I do think it is generally more expensive in most parts of the US to get fresh produce and organic meat unless you live in certain areas like CA or PA.

When I was in Europe, I did find that food was much cheaper. I believe the government subsidizes the cost of food.

In the US, much of the food is controlled by large companies and there is little price competition and that the government doesn't regulate the cost of food so that companies can raise prices as much as possible to get profits.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation

You’re clearly not looking for the right produce when making your food choices. I grew up in California as the child of a farmer and we ate very well, very little processed food. Now as an adult and parent living in the east I try to make as much fresh as I can. We do 90% of our fresh food shopping at farmers markets and subscribe to a CSA. Our produce is great. We get meat from humanely sourced farms and eat it sparingly. I buy high quality, generally imported dry goods, oils etc, often from places like Trader Joe’s. The food we make at home is flavorful, healthy and generally quite simple. I love to travel and think that yes there are some things that are not generally as good here, but it is possible to find a lot that comes close. Dh is the child of immigrants from Europe and they often comment that the food we make and serve is similar to what they ate growing up.

Meat in America is crap though. The chicken especially with all the hormones.

Meat is way more expensive and fresh produce cheaper. Women still have to spend an intolerable amount of time cooking— and yes, it’s still only the women. I was born there and l like it here much better even after my honeymoon period has worn out after 20 years

It makes me sad, but in like a “we don’t have Anthony Bourdain anymore, so now we have this” kind of way.

Italy is very small compared to the US.

Rats, I was hoping this was news that he was doing a third season with another channel.

It’s because of the industrial farming in the Us plus so much of our food is imported. Things are traveling lost distances so are bred for travel rather than taste and everything loses nutrients starting the moment it’s picked.
Countries like Italy and Spain have more agriculture closer to where people live. I think living in California would be similar since so much is grown in California. It’s nice here for a couple months of the year when you can get a lot of food that is locally grown but we only have a couple months of that plus it’s limited to a relatively small number of fruits/vegs.

It also makes a big difference that there are more places where you can stop and just pick up fresh things over there, rather than supermarkets. It used to be that American supermarkets had fresh baked products — that’s increasingly not true, as they bake the store bakery items either at a facility and ship it, or they are just baking from frozen dough at the store. We apply Henry Ford effieciency to everything, so we do have easier access and more variety.

I was just at an Italian restaurant downtown and the waiter said that chef has the wheat grown in Virginia and mills it either there or at the restaurant to have it fresh for the homemade pasta.