That seems to be a common theme with all food in the US. The stuff normal people get in the supermarket is absolutely terrible, but there are some _artisan_ manufacturers that are actually good compared to the stuff from other countries.

Which is pretty much my point, people get exposed to the low quality of the supermarkets in the U.S and think "I don't like that stuff" and as a consequence never try for the top quality.

It is a marketing problem. I think that Alton Brown did wonders with promoting US artisanal products. On Good Eats he often pitched small high quality producers of various ingredients.

I think it’s cultural. Based on the lack of popularity of quality foods, I would say a large portion of people don’t care or can’t afford to care about cooking or high quality food.

Although, that has changed a little bit in the last decade or so with “foodies” and taking pictures of your food/cooking becoming a thing.

I remember being a kid, and going out to restaurants was not something we looked forward to as American restaurants were bland tasting with garlic (probably powdered crap) being the most exotic spice in the restaurant’s ingredients. Maybe it was different for richer people or in SF/NYC.

And I will never understand the appeal of a diner.

Are you telling me that somewhere in America there's cheese that isn't yellow plastic?

Yes, and my father started the business making it. Look for Jason Wiebe Dairy cheese.

Of course, I'm biased. And from the US. But I sure like it.

Yeah, industry grade food in the US seems to generally have worse quality than industry grade food in Europe. But if you buy expensive stuff you can find high quality food almost everywhere.

That’s the same problem we have with beer. Why can’t we make decent industrial grade beer? I don’t want to drink a triple hopped chamomile infused artisanal IPA, I just want Budweiser not to suck so bad.