re: Where does America rank as a food country?

I think this is probably an exact relation to how America is as a beer country.

At face value, we don't compete with places like Belgium, Germany, England, maybe even Ireland... because everyone thinks of American beer as Bud/Miller/Coors and that's what most people drink.

In places like Belgium they have hundreds of ridiculous breweries, but let's face it, they for the most part make similar styled beers. Same with Germany and England.

Over here, once you get past the heavy top layer, there is some of the best beer in the world being made, in every style imaginable, even ones those other countries are famous for. Our advantage of course is that the USA is huge compared to most other countries, so there is a huge amount of diversity and opportunity for better small breweries to develop.

So... to answer your question, I'd say America is easily a top 5 food country, if you look past the fast food/chain top layer.