Many specialty foods can be found at these stores:

• Globus and Jelmoli department stores
• El Maiz (Josefstrasse 23, Zurich, closed Mondays) for all your mexican food needs
• the English Orel Fussli (the one on Bahnhofstrasse)
• The London Store in Zug with branches in Zurich
• "Britshop - Britsh Food Online in Switzerland"
• Taste of America
• The Aussie Shop
• American Food Avenue
• I've found Asian and Indian groceries having (surprise, surprise) lots of imported things, including things like root beer.
• Egli and Mueller Reformhauses have interesting things as well, including raw milk, goat's milk, and sheep milk, and gluten free foods.

Fenwick's Feinkost, at Missionsstrasse 15A in Basel was also reccomended as a source of British foods.

Here is a short list of things "I wish someone had told me when I moved here." More random than comprehensive...

Please write (webster@andreagrant.org) and add to the list! Help your fellow ex-pats!

Click here to go to browse the full list.

 

Baking Products
Vanilla extract
Brown sugar**
Molasses (not black strap)
Baking chocolate**
Cardamom
Pumpkin puree
Dairy
Cheddar cheese
Lactose free dairy
Soda
Root beer
Ginger Ale
Miscellaneous
Popping corn

 

Cardamom	Migros City at Loewenplatz
Cheddar cheese	Migros City at Loewenplatz Migros Wegnihof at Kalkbreite all Coops with a cheese counter, especially Coop City Bahnhofbruecke, at Central
Baking Chocolate**	Coop City Bahnhofbruecke, at Central only in the month of December
Ginger Ale	All CoopsMany Indian and Asian groceries
Lactose free dairy	Milk seems generally available at Migros and CoopCoop at Lochergut
Molasses (not blackstrap)	Look for Zuckerruebensirop at Egli ReformhausIt's not quite molasses but I found it a suitable substitute, certainly much better than the blackstrap stuff at the regular stores.
Popping corn	Migros City at Loewenplatz
Pumpkin puree	London Store and its Zurich offspring, Premiere VideothekGlobus in November only
Root beer	London Store and its Zurich offspring, Premiere VideothekThe Thai grocery at the corner of Josefstr. and Hafnerstr. behind the Hauptbahnhof
Brown sugar**	London Store and its Zurich offspring, Premiere Videothek
Vanilla extract, both real and imitation	El Maiz

**Please don't write to tell me brown sugar is "everywhere" in Switzerland. When an American, Canadian, or Brit talks about brown sugar, we are not referring to "sugar that is brown", rohrzucker, etc. In countries somehow tied to the UK they sell a special, moist sugar product which is critical to the taste and texture of our baked goods. Yes, I know Switzerland has wonderful baked goods that don't need it, but the point of all this is to help the homesick ex-pat! Baking chocolate, similarly, is a completely unsweetened chocolate used for baking. Susbstituting dark chocolate means adjusting sugar amounts which upsets the wet:dry balance. Using cocoa + oil isn't a very satisfactory substitute because the natural fat (cocoa butter) in the chocolate has a special texture.

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last updated 28 July 2007

webster@andreagrant.org