Why do we tolerate sub-par bread?

[Exterous]

as a country. Sure you can get good bread but you might have to search around for a place that carries it and certainly pay more but most of the stuff is sub-par. Meanwhile I've been able to walk into most grocery stores in Europe and get a croissant, bread or other baked good that is significantly better for a fraction of the cost.

 

[gorcorps]

Do you mean the prepackaged generic sliced bread? Most grocery stores have a bakery too that have fancier breads. Just have to find a good store.

 

[Exterous]

Do you mean the prepackaged generic sliced bread? Most grocery stores have a bakery too that have fancier breads. Just have to find a good store.

Just in general. The grocery store bakeries don't seem to be that good. Maybe you can find a good one with some searching but we walked into about 5 random grocery stores during our recent trip to Europe and they all had better bakery related goods than the grocery stores around here. Thats even comparing an Aldi overseas to an Aldi stateside

 

[KMFJD]

Most of our 'bakeries' these days just finish the product, it's all pre-made in a huge factory these days.

 

[Billb2]

Bread can be an important part of a meal, than again, it can just hold the ingredients together in a quick sandwich.

I usually buy the cheapest house brand white bread and then a loaf of two of something special that I'll need for meals I'm planning. And yes, you have to search for good bread.

 

[K1052]

Just in general. The grocery store bakeries don't seem to be that good. Maybe you can find a good one with some searching but we walked into about 5 random grocery stores during our recent trip to Europe and they all had better bakery related goods than the grocery stores around here. Thats even comparing an Aldi overseas to an Aldi stateside

Europe's bread and baked goods culture is largely intact. Substantially substandard products in comparison to what you can get a couple shops down simply won't fly.

US cities still have good places to get quality bread/pastries/etc but you're mostly SOL in the rest of the country.

 

[NetWareHead]

This post made me wander off to my times in Europe and how delicious the breads were there. Its true though. Even the most plain bread found on a grocery store shelf will be 10x better than most breads sold in usa. Try to sell wonder bread in europe it will go moldy on the shelf.

The only parallel I can find to this in usa is bagels sold in the tri-state area. You just cant be a bagel place that sells sub-par bagels in new york city. You would not stay in business. I go visit my family in NJ and load up on bagels, individually wrap them and freeze them. I live in NH and the quality of bagels is just not the same. They dont suck per se, but as someone who grew up on awesome new york bagels, I miss them greatly.

Most of our 'bakeries' these days just finish the product, it's all pre-made in a huge factory these days.

The economies of scale that allow for this in the usa also potentially exist in europe. But it wont work as well for reasons of culture differences and expectations in food tastes. Europe in general has better food than usa. The people there have generally more refined palates and demand better. Europe also has traditions and customs that date back thousands of years along with a strong desire to preserve these customs. Europeans in general equate food, their language and associated traditions as sources of pride and fiercely guard it. America, in its desire to become the melting pot, homogenized its society and some of these old world traditions vanished. And that permitted sub-par replacements like wonder bread to appear and profit from customers who know no better.

Thats not to say we dont see certain groups of people maintaining their traditions here or people with equally refined palates here in the states. But go into a seven-11 here in the states and grab a generic sandwhich from the cold case. Now do the same thing in Italy. For instance there is a chain of roadside restaurants along the cross country highways (mainly in rest stops) in Italy called Autogrill. One of the best sandwiches of my life was purchased there. Bought a sandwich in the airport in Napoli; equally great. Stopped a delicatessen in Roma for more food on the go and it was all good. I cant say I had one bad meal in Italy. That same sandwhich from seven-11 in the states; marginally decent at best.

 

[nakedfrog]

I mostly buy my bread at Panera.

 

[K1052]

^

Now all I can think about is NYC bagels while I eat my steel cut oatmeal.

 

[Exterous]

Most of our 'bakeries' these days just finish the product, it's all pre-made in a huge factory these days.

I was trying to figure out why everyone sucked at making bread but if its just warming up premade stuff that makes a bit more sense

^

Now all I can think about is NYC bagels while I eat my steel cut oatmeal.

At least they're steel cut

 

[Humpy]

Tortillas!

Anything else is unnecessary and overly complicated. "Bread" is pumped up with chemicals to make it look all big and loafy to trick people and satisfy egos.

 

[Eug]

Yes, it's largely cultural. Unfortunately, Americans (and Canadians) don't appreciate good bread (and even just good food) as much as they should. Yes, I'm overgeneralizing, but good bread is considered a staple and necessity in many regions, whereas in North America, it's a luxury item.

A rather telling observation I've made: Go to a roadside pitstop off the highway in the US, and you get McDonald's. Go to a roadside pitstop off the highway in Italy, and you get Autogrill. This is the type of food you get on the highway in Italy:

I remember many years ago in my city of 175000 in Saskatchewan, this gourmet dessert shop opened up with awesome desserts, priced at about $5 for a piece of cake. It closed up after a year or two, mainly because the locals just wouldn't go there. They'd go to the diner a few blocks away for crappy $3 cake, to save the $2.

BTW, I like bread machines a lot. Just throw in the ingredients and a few hours later you have warm fresh good quality bread. But all of this said, I buy the cheap stuff sometimes too, because my little kids like it, and it keeps longer.

P.S. When we were in Italy, we stopped by a distant relative's farm. When we arrived, she was boiling pasta, and I asked if that was what we were having for lunch. She was insulted and said she would never prepare mass-produced dry pasta for humans. She was cooking that pasta for the dog.

 

[Yakk]

Fresh baked bread for me every morning, croissants on weekends. Couldn't fathom eating grocery store bread daily, icky.

 

[NetWareHead]

Fresh baked bread for me every morning, croissants on weekends. Couldn't fathom eating grocery store bread daily, icky.

Yep. My fiance has a brother in Luxemburg and every morning they get fresh bread at a local bakery. "Cant start the new day without fresh bread" they always say. Ive noticed that in Europe bakeries are everywhere, perhaps as plentiful as fast food in the states. Even small towns will have a bakery within walking distance

 

[PlanetJosh]

Wonder if some kind of app could work for this. Could include people sharing where they find good bread in your local area.

 

[FeuerFrei]

The aroma of baking bread is hard to top. People will be lining up for a piece, at the least.
Unless you have stupid prices - then you can bake bread furiously until you go broke, and whine about people's frugality.

 

[ponyo]

I think people in the US just don't know better or only want the lowest price. Bread, cheese, and deli meats are better in Europe. But you pay for it. Just like seafood is better in Asia. Until people demand it, it's not going to change. But it's slowly changing as it's gotten easier to find places with good bread, cheese, and deli meats.

I just look at this way. What do I want? Slightly better bread or way cheaper meats? I'll take the way cheaper meats we have in the US over better European bread. I look at $40-50 slab of beef I grill/smoke and think this same piece of meat would easily cost $200-300 in Europe.

 

[K1052]

I just look at this way. What do I want? Slightly better bread or way cheaper meats? I'll take the way cheaper meats we have in the US over better European bread. I look at $40-50 slab of beef I grill/smoke and think this same piece of meat would easily cost $200-300 in Europe.

These things are not mutually exclusive. US consumers, largely, just do not demand quality bread products so they are not produced. Not that we lack the raw materials or knowledge to do so economically.

 

[WT]

I buy a bakery sourdough bread loaf and every so often onion rolls from the bakery. Life is too short to eat crappy bread ! Its amazing how much a good quality bread can enliven even a boring sandwich. Also go for the imported Swiss cheese as opposed to domestic - yet another way to dress up a sandwich. Boar's Head lemon pepper roasted chicken breast is my current lunchmeat of choice, with a light slathering of Boards Head delicatessen mustard. That stuff will clean out your sinuses in a hurry - it has a very heavy horseradish taste to it.

 

[Paladin3]

Europe's bread and baked goods culture is largely intact. Substantially substandard products in comparison to what you can get a couple shops down simply won't fly.

US cities still have good places to get quality bread/pastries/etc but you're mostly SOL in the rest of the country.

This.

We are losing are artisan bakers as well as artisans in many industries. About ten years ago I toured the Jelly Belly factory and learned that they've had to discontinue making some of their more complex handmade sweets because they can't find a master candymaker to hire. I'm sure it's the same in many industries.

When was the last time you heard a young person say they wanted to study and put in the years it takes to be a master *anything* and then spend a career doing something like making bread or candy by hand? In Europe they still respect the artisans who dedicate their lives to keeping the traditional skills alive.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

These things are not mutually exclusive. US consumers, largely, just do not demand quality bread products so they are not produced. Not that we lack the raw materials or knowledge to do so economically.

I remember a while back (4+ years) some news agency? or newspaper? or something did an interview with like a dozen major hotel chains, asking them why they didn't carry little toothpastes along with all the toiletries that hotels provide. Long story short, nobody asks for it so they've never provided it. I think this is kinda the same thing.

 

[Exterous]

I think people in the US just don't know better or only want the lowest price. Bread, cheese, and deli meats are better in Europe. But you pay for it.

Probably depends on your area but I've found all three of those to be cheaper in Europe, enough so that its become a tradition for us to at least once a trip load up on bread meat cheese and wine and eat that in a hotel room. Then we complain about how much more expensive it would all be at home and then agree its probably for the best because we'd get fat if home was a good and cheap.

 

[K1052]

Probably depends on your area but I've found all three of those to be cheaper in Europe, enough so that its become a tradition for us to at least once a trip load up on bread meat cheese and wine and eat that in a hotel room. Then we complain about how much more expensive it would all be at home and then agree its probably for the best because we'd get fat if home was a good and cheap.

We do this too when I eventually get tired of eating out. I feel it's a relative bargain compared to what it would cost me in the US for the same quality.

 

[ponyo]

These things are not mutually exclusive. US consumers, largely, just do not demand quality bread products so they are not produced. Not that we lack the raw materials or knowledge to do so economically.

Then it's the ignorance of the consumer. Something we all said. If people don't know better, how are you going to change it? You have to educate the public but maybe they don't want to learn?

 

[ponyo]

Probably depends on your area but I've found all three of those to be cheaper in Europe, enough so that its become a tradition for us to at least once a trip load up on bread meat cheese and wine and eat that in a hotel room. Then we complain about how much more expensive it would all be at home and then agree its probably for the best because we'd get fat if home was a good and cheap.

When we were in Aruba couple weeks ago, every day we went to a big supermarket called SuperFoods and bought freshly baked breads, deli meats, and different Gouda cheese to eat for breakfast. I don't know if it was cheaper but it was noticeably better. But we have better things in the US as well so it's a wash.