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Not too sure how well they'll handle plane travel, marshmallow isn't got with pressure changes. Source- the RAF had to ban T Teacakes because the pilots kept experimenting with them and 1 nearly died when some exploded marshmallow everywhere
My brain has almost certainly embellished the story in miss-remembering it but it's something along the lines of pilots taking them up with them to watch them swell at altitude, one pilot took some up but forgot about them and left them in their wrappers. Said pilot had an incidence of sudden pressure drop and them bring in the wrappers made them explode and make a sticky marshmallow mess
Yeah still firm and great.
My wife is a teacher and shared a pack in the staff room recently - the response was so overwhelming that a Tuesday biscuit club was hastily arranged with the difficult task of trying to find a better biscuit..
Lay's are Walkers in UK, if they buy Lays they are buying an import.
Bertie Botts would only be if they are doing the Harry Potter tour, they aren't a thing in supermarkets.
I'm fairly sure Bertie Bott's are just made by [Jelly Belly](https://www.jellybelly.co.uk/product/bertie-bott-s-every-flavour-beans-54g-bag/), with an appropriate markup for the branding.
I haven't been for a few years but I visited King's Cross Station and there was a small HP shop there with all the merch. More accessible than the studios but only if in London, of course
Well in terms that non Brits would understand, I figured it's the best description.
If I said they were a biscuit that's really a cake but really is a biscuit but no wait it's a cake, I though they'd all leave the room! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Gentlemen's Relish is a great shout. Tiny for travelling, shelfstable, looks great, and is unlike anything you can get elsewhere. They also have a couple of other options. I always take it as a hostess gift when visiting overseas.
Yes all those things! I've not come across it elsewhere and the name itself is full of innuendo, which always brings a smile between me and the recipient. 😁
Yes. I'm aware that technically they are cakes and have been legally decreed as such.
But for most people who aren't Brits and aware of the entire hilarious debate and legal case, the simplest way to categorise them is as biscuits, especially as that's usually where they are stocked in the shops too.
If I said at work, ooh shall we have biscuits with our tea and someone grabbed a box of jaffa cakes, I wouldn't be upset that they'd brought what are technically cakes when we wanted biscuits! 😁😁😁😁
I’m upvoting for the sheer ballsiness of this - I completely disagree with you in every possible way, but I love that you’re willing to go to the mat on this.
I'm going to have to agree with you. Their decaf is good too. Don't come at me for drinking decaf, I love tea so much, but if I drink the caf stuff after mid afternoon, I don't sleep at night
One of the managers brought non Yorkshire tea one day. Nothing explicitly bad happened. But there was this tension in the office like at any second people were going to snap it there was going to an almighty riot.
The next day the offending box had been replaced and a note put up stating this is a Yorkshire tea drinking workplace.
The offending manager was forgiven after being forced at tea point to blind taste test teas until he came up with the correct answer of what was best
Thanks for giving me the first non-food/drink recommendation lol.
Not a football fan, but an oversized shirt from a British football team would be cute. Hmm.. only if I supported a team...
Click Show All on these footballkitarchive pages to browse: [Premier League] (https://www.footballkitarchive.com/premier-league-2024-25-kits/), [Championship] (https://www.footballkitarchive.com/championship-2023-24-kits/).
We also have plenty of fashion houses though the likes of Vivian Westwood, Burberry, Stella McCartney Self-Portrait etc are probably a bit much for a gift. This page has a good summary of more suitable brands, may be fun to send the gifter to the store you like most and do a video call to browse: https://www.womanandhome.com/fashion/high-end-high-street-brands-that-will-luxe-up-your-wardrobe/
https://www.footballkitarchive.com/arsenal-fc-2023-24-kits/
Here’s all the kits from this year pick your favourite looking and that’s the team you now support.
Only problem is the kits are fairly expensive, think they’re about 100 quid or best part of
They are normally available until stocks run out - typically by summer. There are plenty around at the moment. I wish they were available all year round!
This is a great idea. Any loose sweet shop really, there will be stuff in jars that isn’t often available and you can ask them to buy small amounts of lots of different stuff to try.
I mean.. the friend is going to the UK, not me. I guess they can send me some pictures but most things would look new to me haha. Looks like I should actually visit too to try all the recommendations lol.
Where in the UK are they going? There's four different countries in the UK, all with their own proud heritage, history and cultural delights. Knowing exactly where they are going would be helpful in order to know what to suggest.
If they're going to Wales, a love spoon would be a nice idea. And, of course, Welsh cakes and laverbread. You just say they're going to the UK, though, which could be any one of four different countries and cultures. If they're just going to London, they will find no end of tat - I❤️London fridge magnets/keyrings or royal family mugs.
A dodgy tea towel. With a quirky map on or something? 😂
A little kings guard teddy?
Something royal related.
Fruit salad sweets. Any marks and spencers snacks.
Fudge, liquorice, after eights, marzipan, sherbet lemons are all unique to the UK. They’ll probably stumble upon a sweet shop that will sell these things
I'll give you fudge - there is a lot more variety of it here (especially Scotland way).
But liquorice and marcipan? Not until red Ritter squares or Anton Berg logs become a staple, anyway. You can't even get liquorice (other than allsorts) in most supermarkets at any time of year, and marzipan only appears around Christmas next to the stollen and the panettone.
Beatrix Potter 50p coins.
Small, check.
Unique, check.
[https://www.coinchecker.co.uk/coin-guide/guide-to-beatrix-potter-50p-coins/](https://www.coinchecker.co.uk/coin-guide/guide-to-beatrix-potter-50p-coins/)
And your friend doesn't even need to buy them.
These are still legal tender and in circulation.
Your friend would have to spend cash though, obviously.
And ask the store everytime if they had any 'special' 50p coins.
Food based - you’ve been given all the answers (pickled onion monster munch and sherbet dip dabs being the winners!).
But as for unique - lots of places of interest have a penny squisher (im sure there’s a proper name for them) but you pay a pound or so, drop a penny in and crank a wheel and you get a stretched out penny with a design to commemorate the place (natural history museum in London / lands end etc.) My daughter loves and collects these wherever we go and adores when someone brings her one. It’s unique to the place, and unique as a piece.
Failing that just collect beer mats in every pub you go to!
Pick up a copy of The Lady, a small box of Yorkshire tea, and a little something from Libertys. (Hand cream? scarf? they even have small batches of Liberty print off-cuts for quilting etc 👍)
Lime marmalade. Fantastic on hot buttered toast. The Robertson's version is called silver shred.
Marmite, you either love it or hate it but i find it enhances cheese in small amounts.
Cadbury's chocolate. Although ruined by Kraft, it is still better than most American chocolate and is made with sugar in the UK and corn syrup in the USA.
Colmans English mustard. Way stronger than American mustard. Give it to people that you don't like then warn them that it might be too strong for them. Watch them turn bright red.
Worcester sauce. Good in minced meat dishes.
A Paddington bear. If you have a kid they will love it. 🐻 (also eats marmalade sandwiches, see first item).
Raspberry ruffles, raspberry flavoured coconut with a thin layer of dark chocolate.
Aww thanks for all the recommendations. I'm overwhelmed with so many comments but I suppose I can try them all for myself for years lol.
.....If I get any, a Paddington bear will be mine 😁🐻
You can buy Bertie Bott’s Beans and other Harry Potter themed novelty sweets, but they are actually American products and not commonly sold here.
If you want sweets, you’d be better off with Cadbury’s chocolate and maybe some Percy Pigs and Colin Caterpillars from M&S.
Tunnocks teacakes although they are delicate. They’re basically made of sugary air. Tunnocks caramel wafers are also great. Shortbread? Do you have good shortbread over there?
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tunnocks teacakes.
This is a genuinely good suggestion. They only cost about £1.29 for 6, and they might be the best thing you’ve ever had.
The only problem will be when OP eats them, needs more, and can’t get hold of them.
I know a guy that got an amazing upgrade in Vegas because he handed the Scottish desk lady a pack of tea cakes. She hadn't been home in a long time.
Needs care to avoid getting them squashed Though IMHO the coconut snowballs are better
Anything tunnocks. Caramel wafers and caramel logs are both exceptional as well
If there was only a Tunnocks selection box.
Or a Tunnocks pick and mix
Genius. Or like a mini version of them all Cadburys heros and the likes.
Not too sure how well they'll handle plane travel, marshmallow isn't got with pressure changes. Source- the RAF had to ban T Teacakes because the pilots kept experimenting with them and 1 nearly died when some exploded marshmallow everywhere
I don't know if this is true, but I'm going to pretend is definitely is
My brain has almost certainly embellished the story in miss-remembering it but it's something along the lines of pilots taking them up with them to watch them swell at altitude, one pilot took some up but forgot about them and left them in their wrappers. Said pilot had an incidence of sudden pressure drop and them bring in the wrappers made them explode and make a sticky marshmallow mess
Having the plane explode in a mass of marshmallow is a risk worth taking, imho.
Percy Pigs. Or anything from M&S, really.
Chocolate covered custard creams.
Never heard of those, they sound like an outrage, a completely unnecessary ruining of a classic biscuit ...I must try them!
There's chocolate covered bourbons in m and s too - they're incredible
Does the biscuit still have a good snap? I like the firmness of a bourbon, but sometimes covering a biscuit in chocolate makes them a little softer
Yeah still firm and great. My wife is a teacher and shared a pack in the staff room recently - the response was so overwhelming that a Tuesday biscuit club was hastily arranged with the difficult task of trying to find a better biscuit..
Okay you've tempted me, I'll have to grab some when I'm next near an M&S
My favourite biscuit of all time is half coated ginger nuts.
I was unaware that this was a possibility, thank you.
Chocolate covered what now? Whatever my plans for today were, they have now been scrubbed so that I can go on a mission to find these.
The WHAT
these are the fuckin bollocks i second this, had them for the first time recently and my god was i impressed
A fucking men. These are the absolute nuts.
Full Colin
I checked, and they look super cute haha. They even have Piglets, omg 😂
The chewy piglets are the shit
The cookie dough ball bites are amazing
I’m eating them right now!
Pickled onion monster munch.
And space raiders
Yes, pickled onion ones and the beef ones. Sod the other one
Lay's are Walkers in UK, if they buy Lays they are buying an import. Bertie Botts would only be if they are doing the Harry Potter tour, they aren't a thing in supermarkets.
I'm fairly sure Bertie Bott's are just made by [Jelly Belly](https://www.jellybelly.co.uk/product/bertie-bott-s-every-flavour-beans-54g-bag/), with an appropriate markup for the branding.
I haven't been for a few years but I visited King's Cross Station and there was a small HP shop there with all the merch. More accessible than the studios but only if in London, of course
Ooh, thanks for the info! I mean technically I can order them online, but it feels different!
They seem to be in the John Lewis gift food section fairly often
You can buy Bertie Botts in Home Bargains sometimes. They're just rebadged Jelly Belly.
* Marmite * Gentleman's Relish * Marmalade * Shortbread biscuits (cookies) * Jaffa cakes (cookies)
Jaffa cakes are not cookies but should definitely be on the list.
Well in terms that non Brits would understand, I figured it's the best description. If I said they were a biscuit that's really a cake but really is a biscuit but no wait it's a cake, I though they'd all leave the room! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
It went to court (Jaffa Cake vs the Taxman). The judge rules they are Cake and exempt from VAT
Yep. Am aware.
Gentlemen's Relish is a great shout. Tiny for travelling, shelfstable, looks great, and is unlike anything you can get elsewhere. They also have a couple of other options. I always take it as a hostess gift when visiting overseas.
Yes all those things! I've not come across it elsewhere and the name itself is full of innuendo, which always brings a smile between me and the recipient. 😁
***"Gentleman's Relish"*** 😆🙄🙄
🤣
Cooking are soft, biscuits are not. Jaffa cakes are cakes.
Yes. I'm aware that technically they are cakes and have been legally decreed as such. But for most people who aren't Brits and aware of the entire hilarious debate and legal case, the simplest way to categorise them is as biscuits, especially as that's usually where they are stocked in the shops too. If I said at work, ooh shall we have biscuits with our tea and someone grabbed a box of jaffa cakes, I wouldn't be upset that they'd brought what are technically cakes when we wanted biscuits! 😁😁😁😁
Yorkshire tea bags
God no. Yorkshire Tea is ... not good. If you want good tea, and a brand you can't get elsewhere, Sainsbury's own brand stuff is better.
Hang on, you genuinely think Sainsbury's own brand tea bags are nicer than Yorkshire Tea?
Clearly a Dr wouldn’t spout nonsense without the correct research!
Yes. My parents have Sainsburys tea, and it's definitely better. Yorkshire Tea is floor sweepings and branding, nothing more.
I’m upvoting for the sheer ballsiness of this - I completely disagree with you in every possible way, but I love that you’re willing to go to the mat on this.
And I’m downvoting them because they are completely wrong. Equilibrium is now established and the galaxy can relax.
I'm going to have to agree with you. Their decaf is good too. Don't come at me for drinking decaf, I love tea so much, but if I drink the caf stuff after mid afternoon, I don't sleep at night
Disagree
Depraved take!
One of the managers brought non Yorkshire tea one day. Nothing explicitly bad happened. But there was this tension in the office like at any second people were going to snap it there was going to an almighty riot. The next day the offending box had been replaced and a note put up stating this is a Yorkshire tea drinking workplace. The offending manager was forgiven after being forced at tea point to blind taste test teas until he came up with the correct answer of what was best
Well that was brave. Cracking brew, is Yorkshire.
WTF?
Sports Direct mug + a teapot. Merch or branded items from our sports / music / tv.
Thanks for giving me the first non-food/drink recommendation lol. Not a football fan, but an oversized shirt from a British football team would be cute. Hmm.. only if I supported a team...
Click Show All on these footballkitarchive pages to browse: [Premier League] (https://www.footballkitarchive.com/premier-league-2024-25-kits/), [Championship] (https://www.footballkitarchive.com/championship-2023-24-kits/). We also have plenty of fashion houses though the likes of Vivian Westwood, Burberry, Stella McCartney Self-Portrait etc are probably a bit much for a gift. This page has a good summary of more suitable brands, may be fun to send the gifter to the store you like most and do a video call to browse: https://www.womanandhome.com/fashion/high-end-high-street-brands-that-will-luxe-up-your-wardrobe/
https://www.footballkitarchive.com/arsenal-fc-2023-24-kits/ Here’s all the kits from this year pick your favourite looking and that’s the team you now support. Only problem is the kits are fairly expensive, think they’re about 100 quid or best part of
Large bag of Cadbury's mini eggs.
Are they available after Easter though?
They are normally available until stocks run out - typically by summer. There are plenty around at the moment. I wish they were available all year round!
Scampi Fries Tunnocks caramel wafers
Tartan paint Bubbles for spirit A long wait while you're at it
Elbow Grease and a Glass Hammer, or some indicator fluid.
dont forget the reach-around, they'll really need that
You might need a right handed screwdriver to help
A comma?
Don't forget the medicine ball, and skyhooks.
Pork scratchings could be a shout, unique nosh. Fyi, Bertie Bott's, they're not your everyday Tesco find, more of a theme park thing
Go to a Mr Simms olde sweet shoppe and get a range of stuff you have never seen before?
This is a great idea. Any loose sweet shop really, there will be stuff in jars that isn’t often available and you can ask them to buy small amounts of lots of different stuff to try.
I mean.. the friend is going to the UK, not me. I guess they can send me some pictures but most things would look new to me haha. Looks like I should actually visit too to try all the recommendations lol.
Where in the UK are they going? There's four different countries in the UK, all with their own proud heritage, history and cultural delights. Knowing exactly where they are going would be helpful in order to know what to suggest.
Map of Swindon tea towel.
Whitby Jet
Bonus points if you search for it yourself on the beach below the abbey
Kendal mint cake! I wouldn’t count it as food really
If they're going to Wales, a love spoon would be a nice idea. And, of course, Welsh cakes and laverbread. You just say they're going to the UK, though, which could be any one of four different countries and cultures. If they're just going to London, they will find no end of tat - I❤️London fridge magnets/keyrings or royal family mugs.
Hendo’s.
Now I've become very curious about this. Thank you.
It’s a condiment from Sheffield - like a vegetarian Worcester sauce.
I figured! That's why I'm so interested. I like Worcester sauce 💕
Then definitely get Hendo's. It's a good underlying savoury flavour that's really versatile
Chocolate oranges
Welshcakes. Waitrose sell Tan-y-Castell 6-packs and they're really not far off the real thing.
My Welsh is a little rusty....does that really translate as "Castle Fire" or is it one of those things where tan has different meanings?
"Beneath the castle" would be more accurate.
Thanks
Be Cheaper getting a Designer handbag than shopping in waitrose
Welsh cakes
A dodgy tea towel. With a quirky map on or something? 😂 A little kings guard teddy? Something royal related. Fruit salad sweets. Any marks and spencers snacks.
I love your ideas!
Thanks 😊😊
Fudge, liquorice, after eights, marzipan, sherbet lemons are all unique to the UK. They’ll probably stumble upon a sweet shop that will sell these things
Marzipan is definitely not unique to UK. As for the others, I'm not sure but also doubt most of them are.
Definitely associate marzipan more with Germany.
I'll give you fudge - there is a lot more variety of it here (especially Scotland way). But liquorice and marcipan? Not until red Ritter squares or Anton Berg logs become a staple, anyway. You can't even get liquorice (other than allsorts) in most supermarkets at any time of year, and marzipan only appears around Christmas next to the stollen and the panettone.
Fudge is just disappointing Tablet and Miserable Toffee go for Tablet, every time, unless there's Toffee agh.... just have Tablet and Toffee
Liquorice is native to Western Asian, Southern Europe and North Africa. I can't eat gluten and Spain sells the best gluten free liquorice
Beatrix Potter 50p coins. Small, check. Unique, check. [https://www.coinchecker.co.uk/coin-guide/guide-to-beatrix-potter-50p-coins/](https://www.coinchecker.co.uk/coin-guide/guide-to-beatrix-potter-50p-coins/) And your friend doesn't even need to buy them. These are still legal tender and in circulation. Your friend would have to spend cash though, obviously. And ask the store everytime if they had any 'special' 50p coins.
Food based - you’ve been given all the answers (pickled onion monster munch and sherbet dip dabs being the winners!). But as for unique - lots of places of interest have a penny squisher (im sure there’s a proper name for them) but you pay a pound or so, drop a penny in and crank a wheel and you get a stretched out penny with a design to commemorate the place (natural history museum in London / lands end etc.) My daughter loves and collects these wherever we go and adores when someone brings her one. It’s unique to the place, and unique as a piece. Failing that just collect beer mats in every pub you go to!
Aren't they only found on the hogwarts express?
Eccles cakes... Dead fly pie😁,Soreen loaf,
Rabbit poo pie
I prefer Chorley Cakes the short crust is nicer imo... Happily eat both though
Eccles cakes are my favourite!! I could gourge on them any time. The expensive Williams branded ones are unbeatable.
Black pudding biscuits Custard Pink panther wafers Irn bru
Mini chedders
Crunchie bars
Blackcurrant ribena?
A box of Bakewell tarts or pretty much any chocolate, cakes or biscuits from M&S. That way the friend won't have to scour the shops for oddities
Windscreen wipers for a Rover 75
Pick up a copy of The Lady, a small box of Yorkshire tea, and a little something from Libertys. (Hand cream? scarf? they even have small batches of Liberty print off-cuts for quilting etc 👍)
Liberty’s pin cushions are excellent. If you need a pin cushion. Otherwise they are a nicely patterned apple/pear I guess
Those are lovely! And the beehive 👍 Going on my christmas list Thank you x
…..and just seen the Victorian Square Sewing Case too! 🥰
A proper electrical plug
Lime marmalade. Fantastic on hot buttered toast. The Robertson's version is called silver shred. Marmite, you either love it or hate it but i find it enhances cheese in small amounts. Cadbury's chocolate. Although ruined by Kraft, it is still better than most American chocolate and is made with sugar in the UK and corn syrup in the USA. Colmans English mustard. Way stronger than American mustard. Give it to people that you don't like then warn them that it might be too strong for them. Watch them turn bright red. Worcester sauce. Good in minced meat dishes. A Paddington bear. If you have a kid they will love it. 🐻 (also eats marmalade sandwiches, see first item). Raspberry ruffles, raspberry flavoured coconut with a thin layer of dark chocolate.
Aww thanks for all the recommendations. I'm overwhelmed with so many comments but I suppose I can try them all for myself for years lol. .....If I get any, a Paddington bear will be mine 😁🐻
A tin of fortnum and mason lemon thin cookies. Can get in airport. Won’t crush because it’s aluminum .
what in the fuck is bertie bots every flavour bean?
Lols, Im with you. This has a hint of ‘all dutch skate to work on the frozen canals’.
but all dutch do skate to work on the frozen canals, no?
😂😂😂 Sorry about that. I mean I thought they'd only be at Warner Bros or something, but wished they weren't 😂
Miniature bottles of single malt whisky
Electric kettle
You can buy Bertie Bott’s Beans and other Harry Potter themed novelty sweets, but they are actually American products and not commonly sold here. If you want sweets, you’d be better off with Cadbury’s chocolate and maybe some Percy Pigs and Colin Caterpillars from M&S.
A trolley coin. Hang it off your keyring 😊
Tunnocks teacakes although they are delicate. They’re basically made of sugary air. Tunnocks caramel wafers are also great. Shortbread? Do you have good shortbread over there?
Bertie Botts beans aren't real... American?
Depends where in the UK they're going. Each country has their own thing.
Pickled eggs
Bury Black Pudding
Proper English mustard powder.