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Difference in food between Europe and USA

Skii said:
American cuisine is not every cuisine you can have in America lmfao

You don't go to America for Korean food. You go to Korea for Korean food.

America is known for BBQ and diner food generally. That is your cuisine. You can't just take mexican, thai, japanese food and say its American. It literally isn't.
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This whole post with the kicker in bold is one of the most obtuse and ignorant things I've seen posted in a while
 
Hollywood Duo said:
I get your point Snowy (I'm American too) but this thread is actually a healthy discussion all things considered. There has been very little drive by shit posting from snobby Europeans, especially now that the thread has past the initial waves of hot takes. If it still bothers you that much I'd recommend just bailing from the thread.
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Just for the record, there is an equal amount of drive by shit posting from the other side too.
 
I would say the biggest difference would be the portions. Where I live you can find some "exotic Foreign" foods anywhere. Of course I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of this thread to begin with, but the whole "worse thing ever" posts are limited at least.

Westbahnhof said:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Mischbrot-1.jpg[/img].
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That looks like a regular loaf of bread to me, and everyone in my family would be able to note that too. The person who mistook it for chocolate bread sounds like a moron, lol.
 
Some of my best meals ive had in life has been in the US. Some of y'all are doing the tourist thing wrong and are buying the wrong stuff in grocery stores.

But maybe the first time you go there trying to find a good place to eat and so on can be overwhelming? I dunno, i have been there a good number of times since i was a kid and have lived there plus gone there all by myself.
 
Snowybreak said:
It bothers me because I have seen with my own eyes the resurgence of experimentation and creativity in our culinary sphere. In the past ten years we have developed and extremely sophisticated food culture that only continues to expand and evolve, mixing and merging disparate concepts from hundreds of various cuisines into something inherently unique.

So when I come into a thread like this, and see the same shit-flinging over and over and over again, it makes me want to break down and cry.
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While I want to repeat that I meant no offense with anything I posted in this thread, I need to point put that it's hardly a "the US is being attacked by mean Europeans" issue.
While obviously trolling, Shadowhelper posted stuff like this:
Shadowhelper said:
This is a fact.

The main difference is European food sucks and American food is great. By this I mean comparing like for like.

A big American city jus has better food than any big European city. It's just a cold stone fact.

The sandwiches in Europe are fucking crap, DISGUSTING. Most of the food in spain is disgusting, or just tons of American rip off food.

Its either boring European cusine, and now mostly just ripping off American trends and cuisine. The best place to eat in Europe is London or to a lesser extent Paris. London has waaaaay more variety, but still NYC is far ahead of London. You can get pretty much anything in London but its still harder and less common to get food as in say NYC.

Eating in NYC is basically heaven. Pizza in NYC, NYC style is so much better than any pizza you can get anywhere in Italy.



Yes I have been to work in Ireland, outside of Dublin, in small town like Shannon on Crick. Food was pretty poor.
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Shadowhelper said:
Who in their right mind likes German food? It's just a bunch of nasty meat. Boring food. Sure I've had some good roasts in Germany. But, I don't think cuisine that consists of mostly of Shnitzels and sausages is very good at all. Relative to America, the food is boring and bad.

Dutch food? Lmao.

This thread is difference between food in Europe and in USA. The cuisine in USA is super global, so you have to include what you find normally, which is also a shit ton of Asian food. Korean and Thai food is everywhere in America. A good American bbq joint puts to shame any European roast, as well.

European food is like European culture. Old and a bit boring. Food in Belgium is dire! Omg. Horrible and boring. Just meat and fried carbs. In both Antwerp and Brussels, yeesh. The food you find in Europe is legit mediocre compared to America. Not even a comparison, imo.

Food culture is so vibrant and exciting in the cities of America. S. American, Mexican and Asian cuisine, as well as the more usual staples, and new trends and types of foods at a dizzying pace.
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You have to identify this kind of stuff as what it is: offensive in order to be offensive.
Then you ignore it.

I think you'll find that most of this thread is productive discourse.
I know I gathered new knowledge and perspective in here.


Fancyarcher said:
That looks like a regular loaf of bread to me, and everyone in my family would be able to note that too. The person who mistook it for chocolate bread sounds like a moron, lol.
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Oh, he is.
Racist, sexist, homophobic, he is basically 100% negative stereotypes one might have about the US.
 
Snowybreak said:
It bothers me because I have seen with my own eyes the resurgence of experimentation and creativity in our culinary sphere. In the past ten years we have developed and extremely sophisticated food culture that only continues to expand and evolve, mixing and merging disparate concepts from hundreds of various cuisines into something inherently unique.

So when I come into a thread like this, and see the same shit-flinging over and over and over again, it makes me want to break down and cry.
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My dude this is the second time I see you react like this on a food thread.
You need to stop clicking on them, seriously.

The issue with American food is not in the quality found there but in the image it markets to the world.

So while its true the food scene is getting better in the US, it will count for naught if its not marketed properly to the rest of the world if you are looking to solve this image problem that is apparent in the thread.
 
Gotchaye said:
European grocery stores are kind of sad. They are small with bad selection. I expect that this is largely about density -- you just can't build a huge grocery store with a parking lot that goes for miles in a European city. Every store is pretty small and has to stock the basics, so there's just no room for much more. Now, you can still find most things, eventually. But if you want decent meat you've got to go to a separate butcher shop, etc.
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I live in germany and I like the smaller shops, we have big ones but I find them annoying, I have to drive there and then I have to walk past 200 options of jam, a toilet paper section that won't end etc. and at the end I'm leaving with basically the same stuff I would have bought in the small stores that are within walking distance from my apartment. So unless I need something really specific I avoid the large stores.
Having a smaller selection does not mean it's a worse selection, there's nothing wrong with the store owner picking and choosing what to offer instead of shoving every brand of ice cream into the freezer.
 
Fritz said:
Just for the record, there is an equal amount of drive by shit posting from the other side too.
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I'd say it's more reactive shit posting but shit posting nonetheless.
Snowybreak said:
It bothers me because I have seen with my own eyes the resurgence of experimentation and creativity in our culinary sphere. In the past ten years we have developed and extremely sophisticated food culture that only continues to expand and evolve, mixing and merging disparate concepts from hundreds of various cuisines into something inherently unique.

So when I come into a thread like this, and see the same shit-flinging over and over and over again, it makes me want to break down and cry.
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I admire your passion. I think you just need to avoid these threads and stop torturing yourself!
 
Austriacus said:
So while its true the food scene is getting better in the US, it will count for naught if its not marketed properly to the rest of the world if you are looking to solve this image problem that is apparent in the thread.
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I don't think there's an image problem for people living in the United States or those that visit. So why bother? If people are going to pretend like all Americans eat is white crap bread and kraft singles, let them stay that way.
 
One thing I noticed on my most recent trip was that BBQ sauce sucks in Europe. My girlfriend got something with BBQ sauce for lunch out of curiosity and it was way off. Tried it again some place else to establish a pattern and yeah, bad.

Likewise whenever I get back to Canada I miss the quality of the bread you can get in France, Italy, etc. There's just no comparison. It's always jarring coming home after eating their bread for two weeks.
 
Hollywood Duo said:
I'd say it's more reactive shit posting but shit posting nonetheless.

I admire your passion. I think you just need to avoid these threads and stop torturing yourself!
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Yeah... You're probably right. I want to engage with people about food, but I don't think this is a good place to do that.
 
The only thing I really observed while over in the US was that the cheapest foods were much worse than their counterparts in Europe. Probably down to the stricter food laws in europe.

Baked beans with a very noticeable sugar content as well, I'm not if I ever encountered that in the UK... but that was an experience.
 
I'm going to be totally honest, as much as I am defending American cuisine in this thread, I micowaved a frozen chicken patty last night, added a spoon of sour cream, mozzarella cheese, and barbecue sauce, wrapped it in a tortilla, and called it dinner.

I got home late and wanted to eat something before the Nintendo Direct came on.
 
Gotchaye said:
Absolutely. This is the the only way I've found to get good fish and spinach, among other things.
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Out of curiosity, when you say that grocery stores are "small and sad" in "Europe", after refering you visited France and Germany...

Where did you go and how long did you stay?

I only ask because France has some of the largest grocery stores (Hypermarches - comparatively even bigger than most Walmarts but more geared toward food and everyday stuff) you'll find, whether Carrefour, Leclerc or Auchan among others.
Any decently sized city will have at least 2 or 3 of those, and I'm obviously not talking about Marseilles, Lyon or even less Paris (for which you generally have to get out of the city center because there's just no space available).

Heck when I visited Berlin decades ago we went to that massive multi level store in the city with giant isles for everything.

The closest I've seen so far in the US is Wegman's (in terms of size and being geared towards groceries), and the true Hypers (Carrefour, Auchan...) in France are I think larger.
 
balladofwindfishes said:
I'm going to be totally honest, as much as I am defending American cuisine in this thread, I micowaved a frozen chicken patty last night, added a spoon of sour cream, mozzarella cheese, and barbecue sauce, wrapped it in a tortilla, and called it dinner.

I got home late and wanted to eat something before the Nintendo Direct came on.
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HA! There you go...
 
Can you even get a Korean taco outside of the states? I had Korean/Mexican fusion in LA and it was amazing

caesar said:
going to america for korean food EleGiggle
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I'll let the Koreans here know you think they make inferior food because they're also American.
 
Counterpoint: why do 50% of european dishes, barring italian ones, seem to have onion in them?
_Ryo_ said:
UK: Scones are not fucking biscuits. They are not. Okay?

Japan: Mayo, corn, or fish does not belong on pizza. マヨネーズ抜きでおねがいします

That is all.
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Sweet, roasted corn on a pizza with pepperoni is delicious.
Westbahnhof said:
An American I know thought that this:
Mischbrot-1.jpg

was chocolate bread.

I am sure that everything can be acquired in the US, but with people like the guy I mentioned existing, terrible impressions of "stupid limited americans, eating their garbage" will spread.

Edit:
ALSO, you guys sell meat for human consumption that you'd never be able to sell here AFAIK
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I'm 70% sure that I've actually had chocolate flavored bread at some point.
 
I hope Euros keep thinking our food is garbage. Makes it easier for me to get reservations at all of the fantastic restaurants around town rather than having to fight with tourists over seats.

As far as I'm concerned, they can keep missing out on the greatness!
 
gcubed said:
This whole post with the kicker in bold is one of the most obtuse and ignorant things I've seen posted in a while
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All those posts defending racism recently and yet my post is the most ignorant you've seen? Hahahaha

AbortedWalrusFetus said:
I hope Euros keep thinking our food is garbage. Makes it easier for me to get reservations at all of the fantastic restaurants around town rather than having to fight with tourists over seats.

As far as I'm concerned, they can keep missing out on the greatness!
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The insecurity is palpable.
 
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
I hope Euros keep thinking our food is garbage. Makes it easier for me to get reservations at all of the fantastic restaurants around town rather than having to fight with tourists over seats.

As far as I'm concerned, they can keep missing out on the greatness!
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Euros has a weird ring to me.. A bit like "Yugos" or "Japs", I think. A bit too "othering". Too "us VS them".

Also don't call me Ösi pls
 
all european food is prepared by an angry chef in a tall white hat in a fastidious kitchen in a hotel, whereas all american food is prepared by a cowpoke over an open fire in cast iron
 
There are roughly 600,000 food service places in America, representing hundreds of different cultures. Threads that generalize like this are so strange.
 
Elandyll said:
Out of curiosity, when you say that grocery stores are "small and sad" in "Europe", after refering you visited France and Germany...

Where did you go and how long did you stay?

I only ask because France has some of the largest grocery stores (Hypermarches - comparatively even bigger than most Walmarts but more geared toward food and everyday stuff) you'll find, whether Carrefour, Leclerc or Auchan among others.
Any decently sized city will have at least 2 or 3 of those, and I'm obviously not talking about Marseilles, Lyon or even less Paris (for which you generally have to get out of the city center because there's just no space available).

Heck when I visited Berlin decades ago we went to that massive multi level store in the city with giant isles for everything.

The closest I've seen so far in the US is Wegman's (in terms of size and being geared towards groceries), and the true Hypers (Carrefour, Auchan...) in France are I think larger.
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There are Walmart Super-centers that are basically the same as the Carrefours I've been to. Target has also revamped many stores to have large grocery sections but limited fresh produce. I actually think the Euro chains did this before the US ones. The first Carrefour I went to was actually in Taipei in 2008 and was blown away by the size. There is no grocery store chain that does anything like that. There are just more stores then in Europe from what I've seen and I've spent a good amount of time in Europe outside the main cities and tourist areas. For example I live in a city of just over 100K north of LA. We have 2 Targets and 2 Walmart's that have groceries and 18 full size grocery stores.
 
Elandyll said:
Out of curiosity, when you say that grocery stores are "small and sad" in "Europe", after refering you visited France and Germany...

Where did you go and how long did you stay?

I only ask because France has some of the largest grocery stores (Hypermarches - comparatively even bigger than most Walmarts but more geared toward food and everyday stuff) you'll find, whether Carrefour, Leclerc or Auchan among others.
Any decently sized city will have at least 2 or 3 of those, and I'm obviously not talking about Marseilles, Lyon or even less Paris (for which you generally have to get out of the city center because there's just no space available).

Heck when I visited Berlin decades ago we went to that massive multi level store in the city with giant isles for everything.

The closest I've seen so far in the US is Wegman's (in terms of size and being geared towards groceries), and the true Hypers (Carrefour, Auchan...) in France are I think larger.
Click to expand...
France was mostly Toulouse and (city center) Paris, for a total of a couple months, and I was admittedly pretty reliant on the people I was staying with to point me to shops and restaurants and so on. I'd never heard of these hypermarches. I've been to a bunch of cities in Germany and lived in a medium-sized city there for a year. My sense is that almost everyone in cities is shopping at pretty small stores or outdoor markets, and I feel like I've gotten a pretty good sense of what restaurants are like.
 
wtf is op's "feedback about chips with cheese"

fries? actual chips? ... nachos? why do we have to do this extra lap defining terms to get you on the same planet? and france is a country in europe, last i checked.
 
I am european, but i love to watch food channels xD

US have some sweet food, holy shit, i understand the reason they have so much fat people there :P

US know how to make meat , just thinking about it i am getting hungry :S
 
Hollywood Duo said:
Let's keep it on topic please. We have plenty of other threads to discussion racism.
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This.
Sorry for bringing it up, I just really don't like the whole "nickname for people from a country/region" thing.
You won't hear me call Amerikaner "Amis", either. It's just uncomfortably "looking down" to me.
 
Chococat said:
When I think America cheese, there are three types- the highly processed singles like Kraft or Cheddar or processed mozzerala. Finding a flavor outside of those three, that is accepted by the public at large, is hard. You have to go to the deli case for those.
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Thats a lot bs I'm reading here.
 
aorange999 said:
Whilst I agree a little bit with this statement I also largely disagree. I live in New York City considered one of the best restaurant towns in the world but I just got back from a trip to Germany and Italy and the food is simply better and less 'rich'

The example I will give is that in a little town in Umbria I went to a gas station to fill ip my rental, ran into the shop to grab something to eat. Inside the same dude who was pumping gas a second ago was making a cappuccino and placing a fresh cannelloni on a real ceramic plate for another customer who was waiting for his full tank.

Think about where in the USA could a gas station attendant make you a real cappuccino and bakery fresh dessert?

I understand the OP' question even though it sounds 'trolly' because It is possible to eat in the simple but artisinal way that the Europeans do but it's fooling yourself to say that it's easy and/or common.
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What does your example have to do with richness?

Spiritwalker said:
This is totally how we eat bread in Norway lol. Although we usually put some sliced cucumber, bellpepper or tomatoes on them like this.

I've seen gaffers refer to this picture as a "hobo meal" etc, but that's just how we roll over here. We like simple stuff.
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Born, raised and living in NYC and I, too, prefer simple foods like this. I see nothing wrong with them. I fuck with you Norwegians.
 
balladofwindfishes said:
I'm going to be totally honest, as much as I am defending American cuisine in this thread, I micowaved a frozen chicken patty last night, added a spoon of sour cream, mozzarella cheese, and barbecue sauce, wrapped it in a tortilla, and called it dinner.

I got home late and wanted to eat something before the Nintendo Direct came on.
Click to expand...

lUxF4Vzb.png
 
Regiruler said:
I'm 70% sure that I've actually had chocolate flavored bread at some point.
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There's a bakery here that does a type of chocolate bread, it's actual bread and only a little sweet, instead of like cake. But it was marbled, not a consistent color throughout.

MistakenMobius said:
Well not really surprising from a country that had separated bathroom between white and black people until the 60's
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Whoa whoa we're attacking America's food ITT
 
Westbahnhof said:
This.
Sorry for bringing it up, I just really don't like the whole "nickname for people from a country/region" thing.
You won't hear me call Amerikaner "Amis", either. It's just uncomfortably "looking down" to me.
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I only did it as shorthand, like I said I didn't realize it was considered derogatory.

Frankly I've traveled extensively in europe, and eaten at Michelin starred restaurants. In June I ate at Shane's in Munich and it was absolutely incredible. German food in general is underrated.

But I also realize that because food is on a pedestal in Europe, it can be a lot harder to get into the best restaurants because tourists snatch up seats. As long as the world is looking down on US food I'll be able to easily get into the best restaurants all over the country and I'm perfectly fine with that. In places like NYC or San Francisco where the food is well known and revered it can be a nightmare. I'll cherish the accessibility in my city for as long as it lasts, cause it's not me who's missing out.
 
I went to look for some number:

https://www.challenges.fr/challenge...-pourquoi-l-hypermarche-n-est-pas-mort_449025

In France 50% of the food is sold in Hypermarket but the format is less attractive for younger people that are more urban than before and are not interested in a car.
At the same time, the city supermarket are seeing growth.

In the Netherlands and in Belgium the giant Ahold-delhaize is mainly opening convenience point that would be like crappy Japanese combini.
I just feel that people go less to those huge shop unless they need to.
 
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