Favorite Foreign Foods/Sweets?

[Dreamstalker]

A friend studies Japanese history/culture and makes us yummy treats all the time, like mochi and takoyaki.

Dammit, I'm jealous now (I love takoyaki, mom won't let me bring octopus into the house for some reason so all my attempts to make it have met with failure). J-List has a lot of unusual Pocky/Pretz, etc, but the shipping can kill the deal. My favorite sushi now is mackerel.

crystal noodles with a brick of spices and mushrooms. and the mushrooms actually rehydrate into actual mushrooms! they're like little miracles in fungus form ^_^

Aw yeah, I'm addicted to that soup.

[firecat88]

My mom is from Venezuela. She also does a lot of medical missions in other South American countries. In no particular order, these are some of the things I lovelovelove that my mom has introduced me to.

1) Frescolita: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frescolita I try not to drink sodas too much, but I will drop everything for a glass of this stuff.

2) Tequeños: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teque%C3%B1o Cheese wrapped in dough and either fried or baked (I've had 'em both ways, and they are both yummy). What's not to love?

3) Arepas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arepa Love 'em for their versatility. You can put pretty much *anything* in an arepa. My favorite way to make 'em, though, is using leftover pork. Pull it off the bone and stick it in an arepa with some mayo, avocado, and farmer's cheese. Yum!

4) Cachapas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachapa Put a little butter and slices of queso fresco on 'em, and they are gooooooooooood.

5) Empanadas: Again, very versatile. Traditionally, they're stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, hardboiled eggs, potatoes, and raisins (I usually ask for extra raisins in mine), though I've had 'em with just potatoes and cheese, with spaghetti sauce and cheese, with apples, with guava jelly and cream cheese...yeah, there's a million things you can do with an empanada.

[dawnfire]

Something I miss from when I were a lad was from alocal takeaway, run by a Greek and his Chinese wife. They called it "Dim Sim", but it was dim sum filled with Greek style fillings.

sounds interesting. which fillings?

[Cazzi]

'cept there's this one hard candy...i got it once in epcot years ago. they said it was straight from england (so i believe them, of course )...i can't for the life of me remember what they were called. fruit flavored. de-lish. came in a can with a green plastic lid. i wish i could remember what they were called so i could order some online!

They sound like good old fashioned boiled sweets or fruit drops. Similar to these? (4th image down)

[chrislb]

kimchi is God's wrath in food form. I cannot stand the smell or taste of it after a truly horrible experience with it. Homemade lasagna made by an Italian who can cook well is an amazing experience not to be missed. I like those weird honeycomb like candybars from canada, cant find them here though. love me some squid jerky and wasabi peanuts. Lately have been seriously craving italian food tiramisu gnocchi. Amaretto cheesecake with frozen to the point of being syrupy amaretto poured over it mmmmm. frozen amaretto also goes very well with french vanilla ice cream.

[Magpie]

one of these days i need to try haggis.

It's so good! Get the modern stuff where they cheat and use good meat and filler. But don't let someone convince you that they should be using only meat, it won't be as good.

Last year, my friend lived across the hall from an exchange student from Amsterdam and she brought that stuff in. Everyone else had tried it and were watching in disgust as I put it in my mouth. I loved it and the exchange student was so thrilled! I was the only American she knew who liked it.

I must admit, I'm not fond of salted licorice. I do like the stuff with actual licorice instead of anise, but only if not salted. (Although I suspect I'd like it if only the outside was salty, it was a very interested combination.)

I haven't met many people who like polenta.

Ahhhh! the texture! (one of these days I'm going to fry it, I suspect I'd like that better).

Does it count as "foreign" if I make it myself? And if it's really common, everyday food? Because I like sushi, and falafel, but the only falafel I eat are homemade (from scratch these days, thankyouverymuch). Oh, and I'm a sucker for St. Lucia buns. I just need to learn to make fewer of them. Or find more people to give them to.