Breakfast spread

While clearing away the breakfast things this morning, it struck me how international our table gets at breakfast time.

We had sea salt butter from Normandy, fresh milk from Germany, American peanut butter, Belgian speculoos spread, Nutella from Italy, Dutch Gouda cheese, English cheddar and Marmite.

The only genuinely local thing here is my homemade raspberry jelly, made with raspberries from our garden. The Seville orange marmalade is homemade as well, although made with organic Seville oranges from Spain. The bread, not pictured, was from a bakery down the road.

Much as I've tried to introduce more local items for breakfast over the years, the kids refuse to eat anything but real Nutella, and they are mad about American peanut butter, supplied by friends at an American military base. Marmite has no substitute of course, so we bring back a year's supply from England every summer. And as for butter, Belgian butter is perfectly fine, but once you've had the kind from Normandy, nothing else will do. (I'm not one for designer clothes, so it must be okay to be a butter snob.)

Eating local isn't always as simple as I'd like it to be.