Good God, what on earth have you lot on the left side of the pond been up to (two years ago)? I know first hand that the US as a whole is capable of delivering

Good God, what on earth have you lot on the left side of the pond been up to (two years ago)? I know first hand that the US as a whole is capable of delivering some incredible flavours - many of which are frankly world beaters - even at a "fast food" level. My exhibit A has to be something like TLC (Texas Land and Cattle). This chain majors in grilled beef. They grill with aromatic chips and use decently aged beef. It's TX: the quality of the raw ingredient should be assumed superb and it is. Quantities are ridiculously large. I ask for "blue" and get it and it's still hot. Proper job. I could also whitter on about the quality of seafood in FL, and of course the Key Lime pie. LA - more quality seafood and in NOLA you get the utter nonsense that is the Po'boy: a monster sandwich that originated as a charity thing from those who had a little to feed the poorer than themselves. The Poboy has grown to gargantuan proportions. I could go on and on (I still have 20 states to visit) but: Then you get to things like cheese and creme and supplementary flavours and sauces. Something goes wrong here. It's not endemic as such but something is a bit wrong. I am singling out the US but I see this everywhere to a much lesser extent. For example - cheese: I have eaten some gorgeous cheese in the US but that's quite rare. "Swiss, Cheddar or American", which translates into "white with optional holes, off white, or weird" I think there's an orange coloured option too. If you are really unlucky, it is sprayed out of a can. They all taste like Monday (differing name, same thing). Right, let's do sauce: Mayo is Belgian (Probably French invention but I think that BE is the main modern user around these parts. NL is also a contender). Ketchup: Complicated. Basic tomato ketchup ("You say tomatow ...") is probably GB. DE (Germany) has quite a lot of options including the divine "Gewurz" versions. Mustard. Right, you lot have completely lost the plot here. Mustard should destroy your tastebuds by default or at least have some flavour. OK that's a bit daft. US bog standard mustard tastes like bog standard senf (German) with the flavour removed. DE has a lot of mustards beyond the stuff sold in the schnellis (fast food booths - Anglicised) and so does the US but it is hard to find. French mustard eg Dijon is quite mild but loads of flavour, English mustard is rather warm but not rudely hot. A touch of the stuff can enhance a boring mouthful or make a good one sing. Our horse-raddish on the other hand can leave you completely breatheless. BTW I live quite close to Cheddar ie the gorge, where the cheese comes from.