Paying Luxury Prices for Imported Goods

[Kouign Aman]

From England

Cadbury's chocolate - tastes maltier in England. Same formula worldwide, but raw materials sourced by each plant, so obviously going to be regional differences, and there are. Plus, I cant find the whole hazelnut/filbert bars here.

Birds Dessert powder - key ingredient in our in-a-hurry icecream recipe.

Marmite

[rickster]

From England

Cadbury's chocolate - tastes maltier in England. Same formula worldwide, but raw materials sourced by each plant, so obviously going to be regional differences, and there are. Plus, I cant find the whole hazelnut/filbert bars here.

Birds Dessert powder - key ingredient in our in-a-hurry icecream recipe.

Marmite

Just to point out that the Cadbury's commonly found in the US is made under license by Hershey.

Edited March 31, 2011 by rickster (log)

[FoodMuse]

Here in New York I found it's cheaper to have my food delivered to my door. I know that sounds crazy, but the food prices are lower using Fresh Direct. Probably because they don't have the costs of operating a store front.

Lurpak 8 ounces is $5.79

San Marzano 28 ounce can for $3.50

[Jenni]

Wow, this thread is kind of funny to me because my Mum refuses to buy Lurpak because it's "that nasty Danish butter". She makes sure we buy British butter, preferably local. Isn't it strange the way the world works!

[KD1191]

Liquor, any kind, really. With the city of Chicago having the highest sales tax in the country, combined with the three-tier liquor distribution system in Illinois, buying just about any booze is cheaper abroad (with the exception of American-made products like bourbon, of course).

Above average French wine is another thing where I can't bring enough home with me. A good Pommard, for example, will set me back at least $60 here, with better offerings easily topping $100. Meanwhile, I can get something of the same quality for $20 at one of the shops in the village or perhaps $30 in Paris.

[David A. Goldfarb]

$8 for Lurpak is fairly high. I've usually seen it in the $4-5 range for 250g, like most similar imports like Kerrygold, President, and my usual choice, Celles sur Belle. Seasonally they may edge over $5. I've tried the Parmigiano Reggiano butter, which often sells for $6-7, but despite the cachet of its origin, the flavor isn't that interesting.

A premium imported butter that I tried recently and liked is Polski Smak Masło Ekstra, from one of the local Polish markets here in Queens, and it has a very rustic cultured flavor and texture, and only costs $3, which is less than the domestic Plugra. I think the European butters for export to the US market probably try for a more refined, neutral flavor, but fortunately the Poles haven't gotten that sophisticated yet.

[Moopheus]

Seriously though, why Coca-Cola from Mexico? Real sugar? Better extracts?

This

I checked again, the shop was restocked. $1.59 for a 500ml bottle. That doesn't seem like too bad of a markup, considering.

[Trev]

Hello all, good a time as any to jump on in I suppose.

I'd say tequila. We always get good tequila for a great price in Mexico, but it's expensive here in Canada.

I went through a bit of a phase trying to use it with salmon, etc. and it was okay but I didn't find a recipe that I loved and moved on. It's too expensive to waste, and less get's in my mouth that way.

[hathor]

It's funny, but I always find myself bringing back cans of tuna and anchovies. And from the duty-free shop, Campari and last time, Suze.

That's only because I bring you back the fennel pollen. It's dirt cheap in Italy and the price of saffron here in the States. why??

[hathor]

My biggest mark-up standard item is easily salt. Uguni salt isn't all that bad in Japan, and French sea salt is very reasonable in France. Here, I pay upwards of $15/pound -- easily five times the local going rate.

Dairy products are number 2 -- sometimes I just gotta have me some clotted cream or Delitia butter.

Next up, spices. But spice mark-up has historically been the cause of the creation and loss of vast fortunes. Still, people who care about the provenance of their saffron or peppercorns are going to pay more than people who are OK with supermarket spices.

I forgot about salt. Sicilian sea salt is about .80euro cents for a kilo box. It's gorgeous totally unprocessed salt, and crazy cheap. It costs a small fortune in NYC...I near had a heart attack in Whole Foods. The most reasonably priced sea salt I can find is at the Sunrise Japanese Deli. I find that odd.

[Moopheus]

I forgot about salt. Sicilian sea salt is about .80euro cents for a kilo box. It's gorgeous totally unprocessed salt, and crazy cheap. It costs a small fortune in NYC...

I don't remember exactly what I paid for Sicilian sea salt here in Boston the last time I got some, but I don't remember it being especially egregious. In fact, I remember it as being pretty cheap compared to other imported salts. Like $2-3 a kilo, I think.

[LPShanet]

A frustrating one for me is txacoli (wine) from Spain's basque region. It's very versatile and goes with all kinds of food. In Spain, it's about 7-8 Euros a bottle. The same brand here is anywhere from $35 - 60. Not cool.