Obtaining Western Specialty foods

skk

Since I plan to spend extended periods of time in India I don't want to totally do without certain favorite foods and drinks while there - things like decent cheeses like Gorgonzola, Brie or at least a sharp Cheddar - Cali and Au chardonnays, merlots, cab sav, sauvignon blanc, microbrews and so on..

Its reasonable to hanker for these things once in a while and to indulge that hankering IMO.

What tips and tricks are there for getting these - I've looked in the Pune Cantonment area in the past and failed -

Some tricks I've learnt and used in the reverse process was in England where there was a network of people who got a airline stewardess to ship in cases of fresh-frozen(?) poplette(sp?) fish and in the late '70s, cases of Happus Mangoes in season ( nowadays the stores carry them, even in the USA ).

Then, for British delicacies like Heinz baked beans and marmite and certain instant coffee, oddly, the Indian grocery stores in the USA carry them !

And every town in the USA has at least one Brit/Irish pub so British beer isn't a problem.

I've never had to grapple with customs in the USA ( not even when illegally sneaking in Melton Mowbray pork pies ..

Coming back to India - would that be possible for India - has anybody done so ? is there somebody who's set up a business for importing "hard to obtain foreign oddball food and drink items" ?

I've never really found a specialty imported wines and beer or similar gourmet food store in Mumbai or Pune - is there one ?

-skk

wonderwomanusa

There are some food import stores in Bangalore and Delhi that have been discussed here, and if you scroll to the bottom of this page, there's a link to a thread about such things in Mumbai.

__________________
The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

SitaParityaga

Hey skk! Load up those bags with 3 months of decent cheeses and the allowed bottles of favorite wine, and you're on the road for your first extended stay in India!

I like your idea of a specialty import shop...but you can already find those wacky English Heinz baked beans anywhere (sorry, they are an "acquired" taste) You'll get a kick out of "Chantilly" from a Maharashtra chardonnay vintner. If I were to want to do a start up business in import goodies, I'd make some friends with those nouveau wine maker guys! Hey, bet they''d even be into some talk about microbreweries!

skk

Re: SitaParityaga - smelly cheeses amongst my baggage ? That's gonna need some really decent wrapping - and here's hoping the mad TSA at DIA don't decide to force me to unwrap it - and nope I won't get juvenile here and say anything more in the vein of smelly cheeses and the cutting thereof. Wine, yeah I think I'll have to carry some in as duty free.

Re:WonderwomanUSA - Thanks for the pointer to the links - I didn't spot anything there but.... in the post about cat sitters in Mumbai ( don't ask me why I was perusing that), in the Expats - Living in Mumbai thread - I found this about stores in Mumbai:

Import store: There are some imported food products I just cannot live without. I've been to Hypercity and Le Marche

and

both supermarkets in Hiranandani gardens, Powai (D-mart and Haiko supermarket),

Now I have names I can make direct contact and execute product discovery !

-skk

wonderwomanusa

Good luck, skk; it's difficult but I've found that as the number of expats rises, someone always does start importing those exotic things, like cranberry sauce and Hostess cup cakes.

Sama

was the word "delicacies" tongue in cheek?

because you can get cases of Heinz baked beans at discount grocery stores in my area -- they're not exactly considered gourmet and uppercrust! you can usually find them 3 cans for $1....

__________________
My India, 2005-2008

skk

Its the scarcity value, old boy ; actually, the incident I recall to myself is during the three months I spent in Atlanta on biz two decades ago - company paid breakfast, lunches and dinners in decent restaurants and all that - but two months in I was sick of it and homesick too to boot and I'd got to know the wait-staff at the Pickett's Suites well so one day I just said - look what I really want is "beans on toast" - well, I got that but it was BBQ-sauce baked beans . That's when I realized the value of BRITISH Heinz baked beans - so its a symbolic food for me ( and other ex-pat Brits too ) - symbolic of things you can use to assuage homesickness - call it comfort food, school dinner food etc..

Separately, if you are in India, where in India and what's the grocery store? sounds like you have access to them - and inexpensive too at that.

-K

edwardseco

Glad you Brits love that American food. We need the exports just now. The damage to my portfolio over the last six months has just crossed into the 6 figure zone..

Sama

first, no, I'm not in India (right now), so can't help you there, sorry.....

second, I'm not a boy.
while I'm not well-endowed, I'm never mistaken for a boy...,
believe me....

skk

re: sama - second, I'm not a boy.

Oops, sorry, old girl.. O sh*t now I've REALLY done it

Ummm, 'tis true that Heinz is a US corp and brand but as regards baked beans, the British version is quite different from the US ones. If my word isn't good enough, here is what wikipedia ( so it must be true, right ) says about it :

There are substantial differences between the Heinz baked beans sold in the UK and the nearest equivalent U.S. product (Heinz Premium Vegetarian Beans). The U.S. beans contain brown sugar where the British beans do not......The U.S. beans also possess a mushier texture and are darker in colour than their UK counterpart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans

And, no, I didn't create that wiki entry ( but hmmm, gives me a idea for a scummy, scammy, dead cert bet as a swindle if I'm ever in deep financial distress).

Sorry to hear that - Even though I know a heck a lot, since this is not a financial forum, I won't offer ideas, certainly not on individual stocks - it won't do any good, since it can be taken as read that I'd be talking my book and anyway if I get going on financial stuf, I'm extremely garrulous but unlike economists who only need two hands ( On the one hand, xxyyyzzzz; on the other hand aaabbbbccc ), I'll need more hands that Durga and Shiva( 8 handed variant) put together to make my point - which always ends with - "I don't really know actually".

But I do know long term trends and I transact accordingly ( I refuse to call this investing, especially since I regularly go short , do commodities, currencies as well as equities ); 'Tis funny I lived through the tail end of the decline of the British Empire and its associated socioeconomic effects, with a temporary resurgence for 10 years ( 1982-91) and then just as I moved to the US found ANOTHER one, also in decline with similar socio-economic effects with a current period of accelerating decline.

This is also why I'm exploring the idea of multi-country living; boltholes and all that. Besides its not much fun living in a country in decline - the media gets all whiney, the people defensive, the politicians shrill.

Anyway this reminds me I need to check out financial TV channels in India. I've watched CNBC-TV18 via the internet but only occasionally - I watched that 12% dump and trading suspension on the BSE on MLK day - I must see how they follow the US market during US market hours - I'll start an appropriate thread once I get my questions worked out.

-skk

Sama

yeah, now you're up creek without a paddle...

but that's OK because the older the violin the sweeter the music...
MEOW...