great thread. it's much better to buy your food related things at a supermarket than at the airport or a souvenier shop.

kayd, there is a large supermarket at the First Hotel Vesterbro. sorry i forgot the name...it's been a while. it's less than a 10 minute walk from where you are staying. i would go to this one rather than the smaller market that is on your side of tivoli gardens (it's the one that is in a small shopping centre). the one next to the first is much bigger and better.

France: Wines and champagne! And of course any bath/cosmetic products you find at their grocery stores are wonderful!
London: Teas, biscuits
Amsterdam: Candies, biscuits...hell, even I love their Pringles!

judygregory
my posting above was in 2001. I think the Angelina mix was available from the catalog Norm Thompson, and/or the gourmet store and catalog Dean & Deluca, but I just googled it and can't find that it's currently available.

According to the Angelina website (www.angelina.fr), you can order the chocolate mixture in the USA from:

CHOCOLAT
2039 Bellevue Square
Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: 888/826-4354
(You can order by phone)

In Paris we buy small authentic metal signs (Chien Bizarre, Essuyez Vos Pieds, S.V.P), thread them with ribbon, and put them where they 'belong' in our house and offices. If you want to go to local department stores, we go to the housewares departments and buy serveware. One year we bought those multicolored slanted glasses from the Leonardo Design Studios and had them way ahead of the MOMA! I also buy French greeting cards--to give as gifts or to frame.

so many familiar treats. i take back for friends the:
- long life small boxes of liquid pasteurized whipping cream.
great to have in fridge when needed.unopened lasts for months.

- ground espresso coffee.

-jams/marmalades

-almond candies (all this is from spain)
(turron.. very tasty.. you have the hard version, and the soft version which is like cuttable almond peanut butter)
-they typical vinegar, olives, cheeses and pine nuts, sauteéd almonds,
"filipino" cookies ( my nephews love them).. they are "ring size/shape crunchy chocolate covered cookies.

- short grain rice
-mistela.. sweet dessert wine. very inexpensive, comes in pretty bottle.

boxed local chocolates "Valor" brand, or the german "merci" .. but i saw merci in cincinnati last summer, so now everything good is travelling everywhere.

We will not talk about the many six packs of Orangina that I enthusiastically lugged home after my first trip to Paris, only to discover the same soda for sale here in Publix (big grocery store chain).

This last trip, I bought (from La Grande Epicerie next to Bon Marche): 3 containers of Camargue Fleur de Sel, a bottle of six little Bouquet Garni Pour Viandes bundles tied up cheesecloth, 2 boxes of Poulain Grand Arome powdered chocolate 32% cacao, and a big tin of Chocolat Bonnat 80% cacao chips (these last two for making hot chocolate on those frosty Florida nights).

From Fauchon: cans of Bisque de Homard (lobster soup) and tins of Canard A L'Orange (duck with orange sauce). Wanted the confit du canard (preserved duck), but it only came in really big bottles. It was good I didn't buy them because...see below.

Also had a jar of clementine jelly (ate fresh clementines nearly every day, the last of them on the plane ride home). But although the pint size jelly jar was carefully wrapped, it somehow shattered, creating a nasty surprise for whichever suitcase inspector came across it, then dripped blood and curses on my favorite Lauren hoodie.

Correction: "...bundles tied up IN cheesecloth".

We love shopping in grocery stores when we travel too! Actually our dog got us into it...
We felt guilty buying souvenirs for others when our our dog was stuck home. So everywhere we go we buy a local jar of peanut butter for him. He loves it! And we smile every time we pull it out for him. An added bonus - we always know which jar is ours and which is his!

What makes this Tartufo olive oil different than others? I am a "Colivita" olive oil girl myself but would be interested in trying it when I am there next week.Thanks-

In London at Marks&Spencer I always try to buy some of the things I will first need at home (germany) like the soft bread, some jam, pretzels, shortbread; that brings me through the hours until I can get to a shop at home.

Boots is not really a supermarket, it is more a chain for cosmetic, healthcare and it is all over Great Britain. Their own brand stuff is great and I have never heard that somebody does not like boots! I always bring a small set for nailcare or footcare or one of the other fabulous travel sets and bath indredients. They smell wonderful, they look great, the price is ok and the quality is also great

: In London and Paris, lovely scented and wrapped very prettily- soaps.
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For those in the USA, find so many of those soaps, shower gels and other european things in Marshalls (no marshall fields the trendy store) but the discount store. Lots of french and english products...no need to carry them and sure better prices in the USA

KT and h2babe--
ok, I love the chocolate jimmies and chocolate spread on toast in Amsterdam; and I love paprika pringles that you can only get in Europe!!!!! (We hoarde cans and bring them back home-- how ridiculous is that?!?!?!?!?!?!)

But no one has mentioned Cadbury Chomp bars-- they sell for like 10 cents a piece, and we brought home tons as stocking stuffers from Scotland!!!!

I love foreign grocery stores....

Croque Madame, you forgot to buy the packets of soup mix from Bon Marche! Excellent, and in no way to be confused with American dry soup mix. (And doesn't take up any space at all in the luggage, whew!)

I love foreign grocery stores, too, and will bring back just about everything but the kitchen sink in terms of food. Mostly though, I like kitchen pantry staples like spices, dried packet mixes (English and French soups as mentioned above), salt, mustards, coffee, tea, oh the list could go on and on... I think it's the packaging as wellas the taste that lure me in.

No, no, dln! I DID buy the packets of dry soup mix! Just forgot to include them in the posted inventory. Am curious to try them, as you said at the store that they may be the same brand that sells here, but with a lower sodium content.

Wasn't that about the time Rob went MIA, recklessly abandoning the two of us to the tantalizing temptations of the extravaganza that is La Grande Epicerie?

There we were, rushing to exit the store (as he had already waited with the patience of a saint outside the last store), only to find the man had disappeared into thin air.

As we stood there on the sidewalk, perplexedly looking up and down the street for him, Rob suddenly materialized at our side.

Smiling.

Hmmmm...just when you think you know a man...

In one of those huge truck stops in Germany we found coconut flavoured liqueur in funny little smiling sperm shaped containers. Just don't bring them home to Granny.

England - Little jelly cubes that you add to boiling water and pour in a bowl.

Scotland - Edinburgh Rock candy

Salzburg - little packages of salt for less than a euro each. Also Mozart Balls for a reasonable price.