4 ms·

The incentive is to produce tasty food that makes as much money as possible. Food is so cheap in the US that I doubt that was the limiting factor. Like, we make

The incentive is to produce tasty food that makes as much money as possible. Food is so cheap in the US that I doubt that was the limiting factor. Like, we make cheap candy that is 99% sugar.

elcritch 2y ago
It's not all that tasty. After visiting Europe I always find American foods to be grossly sweet. It's a race to the bottom that you only notice if you get out of the cycle for a bit.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  Because it's actually better or because of confirmation bias or because as a "visitor" your diet is not representative of what people who live their eat on a normal day/week?
  - gambiting 2y ago
    As a single point of anecdote - as a European visiting America, I also found American candy just insanely sweet. Like, way more than what I'm used to, and it definitely didn't make me go "wow this is tasty". I guess you're used to what you know, but there is something to it.
    - ziml77 2y ago
      You want real sweetness insanity? Try sweet tea. You will feel so dehydrated after sipping it you'll be begging for a glass of water.
    - tharkun__ 2y ago
      I do agree that our sweet here in NA is sweeter. From a taste perspective however, it's a lot about whatever you are used to, like you say. After more than a year of Keto and not having had any bread, I ate some wheat bread again for the first time. Nothing sweet on top. Just bread (with butter on top). It tasted sweet! And it wasn't even your typical North American floppy toast white bread but just regular, proper wheat bread like you might eat in France in your neighborhood corner bakery (here they usually call it "artisan bread" now). That sweetness went away really quickly after eating bread more regularly again but it surprised me nonetheless and makes your point on getting used to things. Another NA example is cup cakes. There are cup cakes and then there are US cup cakes. I really don't like cup cakes at all. I avoid them. It's a tiny bit of cream with a ton of sugar. Just disgusting. They do the same with actual cakes. You can't buy a proper cake with cream based frosting and some tactful addition of sugar. It's a tiny amount of cream with a load of sugar on a tasteless body of (in many cases overly dry) sponge cake.
  - ktallett 2y ago
    I believe like for like on products, some food's in the US are of a lower quality due to food standard laws being poorer. Chocolate for example must include 10% cacao in the US and 20% in Europe, hence Europe's will taste different and more chocolatey as it simply has more of the ingredient that gives chocolate it's flavour. Chocolate of course isn't the only product that has different regulations.
    - potato3732842 2y ago
      Un-processed poultry (like breasts or something, not nuggets) was the big one I was thinking of. European stuff is higher quality in that there's less chemicals involved and it's cleaner but those are mostly public health issues (no salmonella outbreaks), not nutritional issues. If Europeans aren't actually eating in serious volume the classes of products where the differences are then it doesn't matter much if at all. And then there's all the products where it's a distinction without a difference, like eggs.
  - GJim 2y ago
    Parent is correct. American food is insanely sweet. Take Subway "bread" as an example. It's so sugary it's classed as cake in Ireland. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subway%20bread%20cake https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subway%20bread%20cake
  - doubleg72 2y ago
    I live in WNY and go to Canada frequently, I can agree the OP. The food tastes much better.
JeremyNT 2y ago
It's reasonable I think to assume that the economics would shift if HFCS weren't so cheap. If say soda were 10% more expensive, how many sales would be lost? Would the risk of losing sales justify reducing the amount of sweetener to retain those customers? Would Americans then recalibrate their taste buds to less sweet beverages? FWIW, American packaged junk food like potato chips often has lower sodium today than it used to, so there's evidence that you can slowly adjust this stuff without losing sales.

The incentive is to produce tasty food that makes as much money as possible. Food is so cheap in the US that I doubt that was the limiting factor. Like, we make cheap candy that is 99% sugar.

elcritch 2y ago

It's not all that tasty. After visiting Europe I always find American foods to be grossly sweet. It's a race to the bottom that you only notice if you get out of the cycle for a bit.

potato3732842 2y ago
Because it's actually better or because of confirmation bias or because as a "visitor" your diet is not representative of what people who live their eat on a normal day/week?
- gambiting 2y ago
  As a single point of anecdote - as a European visiting America, I also found American candy just insanely sweet. Like, way more than what I'm used to, and it definitely didn't make me go "wow this is tasty". I guess you're used to what you know, but there is something to it.
  - ziml77 2y ago
    You want real sweetness insanity? Try sweet tea. You will feel so dehydrated after sipping it you'll be begging for a glass of water.
  - tharkun__ 2y ago
    I do agree that our sweet here in NA is sweeter. From a taste perspective however, it's a lot about whatever you are used to, like you say. After more than a year of Keto and not having had any bread, I ate some wheat bread again for the first time. Nothing sweet on top. Just bread (with butter on top). It tasted sweet! And it wasn't even your typical North American floppy toast white bread but just regular, proper wheat bread like you might eat in France in your neighborhood corner bakery (here they usually call it "artisan bread" now). That sweetness went away really quickly after eating bread more regularly again but it surprised me nonetheless and makes your point on getting used to things. Another NA example is cup cakes. There are cup cakes and then there are US cup cakes. I really don't like cup cakes at all. I avoid them. It's a tiny bit of cream with a ton of sugar. Just disgusting. They do the same with actual cakes. You can't buy a proper cake with cream based frosting and some tactful addition of sugar. It's a tiny amount of cream with a load of sugar on a tasteless body of (in many cases overly dry) sponge cake.
- ktallett 2y ago
  I believe like for like on products, some food's in the US are of a lower quality due to food standard laws being poorer. Chocolate for example must include 10% cacao in the US and 20% in Europe, hence Europe's will taste different and more chocolatey as it simply has more of the ingredient that gives chocolate it's flavour. Chocolate of course isn't the only product that has different regulations.
  - potato3732842 2y ago
    Un-processed poultry (like breasts or something, not nuggets) was the big one I was thinking of. European stuff is higher quality in that there's less chemicals involved and it's cleaner but those are mostly public health issues (no salmonella outbreaks), not nutritional issues. If Europeans aren't actually eating in serious volume the classes of products where the differences are then it doesn't matter much if at all. And then there's all the products where it's a distinction without a difference, like eggs.
- GJim 2y ago
  Parent is correct. American food is insanely sweet. Take Subway "bread" as an example. It's so sugary it's classed as cake in Ireland. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subway%20bread%20cake https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subway%20bread%20cake
- doubleg72 2y ago
  I live in WNY and go to Canada frequently, I can agree the OP. The food tastes much better.

JeremyNT 2y ago

It's reasonable I think to assume that the economics would shift if HFCS weren't so cheap. If say soda were 10% more expensive, how many sales would be lost? Would the risk of losing sales justify reducing the amount of sweetener to retain those customers? Would Americans then recalibrate their taste buds to less sweet beverages? FWIW, American packaged junk food like potato chips often has lower sodium today than it used to, so there's evidence that you can slowly adjust this stuff without losing sales.