Y'all... I am on this expat American in Australia forum and there is this thread of stuff people desperately want their families to bring to Christmas and I am deceased - the comment section is mostly:
- Ranch Seasoning
- Pumpkin Pie Seasoning
- OTC meds that are clearly available under other names in Australia, like Guaifenesin and Bacitracin
- American Ketchup and A1 sauce
- Hershey's Candy
Is this really, really who we are? Really?
I do understand the girl scout cookies. That one is fair.
@hacks4pancakes On the other hand, I can now buy Tim Tams from Walmart. Check. Mate.
@foo @hacks4pancakes
And Safeway. It blows my mind a bit. Of all the things.
Kind-of-okay chocolate-coated cookies.
@foo @hacks4pancakes Are they the same recipe? Tim Tams are designed not to melt in Australian heat and so have a surprisingly high quality chocolate. You can tell the real ones because you can bite off diagonally opposite corners and then drink coffee using it as a straw. The biscuit will eventually become sodden and it will implode (forming a very tasty smaller chocolate snack) but the chocolate will not all melt off.
In the UK, we have Penguins, which look the same. Trying the same thing with a Penguin will not end well (an Aussie friend made me try this for science).
@david_chisnall @hacks4pancakes I'm not Australian, but I used to work with some who would bring a ton of them in their luggage to give out during off-site work trips. As far as I can tell, the Tim Tams we can now get in the US are the exact same, imported from AU.
Interestingly, for a few years before that they were available from Cost Plus World Market, but were called Arnott's Original. Probably a trademark issue they had to resolve first.
@foo @hacks4pancakes Well, now I'm just jealous.