Customer Stories with Stephen

Easter egg hunts, impressive roasts and mountains of chocolate eggs are just a few of the fond memories many of us Brits have of Easter. As we grow up and move away, it can be a challenge to keep your favourite Easter traditions alive, try as we might. However, here at British Corner Shop we firmly believe that you shouldn’t be deprived of the things you hold near and dear, even if you move away! We’ve made it our mission to reunite Brits with Creme Eggs, Hot Cross Buns and all the other delicious goodies that transport them to their favourite Easter memories.

As our customers are the heart of British Corner Shop, we love finding out about how they celebrate Easter around the world. So, we decided to have a chat with star of our #ForTheLoveOfFood video, Stephen, about his Easter in the United States.

What’re your favourite memories of Easter at home in the UK?

Easter Eggs hands down were the one thing that we always looked forward to, at any age. We always gave up sweets for lent, no matter how much we protested – we also tried to give up homework it never worked. For us Easter was the sweet treats time of year, we never really did Halloween, so Easter was when we (over) indulged. We’d be given the egg(s) on Easter Sunday, then told we couldn’t eat them until after breakfast! “What? That’s so unfair!”. That was back when I took a full Irish Breakfast for granted. After breakfast we still couldn’t eat our egg(s) as we’d go to Easter Sunday mass “You’ll not touch that chocolate while in your Sunday best”, and the wait for our first taste of chocolate continued. In fact, some days by the time we’d get home it’d be dinner time and we’d STILL have to wait to eat the “home” egg! By the time dinner was done we’d be so full of the chicken or lamb roast, plus the earlier chocolate, that we couldn’t even look at another chocolate egg… Just kidding we went to town on that last egg! We’d been waiting all day for it!

Another thing I always looked forward too was the Cadbury’s Creme Egg ads. Every year around Easter they’d update their “How Do You Eat Yours?” campaign. I don’t know if they still do that, but it was always good for a laugh.

After Easter was done, I always went to Woolworth’s and got me some discount Easter Eggs. The days after a big holiday was probably my favourite. Post-Easter sales were amazing for sweets. Manufacturers always made far too much and there was always so much left over.

Do you still carry forward any foodie traditions, i.e.; Hot cross buns on Good Friday, Lamb Roast on the Sunday, chocolate eggs?

Chocolate Eggs were what we always did. They came in all shapes and sizes, sometimes you’d even get a bonus mug. Tea always tastes better when you have a Cadbury’s Flake logo on it, that’s just science. But here, in America, while they have all sorts of egg-shaped things, a hollow egg with a side of delicious sweets is almost impossible to find. You’d have an easier time finding Big Foot or a non-delusional Tottenham fan.

Last year, my Saint of a Sister sent over Giant Kinder Surprise Eggs for my kids. That helped keep what little tradition Easter held for me alive. I’d all but given up trying at that point, shipping Eggs is tricky because they tend to break, but she packed those bad boys up in seven layers of bubble wrap and even though the box looks like it had been chewed up by and Yak with a throat infection the eggs were intact.

Otherwise, it’s all Easter Egg hunts, pictures with a man-sized Bunny, dying and or painting eggs, another egg hunt and that’s about it. All the sweets are the same. Wax candles shaped like eggs and over sweet candies with an ingredients list filled with unpronounceable words and yellow dye #5.

What would your tips be for creating a fun Easter weekend for families with young children?

Do all the things. As mundane as the egg hunts are and messy the dying of eggs is to me, my kids enjoy them. Anything that brings us together and puts smiles on their faces is all that matters. And if you can throw in a few sweets from home inside a hollow egg, well that’s just magical.

Lastly, what Easter chocolate are you hoping to receive this year?

I won’t expect anything from home. I’m considered “too old” to be sent an Easter egg, whatever that means. I do fully expect to fill my face with Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. That’s is the one thing that made it over here for Easter. While I expect nothing, I HOPE I get at least one hollow egg. I always liked the Revels egg, Flake Egg, and there was even the elusive Jelly Babies egg. The Jelly Babies egg was a weird combo as Jelly Babies and chocolate do not go together traditionally, but I wasn’t eating them at the same time. I’m not saying I didn’t try, it was not good… do not do that.