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I'm not an expat, but I move to Ohio every summer, and always long for Dill Pickle-flavored potato chips. They're a big deal up here. And ridiculously delicious.

When I was in university the cafeteria served "zesty bean burgers". They had a falafel like flavor and a softer texture. My circle of dining companions assured me I was the only person who ate them, but I miss them!

Moved from Chicago to Colorado, and I miss a whole lot. It was so easy to just buy things like pierogi from the Polish bakery and Italian sausage from the butcher and so easy to go out for gyros and Italian beefs and hot dogs on poppy seed buns...and pizza (sniff!)

I have since learned how to make things that I never thought about making when I lived in Chicago. In the beginning, it was difficult just to get the ingredients I wanted, but over the years it has become easier to find things locally.

But I still wish pizza was as easy as making a phone call.

having an oven.

(american living in korea)

For the time that I lived in Spain, I really missed American style Peanut Butter and Salsa. We had salsa, but it was beyond bland. As for the peanut butter... I had to wait until I got home to get my fix.

Bangers, broad beans, marrow (squash). With my 10 bob allowance I would go to the sweet shop and ask for a tuppence worth of sherbet, and a big Cadbury's chocolate bar. But most of all I miss the bangers.

I lived in England for two years, and I miss flapjacks, those wonderful oat bars, especially the ones covered in chocolate! So bad, yet so good...white coffee, jacket potatoes from the street with butter and cheese, chips from a 'chippy,' the Marks & Sparks food court, Shapers 'Boots' sandwiches, Tesco, and Indian food...

I'm an Indiana girl on the east coast and miss good, proper biscuits and gravy, Pizza King and Acapulco Joe's. I also recently lived in Prague for 7 months and seriously miss the beer - just being able to go to a pub and get a proper big mug of beer - Krusovice or Kozel. Also miss Czech foods like kolac, smazeny syrem and svickova.

@cucumberpandan, I never thought i'd hear anyone say that miss a Pizza Hut meat lovers pie!

I've been in the US for 6.5 years now. I'm from London, England, where I was born and lived most of my life, but I'd also lived in Turkey and Israel, so the list of foods I miss is massive, and it evolves as I realise that I miss something else all the time:-). So I'll give you just a few, in no particular order:

Jaffa cakes
Cadburry's Wispa
Bangers
Bacon and bacon butties (don't get me wrong, I've learnt to love American bacon, too, and it happened rather fast)
Heinz baked beans (it was the only tinned product that was allowed in our house growing up:-). Like Jaffa cakes, I can sometimes find them here)
Kippers
Stilton (I get to buy it here sometimes) and a variety of other cheeses
A good pita sandwich with schawarma, hummus, tahini sauce, chips, sliced gherkins and oil & vinegar slaw
Herring in oil (all herring here is for some reason in vinegar, or in vinegar and sour cream, which simply drives me mad) - the last couple of days I've been craving it so badly!
Bamba
Real lavash with labneh, olive oil and zaatar
Middle Eastern restaurants, mostly stands, really, or "hole in the wall" places with the most amazing food

...and I'll stop now.

Lived in Texas and California when I was a kid and have been living in Canada for the last 10 years. Biggest thing I miss is fresh produce almost any time of the year and real tex-mex and mexican food. It just isn't the same when you have to truck the tomatoes up to northern Canada.

@hmw0029 - I actually meant something like Shmaltz herring, the filleted, salted and preserved in oil kind that I used to buy at the deli counter. It doesn't come in tins, but it may occasionally be sold in tiny containers or glass jars in a refrigerated section, too. Oh, and buckling, I miss buckling, too!

And it sounds like I would really love that "caramel corn"!

Hong Kong egg cakes from the egg cake lady off of Mott. I had that every weekend when I was little, she mysteriously disappeared about 7 years ago and I've never had egg cakes as good as hers since.

All the vendors in the city now serve an incredibly inferior product. It tastes like they added some kind of noxious flavoring extract to it.

I also miss the dragon's beard candy guy. I used to watch his hands fly as he spun the candy threads and miraculously bundled them into perfect little log shapes around a puff of peanut powder. Jaw-stickingly sweet and messy to eat...

I also constantly jones for an incendiary Sichuan hot pot from a Beijing vegetarian restaurant tucked away off the road near the Summer Palace. Its such a quaint, quiet beautiful little restaurant away from the heated bustle of the city and the food is so good. I've yet to have Sichuan hot pot as good as that place and I've tried many both in China and in the states. They must have brewed their stock for hours it was so full of flavor and floating with all kinds of herbs and tasty bits.

I spent my summer in Vientiane, Lao. I miss the amazing, cheap, fresh fruit! Even though I can get a good number of the SE Asian fruits in NY, its just not the same! Also, we cant get mangosteen here. (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg)
mangosteen
rambutan
pineapple
durian

Also: I really want papaya salad. I think I could make it myself, if i can track down some green papaya.

On my 13th month living in S. Korea

hands down:

cheese - i love brie, love it love it love it!! It can be found here, but there's this one kind that comes tinned. BLECH! crumbled feta, sharp cheddar, everything!

Whole Grain bread- the kind that gets stuff stuck in your teeth!

Pizza with sauce- they don't put sauce on the pizza. So when you ask for a cheese pizza, you get cheese, corn, and dough. huh?

Pinot Noir- You can find all the Cabs, Merlots, Beaujoulais, etc to tickle yourself to death with, but a decent Pinot, unless you're willing to drop $100 on it, is difficult to be had. I haven't had it in so long that I've actually started warming up to Cabs and whites. ack!

De-boned fish- You never realize what a pain in the a%# it is to de-bone a fish with chopsticks until you do it on a daily basis.

Mexican food, salads, Robitussin (okay, not a food, but it's still consumed!), fresh basil (trying to grow my own right now, not doing too hot), oatmeal, cheap pasta,

It's not that these things aren't to be found, it's just that find them is difficult and often expensive...

@machellebelle- I had no idea it was so hard to find good cheeses in Korea. Imported cheeses (esp. French; for some reason camembert is more popular than brie) are relatively easy to find in Japan, at least in Tokyo (just go to underground floors of a large dept store!) and it's like 2 h away from Korea :-)

Funny, I miss bone-in fish!! lol.

i've lived in multiple places:

from russia:
- these huge almond cookies you can only get in st. petersburg, kinda like amaretti but so much better. and pretty much all the other desserts that company manufactures
- pickled garlic stalks. trust me on this one. if you like kimchee, you would like pickled garlic stalks (my korean friend loved them). at least i can get people to bring me cookies. no one wants to bring me fresh pickled garlic stalks (they smell quite strong!)

from england: muller yogurt. everything else i can pretty much find here, including imported cadbury chocolates and jaffa cakes

@Embacks- every single person from Wisconsin that I know talks about squeaky cheese. I'm very curious!

In my current Silicon Valley neighborhood there is a serious lack of decent taquerias and Mexican restaurants. I have to travel 20 minutes to get something half as good as most places serve in southern California. I feel the same way about falafel and empanadas.

Mostly though, I just miss the scene. People in L.A. really bring it. There is always a show with your dinner (or taco, cocktail, breakfast, whatever...) I guess I have glitter in my veins. What can I say?

Cheers,

~ Paula

@renee - No, there is no good Mexican food in the northeast. I live in NYC and can get awesome pretty-much-every-country-in-the-world's food, but not Mexican.

I moved from Trenton, NJ across the river to PA. I miss the pizza. I'm not kidding. I had no idea we had the best pizza on the universe, until I'm just a little too far to get it anymore.

Born in Chicago, lived in Prague, Japan, DC and NYC, now live in Cambridge, UK.

I would kill for a proper hot dog, or a pizza from Lou Malnatti's of Gino's East, or a stuffed spinach pizza from Edwardo's.

Pop-tarts, frosted brown sugar and cinnamon please.

Reese's anything, but especially the easter eggs.

Echoing everyone else, Mexican food. I'd love a bean-and-cheese enchilada with hot red sauce.

A hot, greasy Brooklyn slice folded in half with real pepperoni.

A DC half smoke in one hand, a kielbasa in the other, both with kraut and mustard. A pierogi for dessert.

Edamane. I could eat a whole bowl. And fiery red kimchi.

Czech breaded fried cheese served with tartar sauce. Cold pilsner in a dark wooden bar for a handful of small change.

Spicy breakfast sausage, and biscuits and gravy. Actually, I'd be happy with just a buttermilk biscuit.

Real chili with onions, sour cream and cheese, and the possibility of cornbread.

Chicken-fried steak. Shrimp and grits.

Beer-soaked brats on the grill.

A thick-cut ham sandwich with lots of cheese and mayo on rye bread or a Kaiser roll. UK ham sandwiches are paltry affairs...two thin slices of ham does not a sandwich make.

A medium-rare cheeseburger with crispy bacon and lots of American cheese, with mayo and mustard and thin-cut crisp fries. And kosher pickles.

That said, there are lots of things I'd miss from the UK if I ever left. We have a Thai place that serves a five course meal on a punt (the peculiar flat-bottom Cambridge boat) with jolly great lashings of wine as you drift down the Cam at dusk. I'd miss the sandwiches and the dazzling array of crisps. I'd miss late night chip vans. I'd miss our gruff but talented village butcher's, and his amazing sausages and bacon.

as an american living in beijing, i miss the pleasures of backyard dining with clean air in my lungs, organic, all natural peanut butter, bagel sandwiches, and having an oven! oh, and no authentic mexican food is a HUGE bummer!

but mostly, not having to constantly ask for "no flavor essence", or MSG, on all my food is what i miss the most!

I'll agree with most of the other Brits on here. Sausages.
Last time I went home my aunt made an entire 8 pack, they were hot and ready when I got in from the airport. Best welcome I've ever received.

When I lived in Washington, DC some liquor stores used to DELIVER. No such service in Michigan. I miss that. Profoundly.

@brooke29 - OMG I had no idea you had travelled so much?~! How do you usually eat your oil herring?
@EllyEats - I've had the Muller yogurt in DE, Muller Rice is 2D4!

I really miss my papa's cooking now that I've moved out; all of his home-smoked meats/sausages, roasted game, even my basic vinigairette don't taste like papas.....*sigh* : (

I miss my Oma's cooking in Germany as well: Schpagel Suppe, Saure Kirche Suppe, I should stop before I cry...

I'm Canadian and live in NYC. I get packages sent from home or have friends bring stuff when they visit me (or visit Myer's of Keswick for a reasonable UK facsimilie) when I need my fix, but these are the things I miss the most which can't be acquired here:

Swiss Chalet chicken (double leg dinner with fries)
Coffee Crisp chocolate bars
Old Dutch BBQ potato chips (sadly they changed the flavour last year so I'm never to have this one again)
Shreddies
And slurpees (the machines are different in Canada and produce a superior product to the American one).

@studyzone- An Australian friend gave me TimTams once! (she told me "Japanese people love these!!"). I can tell they are addictive but luckily(?) I had a limited dose :-)

hungrychristel, close, I'm from Alberta. The Old Dutch thing really threw me during my last pregnancy, I was craving the BBQ chips so bad my dad sent me a bag. I was so bummed when I tasted the new "improved" flavour.

and mandylynn902 you made me jealous, I do crave the steak from home! We served it at our rehearsal dinner and one of my friends from NYC over six years later still talks about how good Alberta beef tastes.

We get some great fried clams here though (well in Rhode Island) in the summer, my husband has to have them almost everyday when we go there.

I live in L.A. and I miss the bagels I grew up with in New York, granita di cafe con panna and foccacia from Italy, chicken wings from Buffalo, and New Zealand's yogurt. When in New Zealand, I was surprised to find out how much I missed Mexican food. It had really never occurred to me that it was one of our staples and that I have grown accustomed to the flavors of a dozen varieties of chili peppers.

Brasilian living in Spain.
I am very curious about new dishes I can discover here, so I don't miss much. But what I always have to have, whenever I go back, is Feijoada. A heavy but divine black beans and pork stew, served with rice, farofa (fried flour with onions), kale, oranges, two kinds of spicy sauce and, yes, caipirinhas.

On a regional basis - I can speak to this having lived in New York City, rural Colorado (just think Lisa Douglas in Green Acres), Florida, and now Atlanta, GA.

NYC is a you-can-get-anything type of place and every day I miss that about it. Any food. Anytime (for the most part).

The tiny town where I lived in Colorado (outside Durango) was a you-can't-get-a-damned-thing place. Food was limited to a greasy hamburger place that diners frequented because they could smoke; a wannabe "fine dine" establishment (only thing that lived up to fine dining was their prices); and a small Italian-ish restaurant that somehow managed to prepare good food. As for ingredients, anything outside of the very ordinary (No arborio rice!?? Come on!!) had to be procured from the internet. One could always ask a friendly restauranteur to order an ingredient from Sysco but you'd have to buy a ton of it.

Florida = Chain restaurants. The end. The only way one could stay open as an independent is to have enough capital to run the place for two years while people "discovered" you. Very few can afford to do that and a handful of really good independents bit the dust.

Atlanta. I'll get flamed but I like to call it a Mini New York with a southern accent. I've found the people friendly (very like NY which gets an unearned rap for unfriendliness); exotic ingredients are readily available (Mae Ploy Thai Green Curry Paste - YEAH!) and the restaurants!! OMG - one next to another and they all thrive. Atlanta really is a foodie city and I'm blessed that my circumstances steered me to it.

Whenever I'm out of NY, I miss the following things:

* Real, Italian pizza - NY style.
* Bagels. (Nuff said)
* Humongous, shareable portions.
* Fast Service. In everything from supermarket checkouts to take-out restaurants and delis to sit down restaurants. NY moves at a much faster pace than everywhere else. Sometimes a person needs that!
* That little (ethnic) place on the corner of (here) and (there) where I can get the best (dish) I've ever had in my life.
* Public transportation - the subway. Those of you who have never lived outside NYC think I'm crazy but there is no bigger waste of time than to sit in traffic in a car and not be able to do anything else but drive. On the subway you can read, listen to headphones (not advisable in a car), look at photos, study and make notes - focus on something else besides moving yourself from place to place. Not to mention, you don't have to park the train after you ride it. (Sigh...)

Hong Kong dim sum...and all the good eats from the Japanese department store depachkas. *sniff..

@Marinelm - really?! I was ecstatic in Bolivia because all the vegetables/fruits were so cheap! We made veggie soup, homemade pasta sauce, salads (iron stomach here). I also really miss making a saltena run mid-morning. They are these football-shaped empanada-ish pastries unique to Bolivia. The crust is hard and the filling is a soupy stew of chicken, beef, etc, you have to break the top off and spoon the contents out or risk a ruined shirt. I can't find them anywhere in the states!

@therealchiffonade - I agree with everything you said on Atlanta! I left a year ago and still miss:
everything on Buford Highway
good Cuban sandwiches @ Kool Korners (I heard it closed!)
veggie Indian food at Chat Patti
meat n' three
biscuits at the Flying Biscuit
THE DEKALB FARMERS MARKET - nothing can compare!

Mexican food
Ice
Slabs of beef
Bread & butter

After 6 mos. in Sri Lanka, we love the rice and curry and tropical fruits, but occasionally wish we could sink our teeth into Meat. It's good for our waistlines, tho.

Kensington Market (Euro Meat Market's Hungarian sausage)

Peter Pan (the steaks were ok, but the ambiance, oh the ambiance...)

Frangos (Portuguese BBQ chicken)

sigh.....

cycorider - I'm a NEPA transplate living in DC and I live for Senape's pizza when I go home! So nice to see another cold, boxed pizza fan on SE :)

i miss the wonderful bread and coffee in the bay area. new york is catching up, but nothing here in NYC will ever compare to the cheese board, semi freddi's, or spinelli.

i grew up in chicago, and i would occasionally kill for a walker brother's apple pancake or a slice of deep dish from pizzeria due.

When I was in the US and Europe, I craved Tim Tams. They are easily more addictive than crack.

studyzone, did you ever do a Tim Tam Slam, where you bite off a corner of the biscuit and use it as a straw for coffee, Milo or Bailey's Irish Cream? Divine!

I know the question was directed at expats, but moving to a different US city can sometimes feel like a different country.

I'm from Seattle and now living in SF. I miss the hell out of Pagliacci Agog Pizzas. If only they would open a chain in San Francisco!

Do I count as an expat? I moved from upstate NY to rural NC. I miss spiedies. When home or when friends visit they are commanded to bring a bottle. There is a bar in Fayetteville that serves spiedies since the owners are from Binghamton. Although they admittedly don't serve it properly. No Roma's Italian bread.

I've never lived in Iran but I did spend some time there back in the late '90's and discovered an awesome dessert called "Sohan," produced primarily (though not exclusively) in the holy city of Qum. I've never found it here in the States, not even a simulacrum of it and not even at the few Persian restaurants in New York. Nor have I found anything here resembling abgusht, an interesting and (if properly prepared) excellent stew made from lamb, chickpeas and moistened dough.

from la belle suisse....
zweifel paprika chips and migros ice tea!!!
that stuff is addictive!
ahhh and chocolat chaud.... mmmm

@elvinwei:

Have you tried shopping in Asian markets? Many an import there. Maybe not quite as good as what you remember, but I know they sell several brands of cuttlefish balls at most of them.

If you're near a Chinatown, maybe there's a restaurant or an individual who makes them.

Speaking as an American who's traveled extensively:

I miss Knoppers, cheese toasties, sticky toffee pudding, real ale pubs, White Castles, In N Out's and Houston Tex Mex and Texas barbeque.

And since I no longer live in Tampa, FL, I miss Cuban food - it's the greatest there!

MiraFoto - Please send me some Knoppers!!! I was also surprised when my veal I ordered was the consistency of round steak!

Venezuelan missing ..... las panaderias = venezuelan bakeries where you can find all kinds of delicious and fresh products anytime of the day!

I was born in Texas and when I was six we moved to St. Louis. It was during the depression and my mom was a wonderful cook. Because of her Texas upbringing, chili and tamales were a good part of our diet.
Making tamales was a family affair, on a weekend, my brother and sister and I would help my mom and dad roll the tamales and put them a cooker and it would take most of Sat. and Sun. to complete that job. Than we would eat em and share them with family and friends.
Breakfast, growing up was quiet different than breakfast today or even when my kids were growing up. Biscuit, (homemade) were everyday- Than we would have American cheese melted in butter to spoon on top of the biscuits or cream gravy with chicken fried steak with the biscuits. It's a wonder that my brother, sister or myself did'nt end up weighing a jellion pounds. I guess it was because we walked, rode our bikes or rollerskated everywhere- played baseball and swam all summer each year.
I still have my mothers recipes for her chile and tamales.I've changed them a bit and have won several awards for chili. I must say I make some of the best. Dave Johnson

When I lived in France for my job, I desparately missed the all-American backyard burger! They seem to think that a burger was what passed as a burger at McDonald's (which were even a poorer quality than in the US)! Even the restaurants served poor-quality beef. I also missed the quality of meat in general at the local grocery stores. I went to a local grocery store in Behoust France with some collegues from the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. They were amazed at the quality of the meat at the market. I looked at it and thought in the US we wouldn't even sell it to the jails! I have said it before and I will say it again, you don't appreciate what we have in the US until you have traveled to other countries! However, I have spent a lot of time in Australia - and their grocery stores and meat rock!