Favourite Food and Drink I've learned about in my travels

 A facebook friend asked, tell us where you live by naming a food. I thought of all sorts of foods I had learned from living in the USA, Spain, and Singapore, and visiting other countries. Here's my list of favourite food and drink.

Canada 

1 Maple syrup (on waffles at breakfast time in Canada). Now, in the uk

 Now 

France

brie

Camembert cheese

crepes (Mont St Michel speciality, served from restaurants and kiosks hot with Grand Marnier)

Marron glace (sweet chestnut paste) in tins (which I first discoverd in the British Channel islands which are near France)

Indonesia 

1 Beef rendang (coconut and spices).

Malaysia 

1 Turkey ham. (Muslims don't eat pork.)

Netherlands (especially Holland)

Edam cheese.

Gouda cheese.

Singapore -

1 Chicken rice. (In England we would have chicken with chips.) 

2 Mango (with) sticky rice.

3 Durian ice cream.

Spain

Turron (confectionary -a kind of nougat which I found chocolate covered). 

UK - 

Scotland 

Smoked salmon

(what I missed and am pleased to come back to) tea time 

England

 Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Bread and butter pudding.

Summer pudding.

Scones with clotted (double thick) cream and strawberry jam, 

Crumpets (warmed so the holes absorb melting butter and jam. 

Frank Coopers Original Oxford Coarse Cut Marmalade. On Amazon I was shocked to see it was ten pounds then realised it was a pack of two jars meaning about five pounds each jar.

Mateus rose sweet blush wine from Portugal in UK supermarkets. Black tower , rieslings and gewurtraminer German and Alsace (French) sweet white wines. 

Cadbury's fruit and nut chocolate. 

Cream filled easter egg eggs. 

Wales

Welsh cakes (finger height, half way between a flat pancake and a high scone, eaten hot with melting butter) 

USA

T bone steaks. 

Buffalo wings (checken wings.)

Bagels (Donut shaped brad with a hole in the middle and crisp outside) and lox (smoked salmon).

Potatoes in their jackets. 

 Ice wine. Zinfandel (which is a grape) blush wine in Paul Masson carafes.

Oreos.

You might like to make your own list. You can send it to me here in the comments, or find me on Facebook.

Buying English Cheeses: Supermarkets, Rippon, Paxton and Whitfield, La Fromagerie

Truffle cheese at La Fromagerie.

England is famous for Stilton and Cheddar; France is famous for Brie and Camembert. You can buy these in most supermarkets in England as well as overseas. But there's lots more to buy in London at speciality cheese shops and from online suppliers.

La Fromagerie

I have already found a great walk-in cheese shop which offers you a teeny taste of any new cheese if you are obviously keep to buy - La Fromagerie.

At La Fromagerie I have tried truffle cheese. (The truffles which are mushrooms, not the chocolate truffles.)
La Fromagerie also stock a solid, dry, full flavoured, crunchy salt French cheese called Comte.

Paxton and Whitfield
Paxton and Whitfield supply lovely wooden cheese boards and expensive cheese knives. Great if you are looking for a gift for a host in London or elsewhere.

The Paxton and Whitfield cheese board with their name on it.

Paxton and Whitfield introduced me to a garlicky soft French cheese, Gaperon d'Avergne. Soft, white, full of flavour. Make sure your friends eat it, too, so that they enjoy it and are breathing the same as you!

Rippon

Now I have discovered yet another shop, Rippon, named after the surname of the two founders. They stock another interesting English cheese, Lord of the Hundreds.

English cheese? What does everybody already know about English cheese? Traditional English cheese from the ubiquitous cows in the green fields of England, which you often see from the motorway driving through England. You also see green fields, and cows, on the train in England, as well as in Wales, and Scotland. Britain also has sheep, and lambs in springtime.

Cheddar

Classic cheddar is the English favourite as you can see from the huge selection of Cheddar crowding out everything else in English supermarkets such as Morrisons which started in the north of England supplying food from farmers in England. No wonder they concentrate on what they were originally famous for, British food. You may associate the name of Cheddar cheese with the place name Cheddar Gorge.

The English supermarkets such as Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose, now supply mature cheddar, which has a stronger flavour, and mild cheddar.  Grated or shredded cheddar, sold in large, self-sealing plastic bags, is a great topping for baked potatoes in their jackets.

You might also know that Stilton originally came from Stilton, which was not where it was made but the nearest pickup point.

Cheesaholics complain that plastic wrapped cheese is 'sweaty', and take long detours to find a speciality cheese shop. But if you are in London it's not much of a detour to three great cheese shops, La Fromagerie near Baker Street station, Paxton and Whitfeld, or Rippon.

The Rippon cheese shop is in Victoria, London, near Victoria station. They stock Lord of the Hundreds, an unpasteurised cheese.

The name Lord of the Hundreds comes from a Saxon Lord, or tax collector who collected from one hundred parcels of land. So I learned from this website:
http://www.finecheese.co.uk/our-cheeses/lord-of-the-hundreds.html

You can also find this cheese on line at a cheaper price if you shop around to read more about it and compare prices. This site says it's a vegetarian cheese. Hm, vegetarian, not vegan.
http://www.traditionalcheesedairy.co.uk/shop/product.php?xProd=7&xSec=14

R i p p o n Cheese, London SW1V 1SW.
(Sorry - I had to separate the letters. I don't believe it - spellcheck has turned the name into the more poplar word Nipon! That means Japan.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker. 

Morbier - Yummy French cheese with a line through the middle

Morbier is a yummy white french cheese with a wavy blueish line through the middle, looking a bit like a slice of sponge cake. It was originally made it the evening leftover cheese preserved with a lawyer of ash across the top. Nowadays the line is made with vegetable colouring. It's like brie but not so pungent, just creamy and delicious.

You will find it in France also at other countries at French events.