I can’t stop talking about British food (send help, or crisps)

A packet of McCoy’s salt-and-malt-vinegar crisps had become nostalgic for me. I’d tried them in one of my earliest YouTube videos, and they were one of the things that got me interested in tasting more food here. After seven years in the UK, I was developing memories attached to British things, which felt strange and lovely.

I’d just had a food delivery that morning and wanted to talk through the fridge, cupboards and snack drawer. I’d also just rolled out of bed, so this wasn’t a polished kitchen tour. It was a look at the food I liked, the things I’d started doing differently and the supplies that had rather taken over the cupboards.

Cheese deserved more attention

I thought some of the best cheese I’d ever had came from the UK. France seemed to get all the attention, but I loved the cheese I could buy here and found it reasonably priced and easy to get. I could have eaten it every day. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to add more when we placed the grocery order.

The fridge itself wasn’t very big, which was something I noticed as a Canadian. Elsewhere in the kitchen, drinks that didn’t fit had ended up in a pile. We had lots of squash, partly because I loved it. The way I used it also gave me a small comparison with home.

Squash changed how I made a drink

Back home, I knew frozen juice concentrate in a can, poured into a big jug, mixed with water and kept in the fridge. With the smaller fridges I’d found here, giving a large jug that much room wasn’t so easy. Instead, I had bottles of squash and mixed a little with water in a cup.

I liked squash enough to keep buying it, but it wasn’t quite as convenient as pouring cold juice from the fridge. Sometimes I put in too much concentrate, sometimes not enough, and it wasn’t as cold. It was a favourite that still gave me something to complain about early in the morning.

English mustard became a Christmas habit

The cupboards had plenty of spices, including Kashmiri chilli powder that we used a lot. I loved korma too, even if people teased me about choosing such a mild curry. Adding a little of that chilli powder was something I enjoyed.

English mustard was a different sort of strength. It reminded me of horseradish, with that powerful sensation going up my nose if I had too much. I found it delicious, but it wasn’t the American mustard I was used to.

A little English mustard with hot sausage rolls had become part of my Christmas Day routine. Coming downstairs in my pyjamas and having those was something I really liked. There were other favourites in the kitchen too, including peri-peri mayonnaise on burgers and Biscoff spread that we bought all the time. I loved having those in the kitchen.

There was more tea than cupboard space

I’d tried so much tea during my time here that I’d had to reduce the collection because it was overflowing the cupboard. Yorkshire was my favourite among the big tea brands I’d taste-tested, but in the months before filming I’d begun experimenting with loose-leaf tea.

A viewer had sent some from Lancashire, and I really enjoyed both brewing it and drinking it. Then I visited a tea house and tried black tea infused with vanilla, which I found incredible. I’d become a loose-leaf tea lady, even though I didn’t fully understand all the complexities of brewing it yet.

I still loved Yorkshire, but there was so much other tea I hadn’t tried. That was what excited me about the little teapot and the loose-leaf experiments. I wanted to keep trying different ones, rather than pretend I already knew everything about them.

New favourites and older memories in the snack drawer

At the time, I’d been on a Walkers Max Strong binge, particularly the hot-chicken-wings flavour. The McCoy’s packet was more familiar and had its own history for me. I still loved those salt-and-malt-vinegar crisps, although Tesco Finest ridge-cut salt-and-vinegar had become my favourite. Finding the Tesco ones had been difficult because they kept being sold out when I went.

Popcorn gave me another comparison with Canada. I liked Butterkist sweet-and-salty here, which wasn’t how I remembered cinema popcorn back home. That had been bright yellow, buttery and salty. Extra liquid butter could make it squishy, so I hadn’t wanted more poured over it.

I still missed that Canadian cinema popcorn, and wasn’t sure whether it had changed since I’d left. Here, though, I’d become a sweet-and-salty person. The same kitchen could hold new favourites and things that reminded me of home, while a familiar bag of crisps was starting to remind me of my own earlier life in England.

Watch the fridge, cupboards and snack drawer tour.