I have a friend who lives in Sweden, and I was wanting to send him a small care package of American candies and such. Now, I've heard that items like beef jerky are available in Sweden, but are rather expensive, so what I wanted were some suggestions as to what I can send him. I'd like these items to be something either very hard to find, or unavailable in Sweden. Suggestions?
Step One: find out the postal regulations of what you are able to legally send to Sweden! I'd hate for you to find out at the post office after you have everything boxed up. For example, you can't mail Barbie dolls, live bees, or human hair products to Italy (don't ask, just trust me on this one). You may be able to find out online also.
I checked, and I'm allowed to send non-perishable foods like candies and such. I'm just trying to find stuff that is difficult to get in Sweden that we have in the U.S.
Cajun spices (northern climes often don't have much experience with hot foods, IME), various BBQ sauces would be good as well, I'd think. If you really want to fuck with your friend's head (And why wouldn't you?), I suggest sending him really bizarre items, along with the yummy stuff. Like Cheeseburger in a Can, or some of the ideas mentioned here. And if you really want to mess with him, this should do the trick. (Observe the cholesterol content.)
Blech on the last one, but I love the idea of sending some Cajun spices and sauces. I figure that, and some local candies from our area would be a nice gift. I mean, he sent me stuff I couldn't pronounce if I tried (I did!), and it was just really neat to get things that can only be purchased in Sweden.
This book would probably make an awesome gift. I haven't read that particular book by Raichlen, but based on his other books, he knows his shit when it comes to food. You might also poke around here and see what you can find that's absolutely American.
And now that I think about it, sourdough bread ingredients would probably be hard or impossible to find in Sweden.
Something else just hit me: Pickled Chow Chow (think American kim chi) and pepper jelly, would probably be good as well. (Note, I don't know anything about the ones I linked to, they were just the first things to come up on a Google flail. I have had both pickled chow chow and pepper jelly, and they is good, IMHO.)
Chow Chow is a staple at my house and a must with black-eyed peas. Pepper Jelly makes me think of guests and Christmas. Pepper Jelly over a block of cream cheese eaten on wheat thins or triscuits are one of those things you keep all the time to throw together if someone shows up at your house (in the South, it is very rude not to feed guests, even unexpected ones.)
I think @John should ask for some Surströmming in return. Apparently the smell is so bad when you open the can that it makes you want to vomit. It is, nonetheless, a delicacy in Sweden.
If you have local goodies John, I'd go for those. Most grocery stores in Sweden have an "American Section" and a lot of the well known candy can be bought there. Jerky is a great idea, too. Especially a variety of flavors because they don't have much and it's super expensive there. I guess Oreo cookies can be hard to find, so they may not have any of the interesting limited edition flavors over there...that might be good.
Oreos are two a penny in Europe, amd if you think all shops in Sweden have "American sections" with imported stuff then that's a different Sweden to the one I know of! Having said that, a lot of the candy products can be bought online in Europe so it's worth having a look at those sites, noting what they have and then trying to find something that doesn't commonly appear on them. Rather than something American per se, something more specific to your state may be in order.
You stole the joke I was just about to post *grrrrr* I actually once got a can of Surströmming for a birthday. Yes, I opened it. Everybody dropped, unconscious. When we woke up again it tasted quite good.
I know regular Oreos are relatively easy to find, but what about the limited edition flavors? Like Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos, Lemon Oreos, Triple Double Oreos, Banana Oreos...ect. There have been quite a few unusual flavors recently. I personally fear Watermelon Oreos...sounds icky to me.
I've never even seen all these in stores here around Augusta, total metropolitan population of 200K or so. I'm guessing almost impossible in small town Sweden.
