It's possible that we are too easily amused.

We love grocery shopping here in England. Which is a good thing, since we are doing a fair bit of it. Our fridge is a typical British one, with a capacity of about 5 cubic feet (not including the freezer section), and that means we could put four of them into our fridge at home.

There are two good-sized food markets here in Halstead, Somerfield's and Solar, as well as a really good bakery, so quick trips during the week for carrots, milk and eccles cakes are an easy fifteen minute walk each way. If we want to stock up on staples and meat we trek into Witham, or Braintree or Chelmsford, and visit Tesco or Morrison's. Mind you, stocking up here is a lot more modest than dealing with our monster pantry and freezer at home.

We enjoy these outings, and not only because they are sometimes followed by a trip to Pizza Hut. We are amused by British grocery shopping, and I'm here to show you why.

On a recent visit to Morrison's - it was last Friday, if you want to know - I was approached by a nice managerial type who wondered why I was wandering around his store taking photographs. I muttered something about showing my relations back home all the neat flavoured crisps that we can't get in Canada, and, reassured that I wasn't some kind of nefarious marketing spy, he smiled and went back to his office. Here are some of the things I wanted to show you.

Only in England

Everyone knows about those flavoured potato chips, or rather, crisps, that they sell here, like these:


Steak and Onion

Oddly enough, the package says that they are suitable for vegetarians. Interesting, eh? Or these:


Smokey Bacon, with Prawn Cocktail ones lurking at the right

I can vouch for the Prawn Cocktail. The Smokey Bacon ones I haven't tried. You can also get Roast Chicken, Cheese & Onion, or Worcestershire. It's harder to find plain ones, and forget about a whacking great bag of crisps; all you can get if you want to binge are big bags containing lots of small bags. ????

Looking for something different for your relish tray? Try these:


Pickled cockles

How about a new and different appetizer?


Jellied eels

This one doesn't bear thinking about:


Bloater paste

The Way-Too-Cute-to-Eat Department:


Bear baloney

The Department of No-Comment:


No comment

And last, but not least, for the real Hungry Man:


Everything you need in one easy-open can

When I sat down to write this post, I was thinking about raiding the wee fridgie, but for some reason I seem to have changed my mind.