Is it just the British who yearn for their favorite foods and familiar products or do other nationalities suffer from similar cravings? Before you leap from your chair in denial I realize this may be a generalization and food-from-home cravings do not apply to everyone. However, there are now so many shops specializing in British foods there must be a market in order for them all to survive.
A quick search of the Internet, plus local knowledge, revealed there are shops in countries such as Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal and even France. In the UK it is not uncommon to see Indian and Chinese specialty food shops and I am sure if I looked further I would find many more.
So why do we feel the need to purchase foods imported from our homeland? Do food cravings have the potential to make us feel homesick? Are we unable to find equivalent products or is it the product description in a “foreign” language that drives us to these shops?
In Lyon, France, I was amazed to discover an English food shop called “Little Britain”. The proprietor was a French guy; this had to be a first! However, I soon discovered he had lived in Scotland for many years and not only acquired a taste for British food, but also a British sense of humor. This manifested itself by naming his shop after the British TV Comedy show “Little Britain” (a parody of life in Britain). The shop stocked a great range of British foods, including haggis, Wagon Wheel biscuits, English mustard, Sweet Piccalilli, cranberry jelly, pork pies, bacon and English bread. English bread? Well, bacon “butties” would hardly be the same made with a baguette, would they? Little Britain had certainly arrived in France and as a country revered for its gastronomic delights I wondered if the locals ever ventured into his...
Read more: www.expatfocus.com/piglet-in-portugal-230311
1 comment:
It's not just English People who love this little shop. I'm French, but I love English and American products and I'm not the only one, far from it !
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