[peiowl]

Thurnscoe wants to know if we folk in PEI can get bacon, pork pies, sausage rolls, pasties.

Bacon: mostly streaky but much better than what you can get in the states. At the farmers' market on Saturdays I can get what they call "Scottish bacon," which is just like regular bacon in Britain (a bit of back with some streaky in each rasher).

Pork pies: No. Used to when M & S had stores in Canada but they pulled out years ago.

Sausage rolls: No. There are frozen mass produced ones but they are nowhere near proper sausage rolls.

Pasties. No. My wife makes those from scratch though.

Every time I've visited over the years I've seen a decline in traditional British cuisine. The place is filled with McDonald's, KFC, pizza joints, curry places galore, and disappointing fish & chippies. Traditional butchers stores hard to find. I had trouble finding pork pies and had to buy one at M & S. Custard tarts, Bakewell tarts now replaced by cheescake and brownies in pastry shops. So, alas, I'm afraid the place is well on the way to becoming Americanized. The best British food I savored was up in Scotland where I had some first rate fish & chips in Aberdeen and was able to find home made pork pis and sausage rolls in a butcher's shop in Carnoustie.