I live in the Netherlands. Here's what the 'American' section of the grocery store is actually like.

insider ^

[mylife]

humorous, lots of photos

[mylife]

apologies for the mangled post.

[ronniesgal]

we get it- they cannot find chocolate chips- 3 times.

[mylife]

[rktman]

No Zapps potato chips?

[muir_redwoods]

I can’t see anything I would buy.

[SamAdams76]

American obesity is hereby explained to the Dutch.

[mowowie]

What if i wanted a Slim Jim?

not that i would but....

[mylife]

Pancakes are a common food in the Netherlands, but they’re more similar to French crepes rather than fluffy American pancakes.

Multiple colleagues have asked me if the “tall” or “puffy” pancakes they see on American TV shows are a real part of our cuisine, so I found it funny to see this “All-American” mix on sale.

[Reno89519]

Pretty lame selection, more like a 7-Eleven wanna be than a real store. Nothing that I would or do buy.

[bert]

If you wear wooden shoes, you can’t eat a Slim Jim

[mylife]

luv me a spicy slim jim, one goes in the lunch pail..

[virgil]

No shake n bake?

[Rusty0604]

That is humorous.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

No shake n bake?

How about Hamburger Helper?

[martin_fierro]

Meanwhile, here's the Dutch section of a MURRICAN grocery store.

[Bob434]

No buckets of lard?

[Not_Who_U_Think]

A good friend in the UK loves for me to send over Hersey’s Kisses as a gift. They’re not for sale generally, for some reason. Perhaps it’s Big Chocolate.

I noticed that UK grocery items were less consumer oriented. There won’t be six different flavors of chips/crisps like you might find here. Dog food that I saw was simply labeled “Beef tripe for Dogs” and there wasn’t a yummy-looking picture on the label. Maybe their universities aren’t turning out as many marketing majors as ours.

However, the Spotted Dick was delicious.

[alexander_busek]

Pretty lame selection, more like a 7-Eleven wanna be than a real store.

Agreed!

Here in southern Germany, where I live, all the big grocery stores are virtually indistinguishable from their American counterparts - okay, maybe a bigger selection of sausages and cheeses, and fewer pancake mixes. But no other significant differences.

A far cry from what it was like in the early 80s, when I first came here.

Regards,

[dfwgator]