NorskSudWhy Some People Think Food Is Better In Europe Than In The US
Multiplexerl guess a factor are also the different local habits for doing groceries.
Here in our home town in Germany we have three mid-sized full-range grocery stores within walking distance, so typically do shopping 3-4 times a week.
Makes it much easier to shop fresh products and stuff with more limited shelf life (this demand causes easily availability for these).
As I understand shopping in the US, it seems to be more typical to go shopping only once a week or so to the far away mega-store, making it less viable to buy much fresh stuff and also increases the need for products that have been treated to ensure longer shelf-life.
Since 1977 the US federal government has had to require many grocery stores to sell produce. The margins are lower, the labor is higher, and they use a lot of grocery floor space. Without that intervention there probably wouldn’t be access to any produce at all for most Americans. Capitalism is very much the center of this story. In Europe the varieties of produce being grown are being mainly dictated by flavor and taste, in the USA resistance to insects, cheaper to harvest, size of product are the main criteria when the varieties of seeds to plant are being selected.