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Comment by kyllo | Hacker News Reader

Haha. When I was in China, one of my American friends there freaked out because he couldn't find a bottle of ranch dressing anywhere. Of all things, ranch dressing. He apparently liked to dip everything he ate in it back home.

About a week before I left, they opened up the first Subway restaurant in the city. I went on the first day it was open, and there was a line of white people coming out the door. I used to take Subway (and cold cuts and sandwiches in general) completely for granted, but a year in China will make it sound pretty damn good.

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Things have definitely improved a lot since I lived here the first time in 2002 (decent hamburgers, good Indian food, even at the same place!)...but we still can't get some very basic things. The Chinese food market is still very insular and the fact that the ex-pat population is so small (relatively speaking) doesn't help.

Ranch dressing, peanut butter, and root beer: 3 staples you might not find outside of the USA.

Of course that's not true. In South Africa, where I am, peanut butter is ubiquitous, root beer is available (imported from the US or from speciality soft-drink manufacturers) and ranch dressing; I have no idea about ranch dressing because I never by pre-made dressings.

Along with freedom, democracy and the internet, right?

China is more free than the west in some areas, depends what freedom you care about. No democracy but we actually have some Internet (like hackernews).

Anyways, I just want sausage.

Here in Italy, peanut butter is actually surprisingly available. Ranch dressing can be found here and there, and root beer is of course completely unheard of because it's an acquired taste that most people who haven't grown up with it dislike.

I'm going to be back in the US in a week, and I can't wait to eat:

* Mexican

* Bagels

* Barbecue

* Thai

* Mexican

I've lived in China and Korea, and surprisingly, pretty good Mexican food was available in both places. Somewhat less surprisingly, good Thai food was also available.

Good cheeses, breads, and wines, however, were not. And if you did manage to find them somewhere, the price was double what you'd pay in the US.

Heh - good cheeses and wines are already expensive in the US compared to here.

You'll find the first two in some Indian cities. At least Bangalore, since I saw them on shelves in some of the bigger stores. Not sure about root beer.

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