Good Food Blog

Sweet souvenirs

Posted at 1:00PM, 02 August 2010 by Emily Boyce - Sub-editor, bbcgoodfood.com

To make up for having selfishly left your desk unmanned for a week, it's the usual custom in office jobs to bring back a holiday 'treat' for your beleaguered colleagues.

Usually bought at the airport (well you weren't going to spend your holiday scouring the local markets for just the right gift), chosen in haste from a limited and overpriced selection of garish sweets in novelty boxes, the results can be hit and miss - as the almost untouched box of Turkish delight to my right sadly attests.

Lily kindly brought these back from Turkey, but the contents proved not to be the advertised apple flavour, but mint, resulting in something akin to jellied toothpaste. A few weeks previously, Caroline had also opted for Turkish delight as her gift from Cyprus - very nice it was too, if you like that sort of thing, though never quite what you fancied with your morning cuppa.

Before that, I'd returned from Paris with some almond biscuits, carefully chosen to be as inoffensive as possible. Unfortunately by the time I got them to work they were crushed to smithereens and I had to offer them with an apology.

Open quotationThe sight of your bashed, oddly flavoured biscuits doesn't rouse much excitementClose quotation

Our fellow office dwellers are harder to please than most, since they're surrounded every day by delicious creations emerging from the Test Kitchen; the sight of your bashed, oddly flavoured biscuits doesn't rouse much excitement. Sometimes people seek out unusual gifts to prove their foodie credentials, like the 'tamarindos' a former colleague brought back from Mexico. A bit fishy tasting, if you ask me. What was wrong with a box of chocolates?

But then chocolates can be divisive too. Andrea brought a selection of chocs all the way from Oz; the Tim Tams provoked cries of nostalgia from some, while there were mutterings about poor quality Australian chocolate from others. I made the mistake of saying I wasn't very keen on the strawberry flavoured ones. Turns out they were Cherry Ripes, and my comments had caused mortal offence. No more chocolates for me then.

Do you bring back treats for your office? What length of holiday demands a gift? If you're holidaying in the UK, is there any point bringing in a brand of biscuits you can buy at the local Tesco's, or fudge that no one really likes? Or is it the thought that counts?

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  • Binder photo marysia_c
    2 August 2010, 2:31PM

    marysia_c

    Open QuoteThere's no apostrophe in 'Tescos'.

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  • Binder photo kate
    2 August 2010, 3:09PM

    kate

    Open QuoteIf you don't like Cherry Ripe bars, send them my way! Oh how I miss them. And Peppermint Crisps too... Still don't really understand this practice of bringing biscuits/chocolates back from your holiday for workmates. I don't think anyone would be too put out if it came to an end!

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  • Binder photo janine_from_olive
    2 August 2010, 7:56PM

    janine_from_olive

    Open QuoteI bought this from Dean and Deluca in New York for the olive office - http://www.baconpeanutbrittle.com/catalog/i3.html - I don't know if I got a bad batch but it was absolutely rank! next time they're getting the classic giant bag of mini daim bars from the airport!

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  • Binder photo Jen
    3 August 2010, 9:20PM

    Jen

    Open QuoteWhat's wrong with a big toblerone?

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  • Binder photo sudhakar
    6 August 2010, 10:09PM

    sudhakar

    Open QuoteI remember my family had kilo's of sweets made when we were in India, so much that our luggage was overweight. We obviously loved it but not many of our English friends did. People keep bringing back horrible Euro chocolate made with hydrogenated oils,and they say our choc is rubbish.

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  • Binder photo tigger
    7 August 2010, 5:14PM

    tigger

    Open QuoteWe haven't bothered with holiday treats or indeed birthday treats for years as there's never enough to go round partly because some people just fill their pockets. And yes it's true no-one likes the cheap fudge or the cheap chocolate. Also so-called 'local' must-haves never quite hit the spot!

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  • Binder photo Lisa
    11 August 2010, 2:31PM

    Lisa

    Open Quotehe he he I brought back some ginseng flavoured sweets from Hong Kong just because they were different and they were awful, my team sat in an area where lots of people walked past so we got great enjoyment out of offering them to people and telling them that they were lovely and then watching their faces... this story just brought back a wonderful memory - thanks

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  • Binder photo drusilla
    12 August 2010, 12:17PM

    drusilla

    Open QuoteJust reminded me of bringing back a HUGE bar of Hershey's Symphony choc - bitter and unloved by the office staff! (Noticeably, the Hershey peanut-butter Kisses did NOT get shared around... funnily enough, they didn't get as far as the office...)

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  • Binder photo julie
    13 August 2010, 12:56PM

    julie

    Open Quotetalking of peanut butter kisses,those lovely misletoe kisses galaxy make will soon be hitting the shops yumm yumm!!

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  • Binder photo aimps
    13 August 2010, 7:49PM

    aimps

    Open QuoteTaking holiday sweets to work is a gamble. I take an annual trip to HK and there have been mixed reviews from sweets I've brought back. I once brought a whole bag of mochi but one of told me she didn't like the texture of it. Now, I go for something less adventurous like biscuits.

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  • Binder photo tammykins
    13 August 2010, 11:07PM

    tammykins

    Open Quoteim in agreement with jen, whats wrong with a huge toblerone. but to be honest ive never understood this whole bring back goodies from holiday for the office. time youve brought the family presents then the goodies for work, youve spent half your spending money on gifts. whats wrong with a good old fashioned postcard hahahahahaha.

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  • Binder photo Lisa
    17 August 2010, 11:49AM

    Lisa

    Open QuoteI agree with Jen and Tammykins, after all you only end up upsetting someone who claims to be on a diet... I am leaving my office on friday for good and as tradition goes I am supposed to buy cakes ????!

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  • Binder photo Mr Food Lover Lover
    18 August 2010, 11:30AM

    Mr Food Lover Lover

    Open QuoteI actually saw something really interesting the other day which was a Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Ice Cream! Not tried cooking it yet but you can find the recipe here (although not sure if we are allowed to put links here are we?) http://www.discovertheorigin.co.uk/parmigiano-ice-cream-and-fig-and-parma-ham-tatin

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  • Binder photo Clare
    18 August 2010, 5:50PM

    Clare

    Open QuoteI think sweets are best for the younger demographic. I would be very impressed if someone bought back sweets from holiday that you can't get over here, even if they did turn out to be awful, its fun trying something new. I'm always really happy when someone brings Pocky from Japan.

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  • Binder photo Mrs Figg
    19 August 2010, 6:39AM

    Mrs Figg

    Open QuoteI always used to look for something silly for the whole office to share. A big pack of "Bum Mix" (its ok, it was just a big pack of different flavoured boiled sweets) made everyone giggle.

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  • Binder photo Issy
    24 August 2010, 3:28PM

    Issy

    Open QuoteWe compete in our office to see who can bring back the worst tasting sweets. One guy bought back Vietnamese sweets that were so gross they lasted for 4 months. We've also had nut encrusted dates in wierd and wonderful shapes from Dubai which were truly awful.

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  • Binder photo Regika
    6 September 2010, 3:36PM

    Regika

    Open QuoteI've not been lucky enough to go on holiday to bring back sweets and gifts,unless 6 packets of BN's and a packet of hollywood chewing gum from france count!! (man i miss them) But holiday sweets are awful! we got a big bag of mixed hard boiled sweets from tenerife from a close,friendly family friend...they were sickly and tasted like air freshner...turkish delight is always a fave of mine though! bakalava is always another thing that goes down well in the household. Do you find if something isn't getting eaten at home you take it to work? i had a box of gourmet strawberry bon bons...not going down well with us, but were nearly gone in 5 minutes at work!

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  • Binder photo YorkshireJen
    18 September 2010, 4:16PM

    YorkshireJen

    Open QuoteI have not subjected my work mates to "treats" from abroad since I brought back a bag of toffees from Menorca which caused one person to lose a filling and cost another about 200 quid in dental work to repair a bridge. Apparently they tasted quite nice though...

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  • Binder photo vjforsy
    16 October 2010, 1:53PM

    vjforsy

    Open QuoteIn a previous job, one woman had been on holiday to the States, and brought back a load of little Hershy chocolate bars. We all tucked in, and tried to smile as the chalky, claggy, odd tasting chocolate enveloped our mouths. It was a large bag of sweets, so, as she left work an hour before there rest of us, the chocolate gradually made its way into bins at the end of the day - only a bit at a time though, as if we were eating them a bit at a time. It eventually transpired that they'd brought back tons of the stuff for the kids in her family, who all hated it - hence it making its way into our office!

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