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Since I just posted a recipe for yogurt cake, I thought I’d share my thoughts on American yogurt. I was interested to read a column recently in The Guardian by an American who now makes her home in London; while back in New York for the summer, she found that what she missed most of all were British dairy products! I sympathize. I probably eat yogurt on more or less a daily basis, but I gave up eating yogurt for a couple of years upon moving here from Britain because I found American yogurt so unpalatable. And it’s not just the big-name varieties full of artificial ingredients. I actually found Stonyfield Farm yogurt, available in New England, which is proudly organic and all that, to be one of my least favorites. Like other American yogurts, Stonyfield has a thick, gelatinous texture I think achieved by the addition of pectin. That’s fine if that’s the texture you like. British, European, and (apparently) Australian yogurt is much thinner and, simultaneously, much creamier, even when it’s low-fat or non-fat. If that’s the style of yogurt you like (or if you’ve never had it and would like to compare), I recommend Wallaby brand Australian-style yogurt—it was widely available in California, and I know they have the fruity varieties here in Chicago (though I haven’t seen the plain kind, which is my favorite), and also in the Boston area. If you happen to live in L.A., Trader Joe’s plain low-fat organic yogurt is also made in this style; I was sad to discover that their plain low-fat organic yogurt here in Chicago is not of the same variety.