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[quote=Anonymous]I've lived in Europe and the US and the number one thing wrt groceries I noticed is that the food in the EU country I lived in (Ireland) *does* taste better and does go bad faster. Even stuff you would buy at Tesco. For the staples (bread, etc) the culture was far more centered around more frequent trips to the store because the stores were smaller and people typically wouldn't do one big "mega shop" like you do in the US. In the US, particularly the suburbs, people tend to do one major grocery trip every week or two weeks, so, yeah, you'd want the food to be better preserved with sugar and salt since you might not be eating it for a few days.  Like, it was common to buy bread from a bakery in Ireland, but that's a habit that most US folks don't do anymore. (Yes, simplifying here).

Otherwise, I absolutely do NOT think that the Irish generally had better eating habits than US folks in the same SES bracket. Nor were they likely to be making their own brown bread or raising their own chickens. In fact, particularly among UMC Americans, I see more of an emphasis on vegetables and healthy options whereas "vegetables" in Ireland were limited to green leafy salads or potatoes. AND, increasingly in Ireland and the UK stores sell "meal kits" -- like, prepared eggplant parm -- in the cooler.  These, of course, are loaded with sodium/sugar/etc. But, this is different from the US, where the prepared meals are frozen (more preservatives) or intended to be eaten later (e.g. hamburger helper)-- the UK kits were marketed to people buying something for that evening's dinner. And, the portion sizes are a huge thing here -- they were definitely more reasonable then most of what you see here. Again, it speaks to buying a lot of food in advance and expecting it to stay edible vs. buying food for the next day or two.

TL,DR: US's societal norms, including long commutes, a car-centric culture, mega stores instead of mini marts, and long work weeks contribute to an emphasis on things that can keep for a while in the fridge/cupboard, and those foods need preservatives like sugar/salt to stay that way.

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