The more global our shopping experiences become (you can get delicious Swiss and German goodies in your local Wegman's), the harder it is to surprise and delight, I might add. There's nothing like dragging around luggage heavy with Toberlone just to find that while you were gone, it's become a resident of the shelves at your nearest supermarket. Sometimes Swiss things, such as Sigg cups, even cost less in the U.S. than in the producer country Switzerland! (It's a pretty expensive place to live, all right.)
For novelty, I’ve also schlepped home items as diverse as fizzy candy (Brausepulver), local beer and mayonnaise in an aluminum tube... even mayonnaise swirled with ketchup in an aluminum tube, resembling Aquafresh! The latter is just for a laugh, as my fellow citizens generally know mayonnaise as inhabiting jars only – never a container resembling toothpaste.
I’ve even transported bottles of Moewenpick salad dressing, as several of my U.S. visitors have deemed it exquisite. This seems odd because an average American grocery store contains a salad dressing aisle roughly the size of the Freie Strasse, the main shopping street in Basel. Yet my loved ones find Moewenpick salad dressing to be superior to any specimen from that massive selection back home. It's odd, but I indulge them.
But now, perhaps you experienced international folks have some ideas to share on something to bring back home? It might be something special, something local, something embodying Swissness? (If it's tiny and light and unbreakable while in the luggage, that would be a huge bonus.) Or anyone out there who's on the homefront, what could an expat such as myself bring you that would make you happy? I declare, I have schlepped my last bar of Toblerone.