this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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For example, Marmite Crumpets don't exist. You cannot buy them at the supermarket. To be clear: you can buy crumpets, you can buy marmite, you can buy butter; but you have to assemble them at home.

If you walk into a breakfast cafe, they will happily serve you sausage / egg / bacon / french toast / bubble / squeak (whatever that is). But no marmite crumpets. If you ask them to make it, they will give you a very strange look. It's not typically offered. It's something you just have to make at home.

It is unbuyable. Any tourist who comes to the UK to try a Marmite crumpet would need to bring a toaster or an oven with them, or quickly befriend a brit and hope that they have all the ingredients at home.

It's not a secret. You just can't have it.

*munches into crumpet thoughtfully, and salivates at the juicy savory delight, whilst staring at you pityingly and condescendingly*

Anyway, what's something that I could never experience unless I made it myself in your local?

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Here's something that you can't buy outside of Italy: mozzarella. I tasted proper mozzarella in Tuscany and it's nothing like the shit labeled mozzarella sold in supermarkets around the world, and for a good reason: real mozzarella has a shelf life shorter than Trump's attention span.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You mean those watery packets of cheese I sometimes buy aren't supposed to taste like watered down kangaroo testicles?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago

Look at the plus side: at least you know what kangaroo testicles taste like.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

We have a deli here that makes fresh moz daily, you can find places that do it all over. Shelf-life really only keeps it out of supermarkets. The problem for many forms of cheese in many countries, and especially the US, is the requirements around pasturization. Completely changes the texture and taste. And for moz specifically, the lack of Buffalo.

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[–] Papanca 41 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Decent fitting clothes with deep pockets and quality fabrics with the colors i like

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I dont understand why Jeans dont usually have deep pockets. Like who is designing this shit.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (9 children)

A Twinkie weiner sandwich.

  1. Cook a hot dog
  2. Slice a twinkie halfway through the bottom longwise to get something like a hotdog bun
  3. Insert the cooked hotdog into newly created bun
  4. Squirt easy cheese along the length of the hot dog
  5. Dip in milk
  6. Eat

Weird Al invented this in 1989 in his movie UHF and it’s still not available in stores for some reason

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

I need to rewatch that movie (and seriously, how great of an actor is Weird Al?)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Sounds like something you could get at a state fair

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Agent641 5 points 1 month ago

The Marmite causes the eggs to hatch in your tummy πŸ€—

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (19 children)

Ha! We can get marmite and vegemite here in the states. And they're both fucking delicious when used right.

But, you can't get applebutter anything in the wild around here. Might be possible elsewhere, but I haven't run across it.

Not sure what is and isn't a thing elsewhere, but applebutter isa strongly spiced apple product used as a spread. It's sweet rather than savory. It typically features cloves, cinnamon and allspice as the main spices, in varying proportions. It is also fucking amazing.

But you won't find it in restaurants at all.

There is a great southern tradition of applebutter biscuits. Biscuits here, again in case it isn't known, are a fluffy, light, scone-like quickbread. And it's similar to your scenario. Places could offer that as a menu option and bring it to you. They could possibly make a deal for individual packets of it like exist for jelly, and bring that with biscuits. But nobody does.

It's one of those things that if you came over here, you can't find it in restaurants. Even worse, while you can buy commercially made applebutter (there's a few brands out there) they are all inferior to even mid tier homemade applebutter. So you can't even buy the experience the way people can at home. You can't just go out and buy Whitehouse applebutter and get the right texture and taste on your biscuits (or toast, or crumpets).

The commercially made options are all too thin for one thing. They don't spread like applebutter is supposed to. It's supposed to have a thick consistency, closer to something like a jam or preserve. The commercial stuff is also over-homogeneous and too finely textured. Homemade is going to have small chunks of softened apple as opposed to a blended texture.

The spice mix in store bought also tends to be both blander and too , I dunno, even? Homemade, you get layers of the spices. Store bought, you get one layer, there's no depth to it. Part of that is it being made in huge batches, and part is the longer time from jar to your mouth; so I can't say it's anything the makers have cheaped out on or anything. But it is not as good as what you make yourself (or someone's grammy makes).

Also, marmite and applebutter on toast is absurd in how good it is. The savory and salty bang of marmite with a spoonful of sweet, spicy applebutter on top will make you want to slap yo mama. I find marmite and vegemite don't do well on biscuits compared to toast, english muffins, or the like. Too much bread for it to really pop unless you do an entire spoonful, at which point it's too much.

[–] anon6789 5 points 1 month ago

Apple butter is an underrated condiment. I used to eat it on pancakes instead of syrup as a kid, and I put it in oatmeal and such as an adult. I don't have it often nowadays, but there's a place that produces it and other fruit butters nearby, and there's occasionally some other brands in stores and roadside shops.

For those that haven't had it, I guess imagine baked apples or an apple dumpling but reduced down so it is super concentrated into something spreadable.

[–] EbenezerScrew 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Cracker Barrel gives you biscuits before they bring out your meal and you can request Apple Butter for them. I think usually they bring out sausage gravy.

I remember the apple butter being ok, but nothing like the homemade stuff cooked over a fire and stirred continously for 12 hours.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Marmite crumpets shouldn't exist!

What other cosmic horrors are you creating in your kitchenβ€½

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

we have a chicken stew that we make with barley and oats that sometimes has entire pieces of cartillage in it, if that helps

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

The British were so focused on whether they could, they didn't stop to think about whether they should.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)
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[–] Delphia 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

While you can go to a restaraunt/cafe and buy pancakes. I havent found a premade packet version that just needs warming up that isnt absolute shit.

Give me fresh or give me death!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Coffee. I used to be a coffee fiend, I drank up to 12-13 cups a day, and only stopped because it was worsening my anxiety. I live in a coffee producing country and learnt how to make a good cup in an espresso machine, even got all the doodads to make the process standardized and get the exact same cup every time.

I can only drink coffee made by select hands now. Everything else tastes like jet fuel, and it's worse when travelling.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That sounds like an intense relationship you have with coffee. I have to admit, 2-3 a day and I get palpatations and am unable to sleep. I rarely drink it for the flavour

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Outside of the caffeine and kidney stone issues you must've been peeing every 30 minutes

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Vegemite and raspberry jam (β€œjellyβ€œ) on toast. Probably works on crumpets too.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Vegemite

Listen here you little shit...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

I believe the correct vernacular is "Oi Cunt!".

[–] Valmond 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Technically... you could buy them premade

[–] NineMileTower 11 points 1 month ago (5 children)

My second kid was made at a Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, OH.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

You don't need to be at home to make them; it's just more socially acceptable than in a cafe.

[–] a_baby_duck 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are hotels in the UK not equipped with toasters?

[–] Lemming421 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You’re supposed to wash it out after you shit in it

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

This question is very regional, so I could list a ton of things. For instance since I'm not in the UK, crumpets would be on my list (send me some please).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Batmobiles. Lots of companies sell Batmobile toys, no companies sell Batmobiles.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Food that is actually spicy. I know it is available at some locations on earth, but I do not live within 500 miles of any of them. The only place near me that even offers a legit hot sauce is a food truck and that one is still a bit tame.

I’ve never seen sourdough French toast at a restaurant and it is literally the best bread to use. The texture holds up well to the egg dunk and the funky sourness complements the otherwise cloyingly sweet dish. Even better, instead of syrup I use salted irish butter, making it a savory dish with a hint of sweet cinnamon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

You've set the bar way too low. You can't buy peanut butter toast in grocery stores, either.

I would have said the same thing about PB&Js, too, except society is so depraved now that that's no longer true.

[–] ManOMorphos 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Speculoos and jelly sandwiches. It's possible they serve that in Europe somewhere, but you could never find that served in the US.

I'd like to be proven wrong though.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Avocado shake, at least in the western world. Unless you come across one at an asian shake/milktea shop, and even then, that menu item is rare.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

What is this defined as? I feel like we have them here, but they're more like smoothies so I'm guessing this is different?

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[–] brlemworld 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Properly cooked hash browns. It takes too long for a restaurant to do it.

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