scorecardI moved from my home in the UK to the US for 4 months. Here are 4 British food and drinks I missed — and 2 American dishes I loved.
  1. Home
  2. life
  3. food
  4. news
  5. I moved from my home in the UK to the US for 4 months. Here are 4 British food and drinks I missed — and 2 American dishes I loved.

I moved from my home in the UK to the US for 4 months. Here are 4 British food and drinks I missed and 2 American dishes I loved.

Mikhaila Friel   

I moved from my home in the UK to the US for 4 months. Here are 4 British food and drinks I missed — and 2 American dishes I loved.
Mikhaila Friel, photographed in Washington D.C. in 2016, and a portion of fish and chips, right.Mikhaila Friel/Insider, Alex Walker/Getty Images
  • I moved from Scotland, UK to Pennsylvania, US, for four months back in 2016.
  • One of the things I loved about my time abroad was trying American food.

I moved from my home in Scotland, UK, to Pennsylvania in the US for four months in 2016.

I moved from my home in Scotland, UK, to Pennsylvania in the US for four months in 2016.
Mikhaila Friel in New York City in December 2016.      Mikhaila Friel/Insider

In August 2016, I left my home in Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, to spend a semester abroad at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Millersville, located just outside of Lancaster, is a two-hour drive from Philadelphia.

During my time in the US, I got to travel around the East Coast and try foods that we don't have in my home country.

And while I enjoyed the dishes I tried, there were a handful of British specialties that I missed while in the US.

Fish and chips is a British staple that I found myself missing.

Fish and chips is a British staple that I found myself missing.
Fish and chips with mushy peas.      Pepgooner/Shutterstock

Fish and chips — or fries, as they're called in the US — has been a popular dish in the UK since around the 1860s, according to Great British Mag. They are most commonly found in fish and chip shops, known as "chippies" in the UK.

While you can find this dish in some restaurants across the US, it seems nowhere near as common as it is in the UK, where you can find a chippie in every small village and big city.

I grew up loving fish and chips, especially since my parents ran their own chippie in my hometown when I was a teenager.

Cadbury chocolate in the US is different to the original UK version.

Cadbury chocolate in the US is different to the original UK version.
Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate.      Newscast/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

While in the US, I visited Hershey Chocolate World in Pennsylvania, where I got to try samples of Hershey chocolate bars and Cadbury bars. Cadbury is a British chocolate brand, but it's owned by Hershey in the US.

I wasn't a big fan of the Cadbury bars in the US. As soon as I tried it, I could tell that it was a different recipe, and in my opinion the original tastes better.

As Insider previously reported, Cadbury chocolate bars have a slightly different quantities of ingredients in the US due to different labeling standards in both countries.

The two countries have a different fat content and cocoa content used in their recipes. The US Cadbury bars use only cocoa butter as the "fat," in order to meet FDA standards, whereas the UK company use vegetable oils such as palm and shea.

I missed Tetley tea so much that my family mailed it to me.

I missed Tetley tea so much that my family mailed it to me.
Boxes of Tetley tea at a supermarket.      Newscast/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

I'm a big tea lover, so when I arrived in the US one of the first things I did was purchase a kettle for my dorm room.

I soon realized the beverage isn't as beloved as it is in the UK. When I requested English breakfast tea at restaurants, many places didn't serve it at all. If they did serve it, the tea usually came with cream instead of milk, which isn't something I was used to.

My favorite brand is Tetley, which they didn't sell on my university campus or at my local supermarket. I missed it so much that my parents ended up sending me Tetley tea in the mail.

It's difficult to find traditional Scottish haggis in the US.

It
Haggis, neaps, and tatties.      Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images

Haggis is one of the most well-known dishes to originate from Scotland. It is most commonly eaten as part of a Burns Supper, which many people eat on Burns Night on January 25 in honor of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.

In a Burns Supper, the haggis (spiced meat encased in animal intestines) is served with neeps (turnips), and tatties (potatoes).

Traditional haggis has been banned in the US since 1971 because the recipe includes sheep lung. But you can get a vegetarian version of it in some stores, according to iNews, as well as versions that omit the banned ingredient.

Read more: I was born and raised in Scotland. Here are 7 Scottish foods and beverages everyone should try in their lifetime.

However, there are some American dishes I wish we had in the UK — like pumpkin pie.

However, there are some American dishes I wish we had in the UK — like pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin pie.      bhofack2/Getty Images

Since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK, it makes sense that pumpkin pie never took off here. I had never tried it before my visit to the US, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

In my opinion, sweet pies are overall done better in the US than in the UK. I remember the first time I visited a supermarket in the US and being surprised by the wide variety of pie fillings.

In the UK, apple pie is popular but there isn't as much variation.

I was also a big fan of waffles while living in the US.

I was also a big fan of waffles while living in the US.
Waffles with syrup and fruit.      JMichl/Getty Images

Waffles originated in Europe and were thought to have been brought to the US by the pilgrims in 1620 after discovering them during a brief stop in Holland, according to PBS Food.

We have waffles in the UK, but they are not as popular as they are in the US. I had tried them at restaurants before, but it's not something I ever made at home. And waffle-makers aren't a common appliance in British kitchens, like they are in the US.

I loved the fact that when I was in the US there were waffles in the university dining hall every day.

READ MORE ARTICLES ON

Advertisement