flavor by every mile travelled. He insisted they shouldn't be bought. She insisted she wanted them. I didn't help his cause when I interjected, "Just about everything in this vegetable department came from somewhere. In November if you truly want to eat local, then just about everything here is off limits to you." She smiled, he didn't. At check-out, she paid for the cherries from her money. He purchased everything else from his money.

A short time later I met up with Crazy C for Korean BBQ. She came with a few great stories and a gift of Marks & Spencer Triple Chocolate Crunch. This cereal made in England had already made quite a trip before her Mother purchased it in Singapore, which she assured Crazy C is very popular presently. Her Mother sent this box of cereal to Crazy C via her brother.



London to Singapore: 6739 miles as the crow flies
Singapore to Connecticut: 9453 miles as the crow flies
Connecticut to Chicago: 774 miles as the crow flies
Chicago to Highland Park: 25 miles via the Edens Expressway
Total distance traveled to my table: 16,991 miles

This cereal with its, "Light & crunchy oat clusters with real dark & white chocolate curls & Belgian milk chocolate pieces," arrived in very good condition.



I shared this cereal with my friend Helen and her twin sons. The guys took the first bites remarking on the good quality granola with chocolate pieces mixed in. While we ate I told them not to like it too much. Between the weak dollar and expensive transportation, this may be our one and only chance at this cereal. They immediately started taking some notes because they have relatives in the UK they could tap into. I left the remaining cereal for them to finish. I later heard they were quite surprised by this action, they felt it was too good a cereal for me to leave it behind. I was generous and very aware of my weaknesses: I might want to eat the whole box, too.

A few weeks later I saw on Saveur's 100 list they had highlighted Marks & Spencer's roast chicken flavored potato chips. Just from my experience with the cereal, I knew that was likely to be an excellent product. I then dismissed the idea from my mind because I estimated it would be a long time before I had any to sample. Low and behold I was wrong or at least almost wrong.

A few weeks ago, I sleepily was checking my e-mails on a Sunday morning to find an invitation to eat stinky cheese. A friend had arrived from Paris (4147 miles to Chicago) the evening before with stinky cheese her sister wanted quickly dispatched. I came fully prepared for cheese, though my dreams came true when she opened a bag of roast chicken and thyme flavored potato chips. These were a French manufacturer, not Marks & Spencer, though it was the very same concept Saveur was honoring. They were in perfect condition from her careful hand carrying and absolutely divine. Each chip was crunchy, salty, roast chickeny without tasting like fake chicken, though clearly there was no chicken present in this chip. I sure hope Saveur's homage to this flavorful potato chip gives birth to many imitators in our market. They can be successful as long as they can keep the flavor tasting realistic and not fake, though likely it is as fake as fake can be.*

I love it when food travels the globe to make life so darn interesting.

*Poetic license, I didn't read the ingredient list to figure out how they conjured up their flavorings. I just know I liked the end result.

Regards,

When I was in Newfoundland in 2006, I was in a lovely little gourmet shop that had a fair number of UK treats, among them, Walker's Crisps. The flavors we picked up were lamb with Moroccan spice, cheddar with onion chutney, and roast chicken with lemon and thyme. The flavors were very much as advertised, and at the time I was consuming them, I had thoughts of Grant Achatz, Homero Cantu, and the whole "play with your mind" concept of food -- especially with the lamb-flavored chips.

So there is more than one company making these sorts of things, and if Newfoundland has them, it seems likely that other Canadian locations will have them. So you may not have to rely on friends from the other side of the pond.

Just went online to try to find the Walker's Crisps (the exotic ones are called Walker's Sensations), and apparently I missed Honey Roasted Ham & Apple Chutney Crisps and Thai Sweet Chilli Crisps.

Here's a site that will ship the Vintage Cheddar and Red Onion Chutney crisps:
http://www.englishteastore.com/wasevichredo.html

And here's a post that both reviews and gives shopping info on the Lamb with Moroccan Spices Crisps

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Walkers_Sensation ... s__6454265

And for less sensational (at least in name) Walker's Crisps, there's
http://www.britishsupermarketworldwide.com/index.html
which offers Steak and Onion, Marmite, and Prawn Cocktail, among others.

So you should be able to keep yourself in wacky crisps for some time -- without needing a passport!

Hi,

I received a note this morning the chips are made by French division of Lay's Potato Chips.

L'originalité du poulet rôti relevé d'une pointe de thym pour égayer vos repas en famille !
Ingrédients: pommes de terre, huile végétale (contient 63% d'huile de tournesol), arôme poulet rôti et thym [arôme, poudre de poulet, exhausteurs de goût (glutamate monosodique, inosinate disodique, guanylate disodique), maltodextrine (de froment)), thym, poudre de fromage, poudre d'œuf, poudre de céleri, herbes aromatiques], sel.

Google translation:

The originality of roast chicken raised with a hint of thyme to brighten your family meals!
Ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil (comprising 63% of sunflower oil), roast chicken and aroma thyme [aroma, powdered chicken, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate), maltodextrin (wheat) ), thyme, cheese powder, egg powder, celery powder, herbs], salt.

Whatever it is, it really hit the spot.

Regards,

Just a note that the entire Marks and Spencer line of cereals is available here:

http://www.britishsupermarketworldwide. ... ereal.html

At a bit more than five bucks a box, the cost isn't much more than that of a box of corn flakes.

"arôme poulet rôti et thym" = "roast chicken and thyme flavoring". There's probably no real roast chicken in the vicinity of these chips.

Among the flavors available from Target's "Archer Farms" line of chips is Buffalo Wing. I seem to recall seeing chicken stock in the ingredients, but I can't say for sure.

Not to totally thread-jack, but there's also Chicken-in-a-Biskit, which in the US is apparently made with some chicken.

Apparently in Australia they make vegemite flavored "In a Biskit" crackers; importing those would be in line with the original intent of this thread, so I'll stop there.

I can't wait to see Vital Information's take on this thread.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Before the holidays, I stopped by H-Mart late one evening to pick up some vegetables. There was an older man with a much younger Asian woman who seemed to be his mail-order bride. He was showing her all the wonderful vegetables she could get, "Just like at your home."

It's scary how many times I've witnessed an episode like this one at H-Mart. It's that and the now two separate occasions when I've been approached by older Caucasian men who've asked me how to pronounce the name of a vegetable in "my" language that keep me from shopping there as often as I would otherwise. (My now standard response to the "How do you say this in your language" question is--in the very deepest Chicago accent I can muster--"What language would that be?" For some reason, that response in both instances left the men speechless...)

Cathy2 wrote:Before the holidays, I stopped by H-Mart late one evening to pick up some vegetables. There was an older man with a much younger Asian woman who seemed to be his mail-order bride. He was showing her all the wonderful vegetables she could get, "Just like at your home." Everything was going well until she got excited about some cherries. He began to explain these cherries were not locally grown, could not possibly taste good, had flown in from somewhere on the globe and lost flavor by every mile travelled. He insisted they shouldn't be bought. She insisted she wanted them. I didn't help his cause when I interjected, "Just about everything in this vegetable department came from somewhere. In November if you truly want to eat local, then just about everything here is off limits to you." She smiled, he didn't. At check-out, she paid for the cherries from her money. He purchased everything else from his money.

Warning: The preceding message contains irony.

Cathy2 wrote:Each chip was crunchy, salty, roast chickeny without tasting like fake chicken, though clearly there was no chicken present in this chip. I sure hope Saveur's homage to this flavorful potato chip gives birth to many imitators in our market.

I had the pleasure of munching roast chicken with thyme chips and, as Cathy mentions, the flavor was well rounded and surprisingly natural.

Roast Chicken and Thyme


Ingredient list


I'm going to keep a sharp eye for mustard and pickle chips and, if ever presented with the opportunity, will gift Antonius a bag of Bolognaise chips.


Enjoy,
Gary

nr706 wrote:I can't wait to see Vital Information's take on this thread.

Ha ha. But if the jet fuel is already being used to passenger yourself, then there's no real harm done, right? (Except for the effects on the local producer/farmer, and if you're talking about one box of cereal, it's nominal).

The Marks and Sparks food shop should be a stop for anyone visiting London. I used to be worse about loading up my suitcase with food items from London that I couldn't get at home, but I've gotten over that habit for the most part (I still buy the Cadbury "Roses" candy, which are curiously not roses, or "Milk Tray," which is also curiously not a "milk tray," whatever that is anyway). I still get a chuckle at the flavors of their crisps (chips), like "Lamb and Mint" (it's a full meal on a chip!).

aschie30 wrote:The Marks and Sparks food shop should be a stop for anyone visiting London.

Up until three years ago, M&S had stores throughout Canada. The Canadian stores were approximately 40% food and 60% clothing, all imported from the British Isles.

They had some really great food items and British food specials.

Hi,

Is it a typo, a name change., different partners or what? Marks and Spencer or Marks and Sparks.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Is it a typo, a name change., different partners or what? Marks and Spencer or Marks and Sparks.

Regards,

Just a nickname.

Cilantro--

You have a deliciously (a word appropriate to this forum) twisted mind.

I salute you -- you have become a wordsmithing hero.