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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[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 61 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 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.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 1 week ago

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

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 29 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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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[–] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it's nothing like the shit labeled mozzarella sold in supermarkets around the world

That's called mot-zer-eller, if I remember right.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

no no, it's "Moe's a fella"

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[–] Papanca@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago (7 children)

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

[–] Apollo2323@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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

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[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 37 points 1 week ago (10 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

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 week ago

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

Sounds like something you could get at a state fair

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[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] bestusername@aussie.zone 17 points 1 week ago
[–] figjam@midwest.social 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] riskable@programming.dev 15 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Marmite crumpets shouldn't exist!

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

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 week 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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[–] kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

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

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week 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.

[–] EbenezerScrew@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week 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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[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week 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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[–] MP3Martin@programming.dev 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)
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[–] Packet@hexbear.net 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Buckwheat kasha, you won't find it even in a Slavic restaurant. It is a simple dish of cooked buckwheat and milk, with sugar added if one desires. Such a simple breakfast dish is sold nowhere to my knowledge.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

It sounds like chinese congee, but with wheat instead of rice

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[–] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Vegemite

Listen here you little shit...

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

[–] Moonguide@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago (7 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.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week 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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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)
[–] illi@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago

Technically... you could buy them premade

[–] NineMileTower@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (5 children)

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

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[–] bestusername@aussie.zone 8 points 1 week ago

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

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week 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.

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[–] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Are hotels in the UK not equipped with toasters?

[–] Lemming421@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] phlegmy@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

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[–] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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

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[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 6 points 1 week 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).

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)
  1. Chip Butty
  2. Crisp Sandwich made with Sandwich Spread.
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