Peanut butter and nuts in Germany

Peanut butter, absolutely. When I was stationed in Germany, one of my buddies married a German girl and he used to tell me that her family would constantly ask them to buy certain things at the commisary which I guess they couldn't get in Germany (or at least not as good as the american version possibly). Chief among these was peanut butter, Doritos, tuna fish and root beer. Here in Italy we sometimes have our neighbors over for parties and they are addicted to those new flavored almonds, the ones like soy and wasabi, chili and lime, etc. Those kinds of things just aren't made in Europe I guess so a lot of people here go crazy for them.

Peanut butter is readily available here (my dog loves it on chewy treats, so I buy it regularly), although if a store carries it, they usually only have one brand available.

Both peanut butter and tuna fish are widely available in Germany. This may not have been the case years ago, but today is different. Almonds are also widely available. I have yet to find a German who likes root beer. Desired food items might be BBQ sauce, or spice rubs, though they don't grill here very much and if they do, it is completely different to American grilling techniques. Perhaps a bottle of Liquid Smoke? I buy Old El Paso Mexican items at the local grocery store, though fajita spice mix or enchilada spice mix is not available. Brownie mix would be good, as the brownie mixes here are awful. Macedamia nuts might be a treat.

I second Jo on the Brownie Mix. People ask us to bring it back for them. Generally, a lot of stuff that was exotic over here 15 years ago is now often available. Heck, we've even got 3 (!) Mexican restaurants in Vienna now. I remember when Mexican food or spices were unattainable, now they are not uncommon.

The things that are hard to find in Germany are that way for the same reason why e.g. horse meat is hard to find in the US:
there is very little demand, because the average consumer doesn't like it enough to spend money on it. Now there are always people who acquire foreign tastes (and even brand preference) and who have to pester travelers to bring that specific item to them, but it would be rather risky to simply assume that every German feels that way. Because if every German would feel that way the item in question would be on the shelf in every German supermarket. Capitalism is really great at channeling supply towards demand. Ask you friends if there are American products they want to have, otherwise I personally would support your original choice of "Sees Candy, a book on California, and coffee from my husband job."

Agree with Mark too.
We have some friends who always want a bag of Fritos. Go figure. But I wouldn't say its indicative of a country-wide craving... just something that particular person likes. Another asks us to get tootsie rolls. Personally, I'd probably go for a nice picture book of California or a California Calendar.

Jo, I'm packing right now for my trip to Germany and need a few gift items. My father always wants a bottle of cranberry juice which is still not available in the small town where he lives (dried cranberries have shown up recently though). But I'll be in Frankfurt as well and I know choices there are different. How easy is it to find cranberry juice? BTW we had a teenage girl visiting from Germany last year and she was very the first German we had here who liked root beer and didn't compare its taste to tooth paste ;-)

Cranberry juice is becoming widely available if you look in Rewe or Tegut. Dried cranberries too. I even see it on restaurant menus more often, but not often enough, as I like it too. I end up drinking Bitter Lemon most of the time. Funny story about root beer. Some Germans went to the US and checked into their motel. Being thirsty, one of them went out to the drink machine. He was pleased to see one of the offerings being beer. So, he bought 2 cans and went back to the motel room. He and his buddy opened them and took big swigs. I am sure you have guessed by now, that they had just tried Root Beer for the 1st time. What is even funnier is that they said, "we had heard the beer wasn't as good as German beer, but we never expected it to taste THIS bad!"

Several years ago, we traveled to Sweden in July. One of the things we took for gifts was chocolate Sees candy. Though I had it in a special insulated bag (which was in a checked bag), it was badly melted when we arrived.

I've bought lots of things in German stores (tubes of hand-washing soap, etc.), but if root beer gets compared to German toothpaste...I'll be looking for German toothpaste. Ditto, Susan, on NOT checking anything that can melt, freeze, etc.! Checked luggage gets rained on, freezes on the airplane, melts on the tarmac... I'd like See's, a pretty book, and I've run out of Monte's coffee...;-)

Peanut butter? Why? Over there they have access to a product that puts peanut better to shame. That's Nutella, a chocolate/hazel nut "butter". That's one of the things I look forward to on my trips to Germany. I don't get it over here because it is so expensive, but I can enjoy it over there. Anyway, it might only be good on a crispy crust German Brötchen, not on a wimpy American Kaiser roll.

Mark it is more than just supply and demand. You can't find it in the USA because many states have laws prohibiting the consumption of horse. The last remaining horse slaughter plant was shut down when Illinois (the state it operated in) made killing horse for meat illegal. The reason why horse meat is not available in the USA is the same reason Kinder Surprise Eggs are not.

How can you compare peanut butter and Nutella? Two completely different flavours. I didn't grow up in the U.S., so I had to acquire a taste for peanut butter, but Nutella is something I've had all my life and I find it gross to this day. I don't remember looking for peanut butter when I was in Germany, but I definitely do remember sending an entire Russian supermarket on a wild goose chase for peanut butter. It was expensive and didn't taste the same at all -- so if your German friends are anything like Russians who have a acquired a taste for it, they will appreciate your present!

We've taken Sees candy to Europe as thank you gifts too and usually take Peanut Brittle. It doesn't melt ( Europeans have access to waaaay too much good chocolate already) and it gives a peanut taste satisfaction w/o taking a jar of peanut butter which is readily available in large grocery stores everywhere in Europe.

ed, good point, horse meat is indeed a faulty parallel. I haven't thought about legal restrictions. But there are no such restrictions for, say, root beer (well, it would be called "root beverage" for the same reason peanut butter is called "peanut cream" over here).
Nor are there producer/manufacturer restrictions, like for example the staggered release schedule of movies, computer games or high tech gadgets. The different range of food products really is an expression of likes and dislikes through demand and supply.

So, we will leave the peanut butter at home, and we are bringing peanut brittle from Sees- no chocolate! Costs so much to mail, so I think we'll carry it and ship it once we we get to Germany since we won't see our friends until the end of our four weeks. Thanks for the help!