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Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

economist.com

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Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#261

Post by bobthepanda »

wonderbore wrote: post #216
Hellion wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why fuck raisins? Earnest question, I always just assumed taking a lot of the moisture out of a grape was bad enough for flavor

I think people generally dislike them because they're often the odd thing in whatever dish (and because they're easily confused as chocolate chips), due to consistency and density. If you add raisins to a salad for example they'll just collect at the bottom; Hope you like finishing your salad with a spoonful of dried fruit covered in ranch dressing.

Also, flavor.

There’s apparently a variation of fried rice that uses raisins as an ingredient. It doesn’t really taste like anything else that would normally go in one.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#262

Post by tomcam »

photochemsyn wrote: post #99

Farmer's markets are the way to go for produce if you have farms in your area. Some are overpriced and upscale, some are cheaper than your local chain grocery store. You can also buy grains/beans in bulk at lower prices, often direct from farmer's coops, and have it shipped to your door. Get a pressure cooker for beans, a rice cooker, save on the gas prices as they're electric, and use an induction electric stove. If…

> one screwup can waste a whole day's work if not a whole month's.

Whoa, your job is safe from the likes of me. I have undergone some tough times, but… that’s a bridge too far. Yikes.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#263

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

rayiner wrote: post #224
fredley wrote: post #32

UK supermarkets are crap, and have got noticeably crapper in recent years. At even large mid-tier supermarkets you will find a paltry range of fruit and veg, and a maeger selection of almost entirely prepackaged meat and fish. I have noticed many things are routinely out of stock and it can be a lottery shopping for a specific recipe. I recently visited Portugal, and in a small city supermarket there was a bakery, me…

> I find this every time I shop on the continent. Are our standards that much lower? Is it just Brexit? I yearn for a European supermarket experience in the UK. I think it’s an Anglo thing. Canada, the US, and Australia are all like this too.

Australian supermarkets have gotten much better in the last few years. The quality is still lower than what you can find in your local green grocer or butcher, but there is a wider variety of items and specific supermarkets will carry items for the local community that other locations won't have. And so long as you buy in season, the supermarket is usually fine.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#264

Post by watersb »

robonerd wrote: post #187
angmarsbane wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home Economics is no longer coursework in high school so you have generations who have made it to adulthood without basic kitchen training.

I hope they at least broke the nutrition science section of those courses off and continued teaching at least that much.

No. No, they did not.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#265

Post by tomcam »

donthellbanme wrote: post #254
SoftTalker wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never seen a cheap farmers market. Around here they seem to be exclusively for and patronized by wealthy older people, who don't blink at paying $7 for a head of lettuce.

There used to be one at one of the Cow Palace parking lots in the 80's. Even then, I was shocked at the low prices. I stumbled on this Farmer's Market by accident. I had this security job guarding the Cow Palace on the weekends. The insurance was less if they had a guy on the premises. I remember seeing my boss (Bill. The nicest boss I ever had. Never forget this huge man walking towards me on a Sunday in complete da…

Well those were some lovely reminiscences. Thank you. Did you see the model before it was buried?

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#266

Post by tomjakubowski »

asiachick wrote: post #236
DubiousPusher wrote: post #172

I grew up in Montana so I am probably one of the few millennial Americans that probably recalls what life is like before supermarkets. They were just becoming a thing there as I was growing up. (Very, What's Eating Gilbert Grape.) We had an IGA in the small town I grew up in. The fresh food options there were borderline Soviet. We went to a butcher to get our meat when we didn't have meat from hunting. We got produce…

I'm sure supermarkets now are better than what you grew up with in Montana but I have the opposite experience. I'm in SF, we supposedly have good produce, farmer's markets, and big supermarkets with lots of selection. But they pale in comparison to what I'm used to from Japan and France. The bread here in SF is horrid and that includes that massively over rated Tartine, not to mention how bad the baked products are a…

Pints of heavy whipping cream, even the fancy organic kind, at my local Whole Foods in Los Angeles don't exceed $6.50, which is already more than I'd like to pay. $15 seems insane. What's the brand?

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#267

Post by philwelch »

quartesixte wrote: post #228
DubiousPusher wrote: post #172

I grew up in Montana so I am probably one of the few millennial Americans that probably recalls what life is like before supermarkets. They were just becoming a thing there as I was growing up. (Very, What's Eating Gilbert Grape.) We had an IGA in the small town I grew up in. The fresh food options there were borderline Soviet. We went to a butcher to get our meat when we didn't have meat from hunting. We got produce…

As a child of immigrants (who were farmers/rural prior to coming to America) sit-down dinner with family was tantamount if you were eating at home that day. I assumed everyone did this, until I found out most of my friends did not eat dinner together with family. My shock at this was immense. I wonder if Thanksgiving dinners are equally so contentious as they are cherished because of how rare family dinners have beco…

> I wonder if Thanksgiving dinners are equally so contentious as they are cherished because of how rare family dinners have become. People aren’t just used to being stuck together with family at home at one table like that anymore.

I think it has more to do with extended family whom you don’t ordinarily see; from the stories I’ve heard, there’s usually one obnoxious uncle who picks stupid arguments or someone like that.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#268

Post by slang800 »

hedora wrote: post #242

So, the article claims the average price for a day of nutritious food in the US is $3. How is that possible? Is anyone here close to spending $21/week for all the food they eat (ignoring luxury items, etc)? That hasn't been possible for me for at least 20 years, and when travelling to cheaper places (pre covid), it doesn't seem possible there either. Where are these average food prices?

I couldn't find the UN report that they got their chart from. However, they only said "providing adequate calories and nutrients", which is a low bar.

I'm guessing 1.5kg of dry white rice can be found for around $1, and that covers the "calorie" needs. The rest of the budget can be spent on vegetables, nuts, beans, lentils, etc. to cover the "nutrients". It would be a pretty sad diet, but I think you could hit the numbers they're looking for.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#269

Post by kolanos »

throwaway892238 wrote: post #160

I guess people have forgotten the world before supermarkets (the replacement for traditional 'grocery stores'). You could not buy a pineapple or a banana or an orange. It was impossible. What made it possible were the literal overthrow of governments by corporations that acted like pirates with a monopoly on a given crop, in combination with technical and logistical revolutions. It's also amazing to see supermarkets…

> In 2016, 87.3 percent of food and beverage purchases by U.S. consumers, including both grocery store and eating out purchases, were from domestic production. The remaining 12.7 percent were reimported food and beverages such as produce from Chile or wines from France. Imports’ share of the U.S. food and beverage dollar has almost doubled over the last two decades from 6.9 percent in 1993, due in part to growing demand by U.S. consumers for year-round fresh produce options and increasing global trade in food and beverages. Imported inputs are used in U.S. food and beverage production, and their share of the U.S. food and beverage dollar has also risen. Imported inputs used by U.S. food companies and restaurants include both food inputs, such as avocadoes from Mexico and cranberries from Canada, and non-food inputs such as natural gas and foreign-made restaurant equipment. In 2016, imported inputs used in domestically produced food and beverages accounted for 4.7 percent of the U.S. food and beverage dollar, up from 3.7 percent in 1993. [0]

The data doesn't suggest "a majority", but approximately half of the fruit and a third of the vegetables are imported. When you look at the data, these imports occur out of season domestically.

[0]: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery...

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#270

Post by s5300 »

lettergram wrote: post #260
DubiousPusher wrote: post #172

I grew up in Montana so I am probably one of the few millennial Americans that probably recalls what life is like before supermarkets. They were just becoming a thing there as I was growing up. (Very, What's Eating Gilbert Grape.) We had an IGA in the small town I grew up in. The fresh food options there were borderline Soviet. We went to a butcher to get our meat when we didn't have meat from hunting. We got produce…

For what it’s worth I grew up with super markets and it still blows my mind. Has since I was a kid, how do I have strawberries in winter!? It’s also what has enabled us to diversify. Easy to obtain any food, any time, without much meal prep. I personally am still looking to grow, store and remain self-sufficiently. But it’s entirely a life style choice; built out of my fear for the further. Ask yourself, can the next…

So, basically - California needs nuke energy, & fast.

Easiest thing that should happen but never will. Can’t wait to see how things turn out, that being said.

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