Do you miss British Goods in Spain?

Funny subject this.  Initial reaction from me is emphatically NO followed by "I didnt come to Spain to live as a Brit".  However, I don't hanker for cheddar cheese or sausages or marmite but could this be because I can get them all here and more?  Take away the panic and then its easy to be abstemious.  I still dont think I would get overly upset about the lack of too many things but I do believe that having them easily accessible makes them less appealing to me anyway.

Very nutritious actually!!

We are spoilt here because even the basic supermarket Mercadona has things like Cheddar, Baked Beans and Tabasco sauce !!!! (well I do like it but would use a local brand if it wasnt available).  There are also three British type supermarkets within a short driving distance of home.  These supply most of the items that the British seem to want most of which I wouldn't buy in the UK so am not going to start buying them here.  But they also have teabags and orange squash and proper English mustard.  Also the people who sell English Food at the local markets also do a roaring trade.

I went to Gibralter a few weeks ago.  Never been before (not sure I will rush back either) and the person I went down with needed some specific things in Morrisons.  So off we trotted and it was obviously just like being back in England - although this Morrisons was far bigger and grander than the little one that my Mum shops in.  I could have spent 2-300 Euros or 20 euros - I opted for the latter.  It might have been a bit of a different story if I had brought a cool box with me!

But it brought home to me why our shopping doesn't cost that much here.  There isn't the choice.  So you go to Mercadona and buy the basics and make what you want from that - which is fine.  You go into Morrisons (for instance) and there are three aisles of  chilled stuff including take away meals and if you dont like the look of the prepacked take aways Indian or Chinese you can go and select your own from two different deli counters dealing with preprepared food.  In the UK this would be normal but I must have looked a bit like a hick from the sticks.  I am sure my tongue was hanging out.  BUT did I need it all?  No but quite clearly I was in the minority as it was packed with Brits from the mainland piling up their trolleys to take back into Spain.  What amazed me was the things they were buying were basics as well as what I would consider to be treats.  They were buying bread, milk, jams, tins of tuna etc - all the things I would buy in Mercadona and I think that is sad.  Sad that this is how they want to live in Spain and sad for the Spanish economy.



I suppose the one thing I miss here is the ease of getting local produce organically grown.  The Spanish love affair with chemicals has led some of their fruit and vegetables to be banned in Northern Europe and I would like a better choice of such things.  When we first came we grew our own but water is a bigger challenge these days and they do take a lot of water.

So, at the end of all that blurb - am I glad we can get British goods here?   Well it leaves room for other stuff in the suitcase when visiting the UK (tea bags were always the main thing) and Derek does like his cheddar and baked beans (but he wouldn't go into a decline if he couldnt get them) so for the main part I think we could live without!!