4 ms·

You're conflating a lot of things with sweeping generalizations. And, I've lived in CA for 40+ years, and know where the proverbial bodies are buried. Bread, m

You're conflating a lot of things with sweeping generalizations. And, I've lived in CA for 40+ years, and know where the proverbial bodies are buried. Bread, milk, cheese, and butter vary a lot, depending on where you get it and how it was produced. If you're lazy and only go to a corporate, generic supermarket, you're likely to only be able to buy inferior products or marginally-good products at high prices. If you go to farmers' markets, specialty, independent, Italian grocers, and other quality stores, you will have much better choices of superior products. Tap water in California ranges from acceptable to terrible. Sacramento and Davis are notoriously bad with very high mineral content (hardness). An ion exchange water softener is a luxury in some areas and essential in others. Also, a multi-stage carbon + RO filter is a requirement for drinking water anywhere due to chemicals including chloramines. Another common improvement is a whole-house carbon block filter to catch chloramines that can damage RO membranes and produce undesirable odors at all water use points. Rice from California should be avoided because it contains arsenic from the soil composition. As I don't completely trust the coffeemaker rice cooking method, it's better to get rice that's safer to consume in the first place.

Symbiote 6y ago
The point is that "every morning" general goods are of lower quality. i.e., the corporate, generic supermarket in Europe is better than the corporate, generic supermarket in the USA. I think this is a reasonable assertion, but there's significant regional variation between and within countries/states.
- mettamage 6y ago
  Thanks for explaining my point, this is what I mean indeed. When I go to the super market and buy a random bread I can be rest assured it's of ok quality. When I go and buy a random bread in SF, I can be rest assured that it's sweet. To get anything acceptable, I had to buy higher quality stuff in SF (like French bread or imported cheese).
- perl4ever 6y ago
  Generic supermarkets in the US often have widely varying product quality in the same store. For instance, you can buy various types of "parmesan", US made or ersatz or Kraft or whatever, probably some of it's sawdust, but every place I've been to also has genuine and expensive parmigiano reggiano, as well as US made parmesan that's aged and relatively good quality. Even specific brands will have different prices and quality, like for example the deli/produce section often has products sold by irregular weight that are better than the standardized packages elsewhere in the store.

Symbiote 6y ago

The point is that "every morning" general goods are of lower quality. i.e., the corporate, generic supermarket in Europe is better than the corporate, generic supermarket in the USA. I think this is a reasonable assertion, but there's significant regional variation between and within countries/states.

mettamage 6y ago
Thanks for explaining my point, this is what I mean indeed. When I go to the super market and buy a random bread I can be rest assured it's of ok quality. When I go and buy a random bread in SF, I can be rest assured that it's sweet. To get anything acceptable, I had to buy higher quality stuff in SF (like French bread or imported cheese).
perl4ever 6y ago
Generic supermarkets in the US often have widely varying product quality in the same store. For instance, you can buy various types of "parmesan", US made or ersatz or Kraft or whatever, probably some of it's sawdust, but every place I've been to also has genuine and expensive parmigiano reggiano, as well as US made parmesan that's aged and relatively good quality. Even specific brands will have different prices and quality, like for example the deli/produce section often has products sold by irregular weight that are better than the standardized packages elsewhere in the store.