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The majority of Americans get their bread from the grocery store, and by the time they eat it it’s probably several days if not weeks old. It is true that you
by thawaway1837 7y ago
The majority of Americans get their bread from the grocery store, and by the time they eat it it’s probably several days if not weeks old.
It is true that you can get extremely high quality fresh bread from a bakery (or even bakeries inside grocery stores) but that isn’t really part of the culture and good quality bread is usually considered an occasional treat.
- lazyasciiart 7y ago“People don’t usually buy it” is a different claim to “it is totally unavailable”.
- shantly 7y agoA baguette in my Midwestern city close to as good as a standard Parisian corner store baguette is like $6. You can get some that are "good" but in fact way worse than the real deal for $4-5. Approach the 2 Euro baguette in price and we're talking something that's so much worse it's unrecognizable. Pastries have a similar ~2x markup and are still usually not quite as good as the norm there even at the high end of the price range. IDK what it is that makes decent baked goods so expensive here. We grow all the wheat, FFS. Apparently kinda halfway knowing how to produce a plain-ass croissant that is somewhat reminiscent of an actual croissant is rare and expensive knowledge around here. We flat-out cannot produce affordable baked goods & bread that aren't fairly bad, it seems—simply not-bad is luxury priced here, and you may have to drive a ways to get it. [EDIT] and this bleeds over into anything requiring bread, like a sandwich. If you buy one out and it's not quite expensive, it will for sure be using pretty bad bread and there'll be a fairly low cap on how good it might be. [EDIT EDIT] toss in the fact that decent or better cheese is more expensive here, and the sandwich situation is downright dire.
- com2kid 7y ago> The majority of Americans get their bread from the grocery store, and by the time they eat it it’s probably several days if not weeks old. Every grocery store near me has giant signs advertising fresh baked bread. Buying bread in plastic bags isn't necessary. Heck when I was a poor college student I'd buy fresh baked 6 inch sandwich rolls, IIRC they were 6 for $2 or $3.
- Moru 7y agoIs it bake-off or real bread baked at the store?
- chipotle_coyote 7y agoWhile I'm sure that depends on the store, many supermarkets I'm aware of -- including Safeway out here in Silicon Valley and Publix in Florida, where I grew up -- have in-store bakeries.
- reaperducer 7y agoOne of the chain supermarkets I go to has a big sign announcing the time the next batch of fresh bread will come out of the oven. So, yes, in spite of the typical HN US-bashing, fresh bread is available in America.
- com2kid 7y agoThis isn't even mentioning: 1. The chain of Brazilian bakeries around me 2. The fresh bread loaves baked at multiple larger Asian grocery stores. 3. The awesome Vietnamese bakery that sends out fresh baguettes daily. 4. The multiple dedicated Japanese bakeries making fresh bread. 5. The multiple dedicated Chinese bakeries making fresh loaves of bread. 6. The multiple local American bakeries that deliver fresh bread to area grocery stores every day. Actually, after making that list, I am kind of shocked at how large the market is for fresh baked bread...
- kristofferR 7y agoI should have been clearer, with "good bread" I meant dark whole-grained bread, not white stuff like loaf and baguettes. Sorry, just my Norwegian bubble I guess.
- reaperducer 7y agoPumpernickel, and three types of rye are available daily. Plus random oaty things. Remember that a huge part of the United States was settled by Germans.