Food Between Countries

[YZFMoose]

Welcome Canadians, Americans, and Ameri-Canadians.

I often wondered what others thought of the food between the two countries.
I've had the SO try foods from my childhood, with some good / not so good results.

Are there any foods that make you go Eww No!, or Must Haves!

 

[FigmentSpark]

DH only likes U.S. Hershey's chocolate. In Canada, he likes Coffee Crisps.

 

[YZFMoose]

I would have to agree, American chocolate seems better coffee crisp a good choice

 

[bankr63]

Repost here; didn't know you started a thread on this...

Boiled peanuts in the Carolinas make me go ewww. Just can't bring myself to eat those goober peas. My peanuts need crunch.

But I really enjoy grits and hushpuppies when I get down south.

I used to enjoy describing poutine to Americans and watching the reaction, but it is starting to catch on now, so the jig is up.

 

[xlxo]

I have no plans of checking this out....
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/mariners-limit-toasted-grasshopper-orders-165830599.html

I hear some people have problems with...

• Jello
• Tofu
• Mushrooms
• Bubble Tea
• Dim Sum

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are Canucks living in Michigan. The foods we miss most are Shreddies (I bring half a dozen boxes back with me whenever we visit family), Cheez Whiz (in the jars.....its sold as a dip like Tostitos cheese for nachos here), Hawkins Cheezies, butter tarts, and Nanaimo bars.

Cinnabon K-cups for my Keurig have been my favourite American find. My mom has fallen in love with them, too, so I bring her a couple of boxes when we travel home. I also love JIF peanut butter, so that's been a favourite American indulgence.

I can't bring myself to try Goober, but I know my brother loves it.

Grocery shopping here is SO much fun. I don't think we'll ever lose the novelty of having twice the selection of back home and (as a general rule) much lower prices. The first few weeks we were here, I'm sure people must have thought we were from another planet. It was fun to see all the brands that we see on TV (especially on shows like the Price is Right) but that aren't sold in Canada.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Ooh FOOD! Yeah so many differences even if you go to the other side of the Falls!

• Already mentioned vinegar -- so sorry but the vinegar you use to make dressing (aka apple or something balsamic) isn't what i want on my fries --- side note in Disney both of the UK restaurants have malt vinegar and Raglan Road even has the good Fish & Chips kind in the funky bottle. If you ask at D'Luxe burgers they also have it behind the counter!
• Cream for coffee -- hubby noticed that most of the kiosk locations were trying to pass off "light creamer" cost reasons maybe? Sitdown restaurants gave him the real stuff
• Corn Pops -- according to hubby they are superior on the other side of the border as they are (and i quote) "rounder and fluffier" and ours are "harder and squished"
• Everything "chicken fried" BLETCH ...
• sausage gravy --- disgusting -- eww yucky, what a way to ruin a good meal of any kind but ESPECIALLY breakfast
• Smarties --- difference between 2 countries (but here the red ones are GROSS now that they use "natural colouring")
• as others have mentioned "how do you want your burger cooked" uhm ... perhaps beyond the moo-ing stage would be super helpful
• Cheddar cheese -- what is that stuff they call American Cheddar Cheese?? eew, and what's with all the neon-orange cheese sauce everywhere on-site?!?!?
• someone mentioned poutine --- do NOT even get me started on what they are trying to pass off at the stand in Disney Springs, wrong on so many levels. Fries are gross, gravy is rarely warm enough to melt the cheese curds (if they are in fact using them??) i didn't try it myself but have it on good authority it is a definite PASS and have you seen the breakfast version with (gulp, shudder) tater tots & the aforementioned "biscuit gravy" ?? **side note the fries at D'Luxe are amazing and they WILL cook your burger well done!

How bout the portion sizes? Does anyone else think they are considerably larger in the States?

OH and for giggles sake. mentioned "bagged milk" and show them an image of that and how we deal with it --- the look of utter confusion and amazement in kids is great!

 

[oceanwave]

The country I grew up in, we got a lot of our food items from the USA & the UK.

I miss corn pops. They are definitely not the same. In Canada they are round and hard where as the American version is nice and soft.

Grits, I really wish I could buy this here. Also wish we could get nutter butter.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

How bout the portion sizes? Does anyone else think they are considerably larger in the States?

OH and for giggles sake. mentioned "bagged milk" and show them an image of that and how we deal with it --- the look of utter confusion and amazement in kids is great!

Portion sizes: absolutely bigger. And much better value. We can eat at sit-down places here for almost the same per-person price as a McDonald's combo at home.

Bagged milk is something I absolutely DON'T miss. My mornings are much happier because I can just grab the jug from the fridge when its time to make myself a bowl of cereal. No more fiddling with those silly bags, and running the risk of the hole being cut too large.

 

[YZFMoose]

I do miss Verners (Michigan thing) , I also always jokingly say I want biscuits and gravy for breakfast and it's always a no. Sausage gravy it good, but it has to be home made.

Being from a border city, we kinda mixed and matched when it came to groceries. Living in the north now, don't get luxury. Don't even get a good pouting where u live. Always got to have the malt vinegar for my NYfries

Where we live we only have one Mcdonalds, one timmies, one a/w. One Mary browns (new) one subway and one Quiznos speaking of Quiznos, I find the Canadian one tastes better!!! No Starbucks it's a treat when going to southern Canada

 

[starvenger]

I like having three (or four)-way chili when I'm in southern Ohio. Unless I'm driving long distances (could be dangerous).

I second the Vernor's love.

When I lived in Houston I got to have some good Mexican food. Not just Tex-Mex, but some more authentic stuff. And Shiner Bock. My favourite beer.

And I was going to say Cheesecake Factory, but apparently it's coming to Yorkdale here in Toronto.

On the flip side, when you live in the states you miss things like good Chinese food. Or even the chains like Asian Legend and Congee Queen.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Where we live we only have one Mcdonalds, one timmies, one a/w. One Mary browns (new) one subway and one Quiznos speaking of Quiznos, I find the Canadian one tastes better!!! No Starbucks it's a treat when going to southern Canada

Yes! We had Quiznos in the MCO airport. I was so disappointed! Not nearly as good.

 

[YZFMoose]

Yes! We had Quiznos in the MCO airport. I was so disappointed! Not nearly as good.

I also find the Wendy's at the MCO Airport different too than Cdn Wendys. O and the Portion Sizes!, what is a Large or XLarge at places in Canada is like a Small (maybe Medium, just maybe) in Canada.

 

[starvenger]

Yes! We had Quiznos in the MCO airport. I was so disappointed! Not nearly as good.

I don't think I've ever been big on Quiznos. I like their toasting method - cheese gets more melty and bruleed - but it also takes a bit of time and they are stingy with their toppings - moreso than Subway I find.

However, if you are into toasted sandwiches/grinders, there's a national chain I used to go to all the time when I worked in Michigan called Bellacino's (http://bellacinosgrinders.com/). No locations near Orlando though.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We just got a Firehouse Subs here in Canada, which I think started out of Jacksonville. They have good subs. My son is sold, but they're not cheap (well, what is, these days?)

 

[Donald - my hero]

OH we have all missed something that is different --- BEER!

 

[YZFMoose]

 

[YZFMoose]

Dang nab-it, it was supposed to be a GIF of homer simpson trying to cook. Deleted code, not sure how to delete a post.

Got it to do a Youtube video. Go Me!

 

[starvenger]

I'm not so sure if the "stronger beer" thing holds up anymore, given all the craft breweries that have sprung up. It probably stands up when you compare domestic brand name beer I suppose.

 

[xlxo]

Does Canada still have the stronger cannabis?