Tell Tale Signs of Britishness At Home

From recipes to CDs, it's surprising what
little things give you away as non-native
Photo:Vangelis Thomaidis

I wrote a guest post for Bringing Up Brits about how my three sons, who are predominantly Dutch, stand out from other Dutch boys because I am British. It got me thinking about how I stand out as British when Dutch people come to our house.

• Music: Many of the CDs I own wouldn't have made their way into the average Dutch home. I'm talking about the very British music that never really made a name over here. The artists I mention that make my husband screw his face up in confusion. 

• Food: My kitchen cupboards and fridge contain HP Brown sauce, Colman's Mustard, Paxo stuffing, Marmite, Branston pickle, Hayward's pickled onions, Ambrosia pudding rice and custard and Bisto. And the list probably goes on. These are not items you can get with ease in your local Dutch supermarket. They are expat shop specials, or brought lovingly over by visitors from England.

• Recipe books: I have weaning books and recipe books written by Gina Ford and Annabel Karmel on my kitchen shelf. Most Dutch people will look blankly at me if I mention those baby and child (food and nutrition) specialists. And my Jamie Oliver books are in English instead of in Dutch like the majority of Jamie Oliver recipe book owners here. In fact I have a fair few British recipe books for delights such as apple crumble, Yorkshire puddings and roast dinners.

• Books: The books I own are mainly in English. Me and Amazon.co.uk are best friends when it comes to getting English language books. That also includes books for my three boys to make sure their English keeps improving, and get to know very British nursery rhymes songs and classic stories.

• DVDs: When we moved in together my husband and I amalgamated our DVD collection and there were quite a few duplicates but Dutch DVDs have Dutch subtitles available and British DVDs don't. 

• Board Games: The British version of word games is always different to the Dutch version by way of the compilation of letters. For example the Dutch scrabble version contains 2 'J' tiles, whereas the British version contains 1. Playing Scrabble in Dutch with my British version and vice versa adds an extra challenge to the game which isn't wholly necessary. And of course British classics like 'Snakes n Ladders' is unknown in the Netherlands.

• Bags: Giving a guest a carrier bag from Tesco, Marks & Spencers or John Lewis to take items home in suddenly seems exotic just because it's not from Albert Heijn or C1000.

What have I missed out? Look around you in your home - what gives you away as an expat?