Foods I can't get in the mid-west?
 

..."like jellied eels, tripe, haggis, black pudding, kebabs, pickled eggs, pickled onions, deep fried Mars Bars, Marmite, Bovril, warm beer not to mention Spotted Dick and Blancmange - but I long for the days when Goddard's had a cafe in Greenwich which did real steak & kidney pudding with mash, processed peas and a mug of builders tea..."

Stole this from another post - Where can I get some of that mentioned above? I want to eat foods I haven't seen, heard of or eaten before. What else can I add to the list?

Of your list - tripe, kebabs, marmite, warm beer are all available. Tripe in any asian market, kebabs are plentiful, some supermarkets and most "gourmet shops" have marmite, as for warm beer, just ask. You can most likely find pickled onions and eggs as well. You will probably have to fry your Mars Bars yourself.

I like your style.
Eton Mess - on every restaurant menu right now
Gooseberry fool
Egg custard tarts - Marks and Sparks are the best, boxes of 4
White pudding, not just black
Suet pudding - sweet or savoury and not just for winter
Dumplings
Jam roly poly
Tunnocks wafers (any supermarket) www.tunnock.co.uk/caramelwafer.html
Piccallili (any supermarket, the more lurid yellow in colour the better)
Wensleydale cheese
Gammon with parsley sauce
Jersey Royals with melted butter over them

"not to mention Spotted Dick and Blancmange..."

I think I had that in college.

((H))

"warm beer". Any pub

It's not quite a myth because it is considerably warmer than the stuff you North Americans tend to drink ice cold to disguise the fact it has no flavour....... Whoops, prejudices showing again, I am sorry.

Ales (Generally brewed with top fermenting yeast) are normally served at Cellar temperature, typically 10-12 degrees centigrade
whereas lagers are served chilled. On a warm summers day I find lager - especially Czech or German lagers to be wonderful, but at all other times I think Ales are far superior.

Do no miss the British Breakfast in all its glory, including baked beans, grilled tomatoes, what in the US would probably be called Canadian bacon, sausages, eggs, toast, with hot tea and milk.

I've always wanted to try hard sauce.

Deep fried Mars bars can be found in any Midwestern state fair. And gammon (bone-in ham steak) you've probably had, too. And you'll find canned peas, and tripe, in most grocery stores, depending on where exactly you live.

If you want to try REAL marmite, you'll have to go to either Australia or New Zealand! The British stuff is just not the same!

Don't make fun of our beer. We have more variety made in Washington state than the entire UK. Amazing beers. Most micros now carry about a dozen.

"We have more variety made in Washington state than the entire UK." - Unlikely

"If you want to try REAL marmite, you'll have to go to either Australia or New Zealand! " - given that Marmite was invented in the UK how can some foreign muck be the REAL Marmite - for4 God's sake it's got SUGAR in it. What sort of wimp puts sugar in Marmite

tttman is correct. Washington State alone produces over 150 Micro brews. Pretty impressive... It seems like a new Micro Brewery is popping up everyday in the Pacific NW. I just wish MN would follow trend :-(

" Washington State alone produces over 150 Micro brews. Pretty impressive... It seems like a new Micro Brewery is popping up everyday in the Pacific "

There are that many in the city of Seattle. There is close to 200 in the state. Figure a very conservative 5 brews per brewery and that's almost 800 or so beers in one state. I live in a very small town in the Mountains of Montana and we have 9 breweries in the area. Most of them have 7 or 8 taps. There are 1500 NABA breweries listed. Not all breweries are on this list. Gotta be over 8,000 different brews in America.

Try Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert heaven.

Anyone who thinks American beers have no flavor is just flat out ignorant about American beers.

To OP: If you can find a steak and ale pie, that's a keeper (had one for lunch at Hampton Ct Palace).

Fortunately most of the OP's list is not available in Michigan. But the local farmer's market had the best asparagus you'll ever eat. The season is just passing. We have one micro brewery in town with an outstanding ale. I keep a half gallon in the fridge during the summer. I agree that ice cold beer just hides the fact that American beer has no taste, like pinot grigio.

You can find tripe in inner city Detroit markets. Yuk. Do you know what that stuff is? Yuk again.

"Don't make fun of our beer. We have more variety made in Washington state than the entire UK. " Citation needed

This is one of those wierd Fodor's threads that get out of hand. I do realise that the rise of microbreweries has lead to some excellent beers. If a poster opens with "Warm beer" then a least some sort of response is needed.

"Warm" is relative. Beer from the cellar isn't actually warm to the touch or taste, given the difference between cellar temperature and body heat, and on a hot day it's distinctly cool: but it doesn't brainfreeze. And I'm assuming all those American microbrews aren't kept particularly cold?

I understand that there's a place alongside the I5 (for British readers, that's the main highway up the west coast of the USA) with the sign "The largest microbrewery in the north west".

Can anyone confirm?

"Anyone who thinks American beers have no flavor is just flat out ignorant about American beers."

By the same logic, anyone who thinks British beer is warm is ignorant of British beer.
BTW off the top of my head I can't think of any "ales" that are still brewed, as the term ale refers to a "sweet" beer that does not contain hops, the practice of adding hops was brought over from the continent in the 1600's, hence the term bitter to distinguish between the two, source - Camra.

I can get all of the things you listed at my regular Publix supermarket in Florida. Also Sticky toffee puddings .We also have british food shop, but their prices are considerably higher. You can find English bacon, which is NOT Canadian bacon, at Whole foods.

You can make your own spotted dick:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sp...ndcustar_87835

And blancmange: http://www.food.com/recipe/blancmange-139065

Tripe usually refers to honeycomb tripe, which is delicious with onions and a white sauce. Plenty of recipes online.

Marmite is better than Vegemite imho, and is the original.

Bovril is used to flavour gravy or make a beefy drink, a bit like beef tea. It comes in jars similar to Marmite jars. Or it did when I was a youth anyway.

You can pickle your own onions and eggs easily enough. Likewise make your own steak and kidney (or Kate and Sidney) pudding.

So get in that kitchen and give them a go!

Eels are very very expensive now so jellied eels may not be easy to find, and certainly aren't a cheap option any more.

"warm" beer should in fact be cellar cool. Think of the salad bit of your fridge

If you really want to treat yourself, have dinner at 'Dinner' by Heston Blumenthal in the Mandarin Orientaly, Knightsbridge. The concept of the restaurant is indigenous British food culled from cookbooks going back almost 500 years. I had dinner there a few months back and had one of the most incredible meals of my life - risotto with calves tail, 'meat fruit, which is pate in the shape of a mandarin orange (just trust me), spiced pigeon and spit roasted pineapple. My dinner companions ordered broadly across the menu and all of it was incredible.

It's certainly not inexpensive, however, the service is warm and impeccable. Book WAY in advance and enjoy!

"hence the term bitter to distinguish between the two, source" - Camra.

So the Campaign for Real Ales doesn't think they brew ale anymore?? (I'm not disputing, maybe the term has changed - Indian Pale Ale is exceptionally hoppy)

"So the Campaign for Real Ales doesn't think they brew ale anymore?? (I'm not disputing, maybe the term has changed - Indian Pale Ale is exceptionally hoppy)"

Like so many words I'm sure the meaning has changed since the 1600's, I only know this because I was corrected (very sternly) by a Gales Brewery guide and some Camra members on a brewery tour some years ago.

What are some of the best prepared, ready to eat foods you can get at Tesco?

Marmite – is a product that is made in the United Kingdom.

Vegemite is a similar product made in Australia. Not common in the UK.

Bovril is a bit like Marmite, but more liquid. You put it in hot water. For a sort of beef tea.

You can sure get tripe in south Texas. Important ingredient in menudo (not the boy band). Urk. I don't eat innards.

The midwest doesn't have tripe? Tripe is grazing all around you, everywhere you look in the midwest, if you're committed. Or want to be.

"What are some of the best prepared, ready to eat foods you can get at Tesco?"

Do you mean ready meals to take away and heat up or sandwiches/salads etc?

To add to the general recommendations, make sure to try some desserts, we have some of the best - sticky toffee pudding, (various) fruit crumbles etc etc. Yum yum.

My OH loves an English cream tea - scones (English ones, I think you have your own US version that isn't the same), raspberry jam and CLOTTED cream (which you might have to find mail order), all with a nice cup of tea with milk (not cream, as some people think from the name cream tea).