a popcorn plea

I am a salt junkie. My two favorite things to eat are pretzels and popcorn. (Actually, since the salt is all on the outside for flavoring, both have much less sodium than even some much less salty-tasting foods.) The selection of pretzels here is pretty much limited to “salt sticks” (thin pretzel sticks) which are tasty but not very satisfying. Dinner portions are smaller when we eat out, too, and I don’t have to get up and row at 4AM any more, all of which make me more likely to pop a bowl of popcorn in the evenings. In the last few years, especially whenever he’s been trying to make lightweight, Rudder has found that popcorn gives him a satisfying amount of bulk for not that many calories, and now he likes it almost as much as I do. In other words, we eat a lot of it.

We make real popcorn, on the stove, with real oil, butter and salt – I still believe moderate amounts of the real thing are not as bad for us as lots of chemicals, not to mention the excessive amounts of grease found on prepackaged microwave popcorn.

Back in June of 2005, Rudder and I were getting increasingly frustrated because it was getting harder and harder to find real popcorn; our local grocery carried rows and rows of microwave popcorn, but always seemed to be out of the bags of plain kernels. When we came across a 50 lb sack of popcorn in a warehouse store, we bought it. We felt more than a little silly, but it cost no more than ten pounds in the one-pound sacks the grocery sold (or rather, didn’t sell because they were always out of it) and we figured we were supplied for the next decade. As it turns out, we were wrong.

Less than two years later, we now have five pounds or less left, and I don’t quite know what to do. I can’t find it anywhere here, either in a local store or on any European-based online stores. (There are considerably fewer people selling food online in Europe, in general.) I found a US online store that sells 25-lb bags, but while the cost of the popcorn is quite low ($18 or so), they quoted me $40 for shipping. Even if I paid that, judging by past experience, when the package got here I’d probably be charged another €30 for import duties. So: does anyone know of a source for popcorn in Europe, either local Dutch stores or via mail order anywhere in the European community?