Contraband!

When I lived in Portugal, I lived near the British food store (the only one at the time), which made me very popular among expats. I could bring them Dr. Pepper, Pop-Tarts, Ranch dressing and more. (All of which are American things, not British things, but we were so happy to have access to them that we didn't quibble over semantics.) In Paris, it can pretty easy to come by certain things...but there are still some things we just cannot get here in France. At least, not easily or inexpensively.

You'd be amazed at the things you begin to long for when you don't have access to them. I never eat pop-tarts anymore when in the states...I mean, I live in the land of heavenly pastries. But show me a Pop-Tart here in France, and I get all giddy. Like last year, when I discovered Philadelphia Cream Cheese had finally made it to France.

When I moved to Marseille, the camelridingcowgirl informed me that two of my favorite things in the world to eat could now be bought at Picard, the frozen food store: pureed pumpkin (no more asking for cans to be brought over from the US), and bagels! I've been happily eating both for three months now.

This past weekend, she and I (and some other friends) went to the big giant Wal-Mart-esq store. On the "international foods aisle," where one normal finds Italy (olive oil!), Asia (rice and soy sauce!), Portugal (salted cod!), possibly Britian (Heinz baked beans!), and possibly North Africa (couscous!), this time we found...

I saw the Hershey's syrup and near about fell over. That is an item that is normally requested to be brought over. Chocolate, Strawberry, AND Caramel? Really?! I then about keeled over and died when I saw the price: 7 euros! (That's nearly $10, folks!) I don't like Hershey's syrup that much.

I looked up and saw that they had made a whole USA section in the International Foods aisle! What?! Wowzah! Aunt Jemima syrup AND pancake mix! Real Canadian maple syrup (for 21 euros a jug, I'll take the Aunt Jemima's, please for 5.)

Marshmellows! Pickles! Goldfish! Yucky jelly that cannot be as good as the jelly you can buy in France, but hey! It comes in a plastic squeezable tube! Paul Newman's microwave popcorn! Salad dressing! (But no Ranch.) Cheesecake from a box! (Which, who needs now that we have Philly cream cheese?!) Peanut Butter! (None of it the good kind!)

We began to laugh at the selection. I mean, really, who chose this stuff? If I were going to import American products and sell them at expensive prices, I'd put stuff Americans would pay for: Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew, Kraft Mac n Cheese, Girl Scout Cookies, Rotel, Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, Baking Powder, Ranch dressing, Burts Bees Lip Balm, oh, the list could go on and on. But you sure won't find Strawberry Marshmellow Fluff on that list.

So I passed by the USA shelf with an empty cart. (I've got two bottles of Aunt Jemima's in the pantry, brought over this summer by the interns.) I guess I'll have to keep going to My American Market for the stuff Americans want in France until the Wal-Mart-esq place figures out what to order to stock their shelves.

One thing I took a picture of, because I've wanted to point it out for awhile now... In America, (and now in France!), there is a salad dressing called "French." However, it is très American, because I've never seen salad dressing like that in France... As well, there is a brand of yellow mustard in America called French's...that you cannot get in France as well. Nor is any mustard in France (the land of mustard) quite like French's. Interesting.

And this deli-brown mustard? Well, they oughta call that French mustard.