Posted by Once you have moved in and are living happily on the Costa Blanca, a strange thing can happen to your taste buds ….out of the blue you develop expat food cravings.Tea, Marmite, Salad Cream, HP Sauce, Branston, Lee & Perrings, Curry equipment and a Frey Bentos Meat Pie are all typical expat fare. You might not have bothered with them in the UK but now that you are living abroad you crave them. No matter how cool you are or how local you have gone, this urge kicks in at odd moments.
Check out anyone in a British supermarket with a basket full of British favourites and the chances are they are visiting an expat somewhere in the world.
Your visitors arrived with their suitcases packed with tea and you ration out the marmite they have kindly carried over as if it was a precious substance. The crazy thing is that none of this is really necessary. The Costa Blanca is renowned as a place for great food and restaurants and with the vast array of wonderful produce you can buy in the shops, you can enjoy fantastic meals both at home and when eating out, whatever your tastes.
Paella originates from the area (technically from Valencia but close enough), there is fantastic seafood and fish and some wonderful dishes that are all part of the Mediterranean diet, considered the best diet in the world.
There are Spanish restaurants and Tapas Bars, ethnic restaurants such as Thai, Chinese and Italian and in Denia a Michelin 3 star rated restaurant called Quique Dacosta. According to foodie reviews, the Costa Blanca is THE place to visit for authentic Spanish cuisine and fine dining.
The British market is also well catered for. You can find plenty of shops on the Costa Blanca that cater to the expat market and sell all those British favourites. There is a wealth of cafes, bars and restaurants offering up British favourites such as a Sunday roast, a full English breakfast or curry and chips.
You can eat whatever you like on the Costa Blanca. Food is not expensive and there is an amazing amount of choice available whether you want to satisfy your expat cravings, dine exotically or discover local Spanish cuisine.
But give it a few years and you will probably find that any trip back to the UK includes a bag of shopping goodies from your old local supermarket.
