The whole article is just too many words to say
Because our legally mandated food standards are better
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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Why use more word when few do?
European food is better.
even less:
Europe is better
Exactly what I was thinking. I didn't read the whole thing, but figured that's where it'd end up.
Wishful thinking, mostly.
EU food standards are fast far far more stringent than USA? That's not wishful thinking
I thought that the article implied the opposite.
My bad in that case.
Are you a US american? It would be such an US thing tontonto a european community and think "our" means US stuff.
No, I'm just used to them being everywhere
Food Is Better In Europe Than In The US
This was 96.4% true until the UK left the EU. Now it's 100% true.
The UK is still part of Europe.
It's part of Europe the same way a divorced dad who moved out is still part of the family.
Not when it comes to food culture
Food in (some parts of) the UK got dramatically better over the last few decades. When people bash it I always wonder whether they're working with outdated information. It used to be pretty awful. But recently when I travel from Canada to the UK the food is one thing I look forward to.
people have many good reasons to bash the uk, but the food isnt one. Maybe if theyre talking about traditional recipies, sure. But in terms of availability and variety, I've seen far worse here in 'continental europe'.
Because it's true?
Having moved from the US to the EU recently (but having visited for 25+ years). Yes, the food is better in the EU.
The US food is over processed sugar infused sawdust unless you work hard to get specialized and direct from small farms sources.
Here in the EU I walk to any corner store or street vendor and it's consistently amazing.
l guess a factor are also the different local habits for doing groceries.
Here in our home town in Germany we have three mid-sized full-range grocery stores within walking distance, so typically do shopping 3-4 times a week.
Makes it much easier to shop fresh products and stuff with more limited shelf life (this demand causes easily availability for these).
As I understand shopping in the US, it seems to be more typical to go shopping only once a week or so to the far away mega-store, making it less viable to buy much fresh stuff and also increases the need for products that have been treated to ensure longer shelf-life.
In the US (for us) it was big shopping every month (Costco warehouse type shopping, I would typically go to the restaurant supply stores because I couldn't handle the Costco/consumerism frenzy), then once a week for smaller, fresh products. Plus shopping available all day, every day.
Here we have 2 supermarkets, a local Mercado (town center market stalls, open from 8am-3pm) within walking distance, plus 1 vegetable & 1 general convenience shops. Only the last two open Sundays. There is also a fish market/auction in the afternoons when the boats come in, and I almost forgot 3 bakeries (plus 2 french run pastry shops a little further, but that's ok, I'm getting fat and need the exercise )
I've been cooking a long time, in and out of the US (left it the first time when I was 18) and there is no comparison to the flavor of food in the EU, and not just because of the standards and regulations, but because it is still mostly SEASONAL.
Sure you can get some berries in the winter but they are not fully stocked like the summer, and you know the flavor is not going to be the same, but in the US the flavor is so washed out you get the cardboard taste all year long (but they look amazing !).
Lamb in the US 30 years ago used to taste like something, but the preference for milder flavor forced a change in the market. Lamb has flavor here...it tastes like lamb.
Salmon, in the US is 95% farm raised Atlantic Salmon, a shitty invasive species that tastes like water, and has no fat.
Chicken? The most basic of meats? First of all the preference for breast meat is ridiculous (due to heavy marketing way back when), prices for breast meat in the industry cheaper than leg/hind qtrs because of the butchering/human interaction is more time consuming. The color of the chicken in the US doesn't exist in nature. Growing up, a housewife in my home state campaigned on passing a law so that our state grown chicken would be labeled as such in the supermarket because it was flooded with out of state/cheaper alternatives. She won....and is still in the US senate (lol, no term limits & goldfish brained voters) AND the chicken still looks & tastes like nothing.
Olive oil? Sure, it's 'store brand ' olive flavored oil (or some marketing trick like Ooolive or olOve oil ....every once in a while a company gets a small fine for cheating it's consumers but that's just the cost of doing business).
Heirloom tomatoes, when they first got onto the market we had a farmer who shipped exclusively to high end restaurants & catered to them, and when you opened the box it smelled like you were in a tomato field...now they taste as bland as any other. Here, we locally have a contest to see who can grow the best flavored tomatoe in the community (had our neighbor win a couple years ago and she dropped some off at our restaurant just because!). Even the supermarket tomatoes still taste like they should.
All in all, there is no comparison. Commercialism, marketing, corporation consumption of the industry killed the American bread basket.
Yep exactly this. Even though the grocery store is extremely close to my house, itβs the only one, itβs still not a reasonable walking distance for trips 3-4 times per week, and the food is exactly like you said, mostly treated.
Iβve been to several places in Europe and the grocery situation there is so much better, itβs honestly astounding.
Since 1977 the US federal government has had to require many grocery stores to sell produce. The margins are lower, the labor is higher, and they use a lot of grocery floor space. Without that intervention there probably wouldn't be access to any produce at all for most Americans. Capitalism is very much the center of this story. In Europe the varieties of produce being grown are being mainly dictated by flavor and taste, in the USA resistance to insects, cheaper to harvest, size of product are the main criteria when the varieties of seeds to plant are being selected.
Why some people think food is better
Some people? Donβt you all think that?
No, some of us know.
Because European laws prevent food from containing chemicals that are toxic to humans
Think?! It's a fact, isn't it?
you take me from stew, polenta, sarmale to eat burgers and overly sweet fast-food? Ofc European food is better, because itβs so diversified, US is only dreaming of what we have here
Every joghurt has more culture than the US
What's the difference between Joghurt and the US? When you leave Joghurt alone for over 200 years, it develops a culture.
they might have better food regulation on some things.
Feels like the headline is saying "some people" are wrong.
Around when I was 16, a bunch of really fit and slim girls from our town left to be exchange students in the US.
They all came back with roughly 10-15kg more than they had when they left. Said all bread tasted like dessert.
better as in tastier? depends on the product. If the product is european, then yes, otherwise no.
better as in healthier? absolutely!