Where does America rank as a food country?

quote:

---

The difference is all the negatives about the US have been thrust in your face because you live here, but the same flaws were probably much harder to see from your perspective abroad.

---

This is a good point.

At least by appearances though, Europeans are very market minded people...rather than going to the grocery to stock up, they at least seemed to want fresh, local, seasonal items. There are plenty of crappy groceries there though...

Maybe, Gammisch tiger or whoever the guy living in Bavaria is can help on this thread.

Mutts can be better than pure breads sometimes.


Our top 5-10 food cities could compete with almost any country in this world.

It even stacks up pretty well versus France:

NYC Paris
San Fran Lyon
Chicago Marseilles
NOLA Stasbourg
LA Nice

I walked into a health food shop last week and told the lady "I see they're opening a Firehouse Subs shop next door. Kinda strange since there's a Subway across the street."
She: "Look to your left. There's a Quizno's across that street."
Three sub sandwich shops within 100 yards of each other.

quote:

---

France, Spain, Italy, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Belgium....

---

Thats a hard one TA... Our cooking/food in the USA is a regional collection and hodge podge of all these countries. Spanish and Mexican in the southwest and west, French here, etc etc.

Other than the hamburger, what brand of cooking/food did we not inherit and change some?

quote:

---

France

---

a bit of a ramble here...

i can only speak about Paris, so i really can't say where the US ranks (and ive only lived in a couple of states anyway). i tend to question anyone that can claim to actually make a legitimate ranking of countries as far as food goes. Their cuisine, maybe. But i think 'food country' encompasses restaurants, stores, home cooking, farming, etc. That type of thing can't be understood on just a visit or 2 or even living there for a short time imo.

But my impression of the French from there is that they are headed toward where the US has been, and we are headed toward where they have been. Especially in regards to processed foods. I feel like here it gets a bad rap, there it is cool. it is more of the view that say, my grandparents took about this kind of thing (as young people, going to mcdonalds was a big deal, they were fascinated by fast food--to this day they still enjoy that). They are just impressed with the technology and the relative newness of it I think.

also i believe that there are way more restaurants in the US that feature lots of 'house-made' items. this could have been a positive thing in the past for Paris--there were many specialty shops and experts out there who did things really well and sold their product to restaurants--but as that is going away, you see issues.

my impression is that less and less people do the stereotypical walk to the boulangerie to get a baguette, shop at a market, etc. all the big grocery stores have all that stuff. but way worse quality. the cheap chickens there are just as disgusting as the cheap chickens here (to me). your average restaurant is using frozen fries, etc. the positive is that you still find butchers and specialty shops very easily--but for how long?

Mass grocery stores are hugely popular. France is McDonald's #2 market. There is not a big 'local' movement like there is in the states in many places. Paris has TONs of markets, outdoor markets. However it is very difficult to find ones that are populated with produced direct from farmers. You go to these and you can see 'spain, belgium, italy, morocco, etc' as the origin of fruits/veg. My understanding is that pretty much all of this comes from the big Rungis wholesale market.

i bitch all the time about raw milk cheese being illegal here (if aged <60 days). It is legal in France, and they make unbelievable raw milk cheeses. When you buy Brie or Camembert in the states, it is 'real' and 'authentic' in the fact that it is made in France in that region. But it is made from pasteurized milk--and you miss something. However in grocery stores in Paris, you will typically only find pasteurized cheeses. You have to go to a fromagerie for the good stuff. There are alarming statistics out there that show the decline of these types of cheeses.

Anyway, the French in general are very static-minded and not open to change. Think about how they were always considered the #1 place in the world for food, but that is really not the case any more. Seems like they fail more than not when they try to incorporate outside things into their cuisine, or just plain badly try to replicate others'.

this speaks to some of that
LINK

Ok seriously who the frick is

quote:

---

Alice Water's

---

If you mean Alice Waters then Im sorry Im not going to use that dumb bitches influence to say that America is behind in the world. What other countries have you lived in for years to honestly make the claim that they always cook fresh organic foods straight from the farm?

I'll stick to my point that talent and preperation trumps organic any day of the week.

quote:

---

You live there now?? How did you find a job in France...not many jobs for Americans at all. It is the most interesting country in the world to me...I have been all over Europe, but only Paris/Strasbourg, thusfar....this next trip will change that. I have a feeling I will not want to leave Lyon...if we could stay, we would.

---

got back in the summer, i was there for a year. school. my understanding, as you are saying, is that finding a job as an american is VERY DIFFICULT there. you really have to have some specialty, i think.

quote:

---

We are going to Frnace soon (Paris,

---

check out my post here LINK for my thoughts on good places in Paris.

I would also try desperately hard to get a reservation at Spring, which recently re-opened.

quote:

---

Yeh...they really dislike us...my only saving grace was when I said I was from Nouvelle Orleans, then they instantly love you. They consider NOLA their little brother....a shocking number have been to visit here.

---

In my experience dealing with French people is you can just as well say you are from Louisiana. Doesnt matter if you say New Oreans or not. Of course having a french last name doesnt hurt either. They love Louisiana.