Top 10 Foods That Americans Miss While Abroad

[Jingthing]

Well, here's the list:

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/best-usa-travel/10-foods-and-beverages-americans-miss-most-while-abroad-164890

Can you relate or not?

Of the ten, living in Pattaya, I can relate to and really do miss:

Mexican food (none of it is really good enough here, so yes, miss the good stuff)

Bagels (no decent bagels in town, period)

Pizza (I find the local offerings adequate enough, unlike Mexican)

The other seven, I either don't miss or didn't eat back there anyway.

[Ulysses G.]

Really good pizza and Mexican food.

In Chiang Mai, Miguels has decent burritos and the Duke's has decent pizza, but in the US, neither would be remarkable. Butter is Better has bagels that are pretty much as good as the ones in the Bay Area, but I have no real craving for they are nice to have around.

[NewlyMintedThai]

The Bangkok Bagel Bakery will send you bagels by EMS from Bangkok. They are pretty darned good.

[smokie36]

I love that ice is on the list. Ketchup too.

Ahhh you Americans are funny!

[Jingthing]

The Bangkok Bagel Bakery will send you bagels by EMS from Bangkok. They are pretty darned good.

I love that ice is on the list. Ketchup too.

Ahhh you Americans are funny!

I think that's funny too.

Considering it a bit, American ketchup tastes tons better than Thai ketchup though. You can buy it here but pricey. Happily for me I avoid ketchup as it's mostly HFCS anyway.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

The Bangkok Bagel Bakery will send you bagels by EMS from Bangkok. They are pretty darned good.

That's nice. I'm not that desperate but if they stocked them in a local shop I would definitely go for them.

[JimmyTheMook]

Real old school style smoked BBQ

[sbk]

Do beverages count?

Ketchup doesn't count its not food.

I missed chili fries until I had the Carne Asada fries at la Monita. wow!!!

Ok they have root beer, so yes beverages count. For me its Dr Pepper.

English muffins with really good raspberry jam

Fresh blackberries

peaches

home made chocolate chip cookies

home made peanut butter cookies

real chocolate fudge

[uptheos]

"Or Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops or Flutie Flakes"

Are they talking about American children or all American's?

I'm not American but I love Blueberry Pie, Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie.......come to think of it I like all American pies.

Edited January 24, 2013 by uptheos

[Jingthing]

I've never had chili cheese fries in my life. Please don't report me to Homeland Security!

[qdinthailand]

A good chili dog. A good flavorful dog, proper green or red chili, minced onions and mustard between a good bun. I'm so particular, I can't find good chili dogs in many places of the U.S. - the Puget Sound region being one of them, my last home for 7 years.

[NewlyMintedThai]

home made chocolate chip cookies

home made peanut butter cookies

Home-made means you make them at home. The ingredients are available everywhere, so get baking!

[wayned]

home made chocolate chip cookies

home made peanut butter cookies

Home-made means you make them at home. The ingredients are available everywhere, so get baking!

Easy to make all of the ingregdients are available. I make them all of the time from scratch. If you do, save some of the mix and roll into little balls and freeze it. Then melt some dark chocolate, I use Dove bars, and dip the balls in the chocolate and put them in the fridge. Makes a great treat! Cream cheese, butter and icing sugar works well too!

[DP25]

I wonder where this guy is living that he lists ice, free ketchup packets, and popcorn? What countries charge for ketchup at fast food? And isn't popcorn and ice everywhere?

For the rest

Couldn't care less about breakfast cereal. It seems to have decent availability in Thailand though.

Chilli fries are amazing and it's a shame they can't be bought from street stalls. You can buy chilli at Foodland/Villa though, so easy to add to some McDonalds fries for a quick fix.

Root beer is sold in 7-11. They even have a decent number of A&W restaurants here where you can get root beer floats.

You can decent hamburgers, from greasepit style to gourmet, in Bangkok and tourist areas. It is grim most other places though.

Bagels. Yeah, these are missed.

There are decent pizza options in Bangkok and some other big cities and tourist areas. Pizza Company can suffice everywhere else.

Mexican of course is the big one that all Americans I meet here seem to miss. Options have improved a lot in Bangkok, but they are still few in number and way overpriced.

[PoorSucker]

I'm not American but did go to collage in the US.

Have agree with SBK, Dr Pepper and add

[Jingthing]

I do like breakfast cereal, just not sugary stuff.

Here in Thailand I buy no sugar corn flakes from Germany and low sugar muesli from Australia.

I would buy Grape Nuts but at 400 baht for a small box, I can live without it!

[thenoilif]

I've pretty much found all of these in BKK but they generally come with a high price tag. Mexican at La Monita's is excellent and comparable. Firehouse on Soi 11 makes a great burger. If you can't find it at a restaurant, there are grocery stores like Villa and Central Food Mart in Central World that sell most ingredients.

For me the things I miss the most that I haven't been a able to find here are:

Taco Bell - My staple after a night out on the town. It's now been replaced by street stall Thai food

Fresh deli meats - Boars Head deli meats and cheeses specifically

New York style Pizza - Huge slices dripping with grease

Philly Cheese steak sandwiches

Fresh snow and king crab legs dipped in warm butter - The high end hotel buffets here just don't compare to sitting on the beach cracking open a bunch of legs and sipping on a ice cold beer, Corana with a lime please

American Style Chinese food - I miss eating noodles out those little white cardboard containers

American style Italian food - Italian food here is not hearty enough. I want some baked Ziti, Chicken Parm, meaty meatballs and spagetti

It's funny how I didn't really miss much from the states before I started writing this but I could go on and on. At least I've found a good burger and mexican food.

[U235]

Funny list, almost everything on it you can easily make by yourself in the LOS - hard for me to understand that people move to the other side of the planet without any cooking skills. Especially these days on the internet, almost any recipe is very easy to find. Just takes some time to make it, but see it as a hobby ;-)

[Lancelot]

I love popcorn. It used to be sold at many 7-11's but they seem to have phased that snack out. I can still indulge at the movies, so I'm not out of luck there.

I also like USDA corn fed beef- I love a thick juicy steak.

Not on the list but I was raised on corn bread and butter milk biscuits. If I find corn bread here, its laden with sugar and tastes more like cake than the real deal

[DP25]

American style Italian food - Italian food here is not hearty enough. I want some baked Ziti, Chicken Parm, meaty meatballs and spagetti

Definitely. And slathered in cheese.

[watcharacters]

Sprite Zero

In & Out Burger

[Michaelaway]

Here's my list:

Chinese Food- American & Authentic

Jewish Delicatessen

Good Burgers

Italian Delicatessen

N.E. Lobster, Fried Clams, Steamed Clams

Sub Sandwiches- Italian Cold Cuts, Meatballs, Sausage, Veal cutlet & Steak n’ Cheese

Olives- Good assortment

Good Bread, Rolls & Bagels- French, Italian, Jewish

Sausages- Italian, Chicken, Greek, Turkey Kielbasa

Good Beef

Veal Cutlets

Idaho Potatoes

Creamsicles

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Marshmallow Fluff

Good Chocolate chip Cookies

Good Ice Cream

Pecan Pie

Cannolis

Hostess Cupcakes & Twinkies

Drake’s Yodels, Ring Dings & Devil Dogs

Fritos & Cheetos

Cheese Popcorn

Diet Root Beer & Diet Raspberry Lime Soda (ha!)

Edited January 24, 2013 by Michaelaway

[rucus7]

In a word twinkies.

[Jingthing]

In a word twinkies.

I miss them too!

[NewlyMintedThai]

Villa has Frito's.

The pecan pie at Bourbon Street is pretty satisfactory.

And the chicken parm at Bradman's pub might satisfy a craving for American-style Italian food.

Edited January 24, 2013 by NewlyMintedThai

[mixolydian]

definitely Mexican.... and New Mexican food in particular. I applaud el diablo and la Monita in bkk, but still, nothing beats those breakfast burrito stands in NM

[JDGRUEN]

How about fresh tomatoes with real home grown taste? Not like the red cardboard varieties found in most American Supermarkets ... I'm speaking of the American home grown varieties with a real tangy and flavorful taste.

Any comments on tomatoes ?

[NewlyMintedThai]

How about fresh tomatoes with real home grown taste? Not like the red cardboard varieties found in most American Supermarkets ... I'm speaking of the American home grown varieties with a real tangy and flavorful taste.

Any comments on tomatoes ?

Thai tomatoes from the fresh market taste pretty good to me.

[jamhar]

Sprite Zero

In & Out Burger

Yep. In-n-out burger.

The thai whopper is pretty close to the US

Found A&W root beer but no DQ at the same place

Found the Dew at a rest stop!

McD fries here in TL just dont cut it.

Steaks in TL are HORRIBLE! what i would do for a Ruth-Chris or a Mortons.

Cioppino, or Paella!

I LOVE thai food. so when it comes down to it,

in-n-out, a good steak, laphroaig10, and a siglo vi are it for me. But that could change after a year lol.

[Tywais]

I also like USDA corn fed beef- I love a thick juicy steak.

Not on the list but I was raised on corn bread and butter milk biscuits. If I find corn bread here, its laden with sugar and tastes more like cake than the real deal

for the beef. There was a restaurant I would go to in the US that had a very large brick barbeque grill in doors, enough for 20-30 people to stand around it. You go to large glass front refrigerators and look at the type of cut and size you want and take it over and grill it yourself. These were perfect marbled thick cuts too. Melted butter next to the grill with gourmet salt, garlic powder, rolls, baked potatoes. Standing around it with a ice cold mug of beer chatting with friends while your steak cooks. If you rather not do it yourself, one of the staff would do it to your specifications.

Another thumbs up on the corn bread and butter milk biscuits. I have finally found Jiffy corn bread and make it myself but butter milk biscuits, no luck and really would like some. A&W was a lovely find when they finally introduced them in Thailand. Hamburgers, I make myself and much better than McD and BK. I have popcorn on the shelf, not a big Pizza eater but occasionally will pop out or order in. Cereal - always have Raisin Bran on the shelf but an occasional meal only. Make my own fries occasionally so have a large bottle of Heinz catchup around.

Really not that many things I miss as a lot of it I can make myself.

Jiffy Corn Bread