h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am always reading about saltine crackers. They don't have them in England. Please tell me what they are...just in case I am stranded in the snow and there is little else to eat.



I cooked some fish for supper with baked tomatoes and some homemade chips. That is 'chips' as in fries, not chips as in crisps

...saltine crackers...

crakers sprinkled with (coarse) salt, i imagine

you know pretzels?

yes, pretzels, and things like Ritz crackers. In fact all sorts of crackers. Just not anything with the generic name of saltine.


Plain, salted crackers are usually referred to as cheese biscuits. They don't contain cheese, but are eaten with cheese.

We have water biscuits (not made with water)
Cream crackers ( don't contain cream)

No wonder I feel confused...

It's okay, lanzababy. Saltines are square flat white crackers with salt sprinkled on top. They are useful for feeding to people who have been sick, as they are easy on the stomach. The title of the book I mentioned was "The Water Flowers," a pun on the water and flour that was used to make the white sauce.

I went and googled them (saltines) and they look quite nice. I am surprised we don't have them in the UK.

I remember we used to have grocery shops with a counter, and you asked for the things you wanted to buy. Now supermarkets are enormous and take you hours to walk around, they seem to sell every single item known to humankind. Perhaps there is a limit after all. I wonder what else other countries take for granted that isn't yet sold worldwide.

Salsa? Twinkies? Spam?

One thing about living in a cold climate- Employers expect you to work your shift even if it is -15C
the auto club wrecker gave me a jump start and life went back to normal.

I suppose that if you normally have sub-zero temperatures then you have the outdoor clothing and experience of driving in snow that goes with harsh winter weather. Do you have chains on your tires Shagbark? (tyres to the UK readers)


Yes! We have Spam but no we don't have Twinkies. We have Dime bars too, but I think they are Swedish?

forgot Salsa. Were you asking me for a dance my dear Paul?

whenever danes travel abroad to visit danish emigrants they are supposed to bring rye bread, traditional danish liver paste and liquorice strongly flavoured with ammonium chloride

foreigners may think we can buy stuff like this abroad, but it is never the same thing - not even remotely

No, I've never seen a shop that sells a selection of Danish things like that. I mean we get stuff like Danish bacon, Blue cheese, "pastries" but I hardly think they are actually from your country. Maybe the bacon was though?

the bacon could very well be. and the . we have a long tradition of exporting bacon and dairy products to great britain, germany, japan and elsewhere.

actually we only eat a very minor percentage of our s ourselves. the vast majority is exported.

bacon for breakfast is almost unheard of in denmark, though most of us like the british breakfast buffets in hotels when we are over there

Reference Post 268
the city and county both have snow plows and salt trucks.
I have all weather tires but not chains.
In this season I dress in layers. Thermal underwear in the bottom and quilted coats and thermalite gloves to protect my hands.
Michigan won't require this two months from now, but January is the harshest month of the year.

I also liked the article A60766518

about living in cold weather.

My mother grew up in Michigan, and I've been out there to visit relatives many times. But only in summer, never in winter. My grandfather used to teach in Moose County, which is a peninsula jutting into the lake on the East side of the state. The moose is not a tropical animal, so I imagine the winter temperatures can get quite low.

the moose is definitely not tropical. we don't have any here, but our nordic brothers in norway, sweden, finland and estonia have lots. they also have , s and s

but then we have s on greenland - and s on as well as s off the coast

Don't you have mountain whales in the Danish Alps, Pierce?

we might have, but these alps are so high nobody has ever climbed them successfully

About the only wild moose left in Michigan are up by Lake Superior.
And cold spells like we had are short lived. It is getting up to
28F today (that is just below freezing) and in a few days we may see
mid thirties(+2 C).
The snow mobile fanatics and the ice-fishers prefer it cold.
the store where I work is selling sleds and parents are buying them for their kids.
I found an interesting article in the New York times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/weekinreview/10chang.html?ref=weekinreview

Thanks for the link, Shagbark. I wouldn't be surprised if most of us have forgotten this by June.