Imported goodies

I support local farmers and food producers, but every now and then I have to rely on imported products.

Have you ever craved a food so much that the price didn't even matter? If not, maybe the actual price tag was low, but you spent two tanks of gas to drive somewhere to find your treat.

These are the sought-after foods with no substitutes. My grandmother's downfall was Turkish Delight. Sally’s is steamed puddings. I suspect Dorothy’s might be an imported beer. Expat Kiwis hanker for Pineapple Lumps. And many of my friends go gaga over Mackintosh’s toffee.

My imported goodies have varied over the years. Family friends of ours, the VanTols, used to request that their family overseas send extra goodies for us. As I child, I would get hyper when I knew the VanTols had received a box from Holland.

We would slide along Marianne and Peter’s kitchen booth to await the spoils such as:

·         breakfast hagel (chocolate or multicoloured sugary sprinkles for on toast; hagel sounds a bit like “hail” when Dutch people say it);

·         salted licorice (drops, pronounced more like droppies); and

·         heavenly almond cookies.

Today, I eat healthier breakfasts and limit both my sodium and sugar intake, so I can’t indulge in those particular treats. Even still, selected items remain on my out-of-province/state/country shopping list, namely: Bigelow Decaffeinated Constant Comment Tea, Hershey’s Goodnight Kisses Decaffeinated Hot Chocolate and Chambord black raspberry liqueur. 

During the past two decades, I’ve phoned toll-free numbers, written emails and old-fashioned letters, completed online surveys and pleaded with purchasing departments to try to get my tea and hot chocolate here at home. (I suppose now I can add “blogged” to my list.)

So far, I’ve failed to convince anyone that there is a large enough market here for these treats.

Though I must admit, their scarcity makes these from-away goodies extra special. The only way that can be topped is when someone surprises you with imported goodies they picked up for you.

      AWESOME!!!

So, dish it...what imported goodie makes you weak in the knees?

While in Florida, my mom-in-law scoured shelves at every grocery
store she could find until she scored me a stash of my coveted tea.
Thank you!
(There were many other boxes, but March was many cups of tea ago.)