This article is about how much more expensive America is than the rest of the developed world, but I wanted to talk about the difference in food quality that it also discusses between the US and Europe.

The twelve dollars I spend at Tesco in London, the equivalent of a low-end American grocery store, like Food Lion — even that quality is (much) better than at the best American ones, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and so on. Do you see the point? The best I can buy in America is worse than the worst I can buy elsewhere. And that difference only gets bigger in Europe proper.

Whenever I visit anywhere in Europe and then come back to the US, I invariably lose weight. Not because I gained any in Europe (the increased walking negates any additional calories consumed), but rather because it takes me a long time to adjust to just how terrible all American food is in comparison so I nearly stop eating.

American food is so vile and you don’t even know it till you visit somewhere else.

What the author says is true — the worst European food is better than the best-available American food. I ate a sandwich from a gas station in Germany better than the best sandwich I can get anywhere that I know of in America for any price.

And the worst bakeries in Europe are better than even the very best ones I’ve found anywhere in the US.

I ate some blueberries once in London that I couldn’t believe they were even blueberries they tasted so damn good.

Why is American food so particularly terrible? I am not really sure all the reasons. But it’s shocking the difference when I eat a meal there and then fly back to America to attempt to choke down the horrible swill available here.