V-Flyer

I've just consumed my last Payday, spent the week nibbling Reece's Pieces that someone brought back from FLA and sent #1 son the Baby Ruths he asked us to buy him in NYC. This set me thinking as to what V-Flyers bring back from foreign shores in terms of sweets and chocolates. In addition to the above, we always seek out Almond M&Ms.

Paul

ps I know you can buy many of these in the UK now, but it's at a price, they never taste the same and frankly it's cheating

I love York's Peppermint Patties.

This blog has some reviews of snacks we don't have in the UK!

http://foreignsnacks.co.uk

Duds mmmmmmmmmmmm

David

Peanut Butter or Pretzel M&Ms & Reeces Peanut Butter Cups yummmmmm

S

Hershey's Symphony Milk Chocolate Almond and toffee bar in with my favorite.
However I have two ultimate sweet treats that I adore more and can only get in the US, which are a Jonny Rockets Strawberry Milkshake and the Mango Key Lime cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, I just need to figure out how to get them back to the UK.

Neil wrote:and the Mango Key Lime cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, I just need to figure out how to get them back to the UK.

My Father-in-law is now too old to fly but used to love trips to The Cheesecake Factory...so last year we bought him a slice is Linda's Fudge Cake, froze it the night before our flight and took it home for him...it survived nd he loved it y) (no fresh cream etc!)

My personal US favs are Limited edition Oreos, Lays Wavy Ranch and Publix donuts ^)

Am I the only one here that thinks that 'American chocolate' is a total oxymoron

Personally I tend to load up on sweets from the CH and those Divine chocolate bars onboard when I'm heading over to the states, because apart from a handful of artisan/foreign producers, there's not much I'd touch with a bargepole!

Oh, and don't get me started on the obsession with peanut butter...

La Maison du Chocolat in the Rockefeller Center isn't bad though...

ratechaser wrote:Am I the only one here that thinks that 'American chocolate' is a total oxymoron

Yep most US chocolate is totally, totally, totally awful

Have to say I agree . US chocolate just does not taste like chocolate . However, one Easter I took out some chocolate from England and when we got to eat it it didn't taste right either ! Must be the effect of the climate on my taste buds !

Yep, have to agree American chocolate is just horrible.

I believe it's because US chocolate has a lower cocoa content than ours does (in the UK the cocoa content must be 20% or more to be called 'chocolate'; anything under that and it has to be labeled as 'chocolate flavour', where as in the US the minimum level of cocoa required is only 10%)

For example, a UK Cadbury Dairy Milk bar contains ~23% cocoa solids, whereas a US Hershey bar contains about 11%.

ratechaser wrote:
Personally I tend to load up on sweets from the CH and those Divine chocolate bars onboard when I'm heading over to the states, because apart from a handful of artisan/foreign producers, there's not much I'd touch with a bargepole!

Oh, and don't get me started on the obsession with peanut butter...

La Maison du Chocolat in the Rockefeller Center isn't bad though...

The Divine bars certainly helped when we couldn't find Almond M&Ms.

Peanut butter is an oddity for me. Can't abide it on toast, but whack the stuff into ice cream and I can't get enough.

Personally, never trust any company with 'Chocolat' in their name. Gives the impression of artisans, wooden spoons and white hats. The reality can be very different; Hotel Chocolat's manufacturing is based behind Kwikfit on a grungy (not in a hip way) industrial estate in Huntingdon.

pjh wrote:

ratechaser wrote:
Personally I tend to load up on sweets from the CH and those Divine chocolate bars onboard when I'm heading over to the states, because apart from a handful of artisan/foreign producers, there's not much I'd touch with a bargepole!

Oh, and don't get me started on the obsession with peanut butter...

La Maison du Chocolat in the Rockefeller Center isn't bad though...

The Divine bars certainly helped when we couldn't find Almond M&Ms.

Peanut butter is an oddity for me. Can't abide it on toast, but whack the stuff into ice cream and I can't get enough.

Personally, never trust any company with 'Chocolat' in their name. Gives the impression of artisans, wooden spoons and white hats. The reality can be very different; Hotel Chocolat's manufacturing is based behind Kwikfit on a grungy (not in a hip way) industrial estate in Huntingdon.

Even so, I quite like their salted caramels, however ubiquitous that particular flavour has become recently.

I have no real issue with where a product is made provided it's good quality. Marketing spin generally has to be taken with a pinch or 2 of salt anyway. I remember once as a student going for an interview with a shirtmaker that operated out of far from fashionable warehouse premises in Hammersmith. Didn't get the job, but they are still the only shirts that I feel comfortable in!

Cafe Nero has a roasting factory in between the Waterloo and Victoria main railway lines just north of Clapham Junction - hardly the glamour of coffee growing countries.

Gordon Ramsay used to have what was essentially a cook-chill facility on Wandsworth Road


And I guess VS airline meals are made on industrial estates not that far from LHR and LGW.

Idaho Spud and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

ratechaser wrote:I have no real issue with where a product is made provided it's good quality. Marketing spin generally has to be taken with a pinch or 2 of salt anyway.

Absolutely. I only picked on them because I remember being able to shock a number of metropolitan friends who were convinced the chocolate was hand crafted by a secret cadre of pure bred Aztecs.

Most foodstuffs have to be prepared in splendid isolation from their immediate environment anyhow, so it's the who, how and what rather than the where. Even my beloved Adnams beer is produced in a stainless steel, computer controlled, environment. This stands in stark contrast to a trip to a rum distillery in Antigua where we were allowed to wander up to the open and deep fermentation vats with the only safety feature being a request that we take care not to fall in.

Reese's Peanut butter cups and peanut butter M&M's for me too. I bring loads home with me

Katie

From the USA, it's Cracker Jacks, and then UK, it's Lily O'Brienk's Uglies and GU Rocky Road and Snapjacks for me and the EU - Giotto

Ghirardelli chocolate.......and thats all I have to say about that.

Tinuks wrote:UK, it's Lily O'Brienk's Uglies

Lily O'Brien's chocolates are Irish and not from the UK (although they are available there) v(

honey lamb wrote:

Tinuks wrote:UK, it's Lily O'Brienk's Uglies

Lily O'Brien's chocolates are Irish and not from the UK (although they are available there) v(

And apparently coming to a Virgin Atlantic flight soon!
(If not already!)

http://www.ugliechocs.com/virgin/index.html

I don't like US chocolate that much.

You can't beat a Double Decker. And a Twix. And a KitKat. And a Marathon. And a Lion Bar. And a Starbar. And a Drifter.

honey lamb wrote:

Tinuks wrote:UK, it's Lily O'Brienk's Uglies

Lily O'Brien's chocolates are Irish and not from the UK (although they are available there) v(

Sorry HL. I actually meant Ireland. I got a box of them when I was in Dublin last year. Blame the slip on the Long Island Iced Teas I'd been drinking.

Mine has to be peanut butter M&M's. Drink would have to be Dr Pepper Cherry ii)

We have an American Candy Store 200 yards away from where I live but I can't bring myself to go in there! Seems wrong!

Sealink wrote:And a Marathon.

What is this "Marathon" of which you speak. Surely you mean a "Snickers".... ii)

Almond m&m's and Cheesecake Factory and it has to be the Dutch apple caramel one for me, I always bring a slice home with me (it helps having access to the inflight fridge ) however it never makes the end of the flight!