Cravings

All I can say is that we Americans need better culinary representation in Australia.

Almost all the grocery stores here have international food aisles with everything from Israeli to Indian to British food items but none ever seem to have American foods. I love that I can go to the grocery store and get fresh passion fruit, pumpkin (which I think is actually squash) or lemongrass but I miss indulging in some Haagen-Dazs (I could really use some right now). They do have Ben & Jerry’s here but it costs $12 a pint! After paying as little as $3 a pint in the States, I can’t bring myself to spend that much (one day soon I might cave).

But it is hard when you have a craving for something and you realize you can't get a key ingredient because the products and produce here are quite different (I have already posted about my difficulty making Mexican foods). So, I was extremely excited when a friend told me that David Jones (which is a popular department store) has its very own "American" food aisle in its basement food store.

I paid a visit last week and was not too surprised with the selection. I mean, most of the other countries featured in the market had gourmet products, items extremely unique to the designated place. I was confronted with Betty Crocker cake mix, Aunt Jemima pancake mix, pretzels, Pop Tarts, French’s Mustard, Corn Syrup, and Folgers Coffee. Not to say I don’t like some of these products, I was very happy about the Tabasco sauce, but it was not everything that I had hoped for. At least I know where to get my pancake mix…