Tag: Foreign Grocery Friday

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Can't Make It to Paris? Have the Sweetest Snacks of France Shipped to Your Door

Where: France
June 18, 2013 at 9:44 AM | by | Comments (0)

Finally travelers who miss the flavors of Paris need not wait until their next European trip to fulfill a craving for French snacks. A new company, named Try the World, seeks to deliver those yummies right to your door, or to the mailbox of any Francophile you love enough to gift such a thing.

Try the World has only recently launched, offering "The Classic Paris Box," but has plans to expand to other destination-inspired boxes and even a subscription service a la Birchbox, but for foreign snacks! The concept is simple (and genius) enough:

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Koeksister Donuts of South Africa

June 7, 2013 at 11:42 AM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

In further celebration of National Doughnut Day, we bring to you the Koeksister"donut" from South Africa. Although not the classic doughnut shape, it retains the same basic ingredients, with a twist. The dough is usually braided and fried in hot oil followed by an immediate dunk in a special, sweet syrup.

The temperature difference allows the syrup to be sucked right into the heart of the dough, causing ooey-gooey goodness. It's a favorite treat in South Africa and usually served as a dessert at gatherings and parties.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: Three Exotic Potato Chips of Thailand

Where: Thailand
May 31, 2013 at 11:48 AM | by | Comment (1)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

We can now add to our (growing) list of exotic potato chips from around the world. The latest additions come from Thailand, and this time it wasn't just one flavor that caught our eye, but we found three quintessential Southeast Asian flavors for snacking: Lobster Hot Plate, Crab Curry, and Sweet Basil.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Foot-Long Ice Cream Cones of Seoul, South Korea

Where: Seoul, Korea
May 17, 2013 at 4:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

Walk through the super popular shopping district of Myeungdong in Seoul, South Korea and you're bound to see them. Strolling young couples take a moment to put away their smartphones and focus on the most impressive street food south of the Cheonggyecheon: the 32cm ice cream cone.

Okay so it's not technically a grocery, but you wouldn't want to buy this at a supermarket anyway. Available in several basic flavors as well as a mix, the ice cream is served up by a few skilled workers who pull the soft serve from sun down until past midnight, depending on the strength of the crowds. The allure of the foot-high cone is simple: it's cheap, it's quick, it's cooling after a warm early summer day, it's a treat, and it's an ideal subject for photos posted to social media.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Doņa Pepa Cookies of Peru

Where: Lima, Peru
May 10, 2013 at 12:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

Set foot in Lima, Peru's International Airport and even before heading through customs you'll spot Doņa Pepa on display in the duty-free shops. She's not a woman exactly, but a cartoon mascot lending her name to a sprinkled cookie beloved around the country. Doņa Pepa is to Peru as Twix is to the US; it's available at every corner store checkout counter and sold in large "fun size" to tourists at airports.

It even takes a cake form—"Turron de Doņa Pepa"—which is a sticky, anise-heavy baked good. For easy eating and toting along on walks, we definitely prefer the cookie.

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(Bonus) Foreign Grocery Friday: Champ's Cola of the Caribbean

April 26, 2013 at 2:53 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

When most people think of Caribbean specialties, it's rum, conch, stews, johnnycakes, jerk chicken, or even banana ketchup which comes to mind, but when we visited the U.S. Virgin Islands recently we noticed another culinary trend—an abundance of fruity soft drinks.

Whether you call it soda or pop, in the USVI it comes it every imaginable shape, color, and flavor. In St. Croix we sampled a fizzy Pineapple drink and a Coconut soda, but the most memorable by far was Champ's Cola.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Feel Good Ice Cream of Cambodia

April 26, 2013 at 10:30 AM | by | Comment (1)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

After missing the 'feel-good food' because of renovations, we were excited to find some 'feel-good ice cream' in the city of Phnom Penh. Not too many people can debate the fact that ice cream is the best way to beat the heat and, trust us, there's a lot of heat to be beat in this city.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Snack Breads of Thailand

Where: Thailand
April 19, 2013 at 2:50 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

We've said it before and we'll say it again, Asia has some of the intriguing snack foods—ones that make you tilt your head and say "huh?" From fish-flavored anything to seaweed sprinkled over anything else, the quick bites of this continent take the cake for most "out there."

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Foreign Grocery Friday: Boxes of 'Hagelslag' Sprinkles in Amsterdam

April 12, 2013 at 1:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

Hundreds and thousands. Nonpareils. Jimmies. Sprinkles.

Whatever you call them at home, these little, decorative bits of colored sugar go under the name of Hagelslag in the Netherlands. It's not a pretty word, but surprisingly Hagelslag makes for a delicious breakfast sprinkled over buttered toast. For the full how-to on this, check out our earlier explanation of the dish. For now, let's just focus on the sprinkles themselves and the fact that they are an awesome souvenir of a visit to Amsterdam.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: the Tymo Cookies of Fiji

Where: Fiji
March 29, 2013 at 1:04 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

By now, you may have realized we were in Fiji and had a blast. Bopping around an open air market got us thinking about the treasures which await in a local grocery store and, luckily, there was one pretty close by. After a finding a few shelves of Fiji Water (naturally), we stumbled upon the snack foods and eyeballed the Tymo cookies, particularly the coconut-flavored variety.

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Foreign Grocery Friday: Celebrating International Drinks of the Non-Green Variety

March 15, 2013 at 8:59 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

We're all aware this Sunday is St. Patrick's Day, and although everyone claims they don't partake in anything remotely looking like green beer, we sure see a lot of it in pint glasses in bars across the country. But this is a Foreign Grocery Friday post, and in that spirit, we'll focus on alcoholic beverages, but none of them in any shape or form have a green tinge.

Here are our latest finds, and surprisingly two of them caused a ruckus on Facebook. We were shocked a beverage could cause so much commotion:

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Foreign Grocery Friday: The Simit Bread of Turkey

February 22, 2013 at 12:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

Forget bagels. Let's talk about the Simit. These baked rounds of dough are covered in molasses and sesame seeds and, though they look more than a little bit like pretzels, have a flavor all their own. First-time visitors will be dazzled by the Simit vendor balancing act of navigating crowded streets with a tower of Simits atop their head, while seasoned Istanbul travelers are like, "whatever."

The utility of the Simit in Turkey is similar to that of Chile's Hallulla bread. It's the cheapest of the cheap, you-can-count-on-it carbohydrate beloved by all walks of life, for meals at all times of the day. We've had it cut into bite-size pieces for breakfast nibbles, slathered with Nutella as an after dinner street snack, and wholly plain during a fit of hungry stomach grumbles.

The Simit may not be a exclusive to Turkey, but the use of molasses sets Turkish Simits apart from those of the Balkans and Middle East.

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