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I don’t know which part of California you’re in, but this certainly isn’t true of the cuisine in San Francisco. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant th

I don’t know which part of California you’re in, but this certainly isn’t true of the cuisine in San Francisco. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant that used ketchup on anything but fries or burgers. I’ve had plenty of bad food in France and Italy by the way, you can get bad stuff anywhere. Judging a nations cuisine by personal anecdotes is not very rational. And Walmart is not really a grocery produce store. If you want fresh vegetables, go to your local grocer, farmers market, or atleast a Whole Foods. I mean if you’re going to Walmart to buy vegetables, perhaps your buying “American cuisine” at the wrong places too. Anyplace slathering ketchup on stuff is fast food or fast casual, or a really shitty restaurant.

baud147258 8y ago
On the other hand, in France you can buy fresh produce in all Walmart-type stores.
- cromwellian 8y ago
  Hypermarkets in France are typically half to one fifth the size of Walmart Supercenters, not exactly the same. A typical Albertsons, Safeway, or Ralph’s is more the size of France’s big box stores, and those do have fresh produce.
  - athenot 8y ago
    Not sure. The hypermarket I grew up going to had 80 (eighty) checkout lanes and sold everything you'd find at a Walmart Supercenter, but with way more selection. As for the food sections in a typical grocery store in the US (Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Safeway), it is laughably tiny and the quality is depressing.
    - cromwellian 8y ago
      I looked up the average square meters and Walmart’s supercenters tend to be 1.6x to 2x. For example, Carrefour vs Walmart
      - baud147258 8y ago
        Carrefour has got a lot of different sized shops, with the smallest in city center with size of less than 50 sq meters. Of course if you've taken the average size of only the big ones, then the difference is quite big.
scottlocklin 8y ago
Actually I'd say it is very much true of most San Francisco cuisine and produce which is ridiculously overrated. You can go to an average restaurant in Paris run by some working class schmuck and get Chez Panisse tier food for half the price or less. I'm not sure how you're supposed to judge a nation's cuisine by anything but personal anecdotes, unless you have some metric for noticing American tomatoes taste like paste, and Italian ones don't.
- cromwellian 8y ago
  You could start by having double blind taste tests. People love to wax on about their taste abilities and end up failing in real experiments. French wines always beat California wines Until they did the Judgement of Paris blind test and were shocked to find California wines topped all categories. This whole discussion reminds me of the Conan O’Brien running skit where his “Producer”, an over the top Europhile, is constantly commenting on how everything is better. https://youtu.be/vuDMiFwWTM4 https://youtu.be/vuDMiFwWTM4
  - athenot 8y ago
    There have been some outstanding wines produced in California. I know they exist but I haven't tasted them since they are way outside of my price range. But for $15 / €12, you can buy excellent wines in France. In the US at that price range, it is extremely rare to find good wines. Just like strawberries, it's about the appearance (the bottle, the label, the name) and not the flavor.
  - scottlocklin 8y ago
    I'm sure the California vintners association was able to gin up some propaganda stunt where they came out on top on a stacked deck. I think their hooch mostly tastes like berries cut with paint thinner, and for equivalent price I was always able to get a much better wine from just about anywhere else even when I was shopping in California. Could be the vintners are all barbarians, or just their property taxes make decent wine at a decent price to be non-possible. Literally the only people I have ever met who think SF or California in general have food worth barking about are people who live there and don't get out much. For America even a small place like Portland Maine is vastly more interesting, better quality ingredients and better in general.
gumby 8y ago
FWIW Walmart is the largest seller of organic food in the USA.
JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Be fair - it cost 10X at the farmers' market. My local Wal-Mart has excellent vegetables. Maybe not the variety.
jchrisa 8y ago
My take on Bay Area food culture is that people are too caught up in the rat race to perceive the difference between good food and expensive food. This results in inflated prices and inconsistent quality, with an emphasis on over-salting, sugaring, buttering things (as the lowest-common-denominator market demands).

baud147258 8y ago

On the other hand, in France you can buy fresh produce in all Walmart-type stores.

cromwellian 8y ago
Hypermarkets in France are typically half to one fifth the size of Walmart Supercenters, not exactly the same. A typical Albertsons, Safeway, or Ralph’s is more the size of France’s big box stores, and those do have fresh produce.
- athenot 8y ago
  Not sure. The hypermarket I grew up going to had 80 (eighty) checkout lanes and sold everything you'd find at a Walmart Supercenter, but with way more selection. As for the food sections in a typical grocery store in the US (Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Safeway), it is laughably tiny and the quality is depressing.
  - cromwellian 8y ago
    I looked up the average square meters and Walmart’s supercenters tend to be 1.6x to 2x. For example, Carrefour vs Walmart
    - baud147258 8y ago
      Carrefour has got a lot of different sized shops, with the smallest in city center with size of less than 50 sq meters. Of course if you've taken the average size of only the big ones, then the difference is quite big.

scottlocklin 8y ago

Actually I'd say it is very much true of most San Francisco cuisine and produce which is ridiculously overrated. You can go to an average restaurant in Paris run by some working class schmuck and get Chez Panisse tier food for half the price or less. I'm not sure how you're supposed to judge a nation's cuisine by anything but personal anecdotes, unless you have some metric for noticing American tomatoes taste like paste, and Italian ones don't.

cromwellian 8y ago
You could start by having double blind taste tests. People love to wax on about their taste abilities and end up failing in real experiments. French wines always beat California wines Until they did the Judgement of Paris blind test and were shocked to find California wines topped all categories. This whole discussion reminds me of the Conan O’Brien running skit where his “Producer”, an over the top Europhile, is constantly commenting on how everything is better. https://youtu.be/vuDMiFwWTM4 https://youtu.be/vuDMiFwWTM4
- athenot 8y ago
  There have been some outstanding wines produced in California. I know they exist but I haven't tasted them since they are way outside of my price range. But for $15 / €12, you can buy excellent wines in France. In the US at that price range, it is extremely rare to find good wines. Just like strawberries, it's about the appearance (the bottle, the label, the name) and not the flavor.
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  I'm sure the California vintners association was able to gin up some propaganda stunt where they came out on top on a stacked deck. I think their hooch mostly tastes like berries cut with paint thinner, and for equivalent price I was always able to get a much better wine from just about anywhere else even when I was shopping in California. Could be the vintners are all barbarians, or just their property taxes make decent wine at a decent price to be non-possible. Literally the only people I have ever met who think SF or California in general have food worth barking about are people who live there and don't get out much. For America even a small place like Portland Maine is vastly more interesting, better quality ingredients and better in general.

gumby 8y ago

FWIW Walmart is the largest seller of organic food in the USA.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Be fair - it cost 10X at the farmers' market. My local Wal-Mart has excellent vegetables. Maybe not the variety.

jchrisa 8y ago

My take on Bay Area food culture is that people are too caught up in the rat race to perceive the difference between good food and expensive food. This results in inflated prices and inconsistent quality, with an emphasis on over-salting, sugaring, buttering things (as the lowest-common-denominator market demands).