cream cheese

Philadelphia foiled cream cheese bricks (for baking) are hard to come by in many EU countries (though readily available in Ireland). Equivalents in Germany and France are not as tangy and tend to have higher moisture content -- hence resulting in a less-than-satisfactory cheesecake which does not have the characteristic tang and creaminess that I find essential in a good cheesecake and a soppy goopy mess when trying to make cream cheese frosting (according to Krista of Living on Cookies, the key is to mix the powdered sugar with the cream cheese before adding butter).

What is an American to do? Cream cheese is so much a part of Americana and figures an essential part of the American diet that among the things that were in great shortage during the 2021 COVID-19 pandemic was Philly cream cheese! There was such a shortage of cream cheese that Philadelphia were paying the first 18k consumers who promised to give up cheesecake for the holiday season!

Notice even the ingredients and nutritional values for "Philadelphia Original" vary in EU compared to the US