Carrefour has / had wheetabix. Dunno about Metro.
Many things including marmite can be found on Taobao or Tmall.

Cous Cous is one of the new things which will most likely be added on our next menu additions in our bar (after lasagne) :)
We also have premium steak with gravy and wine (requires reservation), seafood dishes and many cheeses :)

Personally I miss some good avocado, lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwiches. Where are the avocado's!!? They remind me of Dodo's in China ^_^

Okay, Silvio, cous cous, but if you're going to do cous cous, please take the time to do it right, which means a lot of work, but worth it.

@mmkunmingteacher
Nothing like a tomato cup-a-soup after a tiring day! All those soothing chemicals...

@mPRin
No sorry, there hasn't been cup-a-soup or Branston pickle in Kunming before. It's the Weetabix I was referring to, which seems to have dried up (no pun intended!) recently. It used to be widely available but I haven't seen any for a while. Must check out CF again.

Aaah! Bisto!

Frey Bentos pies.

None.

@Ocean, what seems to be mostly available now is the Australian version, Weet-Bix

Actually, I wish I could get some Chinese food the way it was made back in the US. Have yet to find any place here that can make beef and broccoli the same way restaurants back there made it. I guess as long as the DNA can be traced back to some section of the cow it is called beef here, and hard, yellowed broccoli is just fine. Also miss sweet and sour shrimp and shrimp in lobster sauce. And to be honest, I miss those egg rolls with the hot yellow mustard.

Also miss Mexican food, which you just cannot get here. Not at all in Kunming. Have had some passable stuff in the bigger cities, but I am not so desperate I am going to fly to Chengdu or Shanghai for enchiladas that are only 50% at best.

And on the day to day level I miss the deli section of any supermarket. Frozen dinners (most of which put the boring swill here served in many places to shame). Sour cream. Cheese selections. Sandwich meat. Guacamole. Potato chip dip. Top Ramen noodles. The Tempura stands in Seattle and of course the street pizza by the slice, which I guess cannot be replicated in China. That would require they actually put on tomato sauce and cheese.

And lastly... Arby's!

BillDan, how is it you can't find good broccoli in Kunming? I find it in plenty of restaurants and virtually every market.

@Alien I have found good broccoli. I buy it from the local markets here where I live. The first thing I have to do is cut of the huge tree trunk that the florets are connected to, that I used to assume was for weight purposes. I was wrong, people here serve it. But sure, I can find it. I would figure ALL eateries would able to as well. I have had good broccoli before in restaurants as well. But I have had a couple beef and broccoli disasters to say the least. One place I like the broccolli is the Guo Zi Lou in Wen Hua Xiang. But old, chewy broccoli, in some bland sauce with inedible gristle ad cartridge serving as the beef, does not make it for me.

The neighborhood I live in is basically all villager stuff. There is nothing fancy here and food can be risky. It may be appealing for a tourist who wants to go crazy for a couple weeks, but after six years I am just burned out. There is one lady who makes great gaifan and mi xian and I live in dread of going to her place one day and there is a "for rent" sign on the door. She is sweet and kind and a great cook. But getting something like beef and broccoli here, or that stew stuff (hong shao niu rou) is really a risk.

To be honest I rarely eat meat anymore so I do not have those issues like I used to. 90 to 95% of the time I eat vegetarian meals as my wife is vegetarian, almost a vegan. I saw the pork used for jiaozi in the market once and that did it for me in that department. A month ago I tried some xian rou baozi an dI only was able to do one bite. My dog Woody got the rest. I am not a vegetarian but save my meat needs for special occasions I guess. I would eat turkey but I am not going to have a dinner without my wife so probably not this year. I can deal with it. If I need beef I go to (gasp) McDonald's. Never really ate there in the US but I feel it is as good a burger as you will get in KM, but its been months really. Maybe 4 or so. Last sandwich I had there was the fish sandwich.

Hey, add that to my list: tartar sauce!

I may seem hard to please but it is not really so. Yesterday was my birthday and for my B-Day I ate local village style food. Same stuff I have all the time really and with no complaint. But I have to admit that after almost ten years I no longer see the "variety" people here for a year or two may see.

Tonight going to a farewell dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in the Beichen area. I am sure it will be nice. But you have to understand, I do not have that anywhere near I live up north by the 3rd ring and Haiyuan Si (temple). The "nice" places here have a Lazy Suzanne and high prices, but suck as far as I (am others) are concerned.

So, yea, I have had good broccoli and buy it. But the issue for me is "consistency and predictability". I never had bad beef and broccoli back in the US. Here, where the dish was invented, well...