I had a bit of a discussion with someone on Reddit a while ago about American bread. They claimed decent bread was available in almost every bakery section of every grocery store. All American bread I remember was full of sugar and preservatives, not just the wonder bread type, but also everything else. Since my memory could be wrong, or one-sided, or perhaps things have changed, I left it at that.
Now I’ve been in the U.S. for over a week and visited at least one grocery store per day (we don’t have reliable access to a fridge so we buy fresh stuff daily). I just cannot find anything close to the fresh bakery section in a Dutch supermarket. And compared to other European countries that isn’t even a particularly high bar.
What I find is either to way too sweet and fluffy/cakey, and nothing even close to the mediocre pre-sliced bread back home. What am I doing wrong?
I’ve tried Aldi, Walmart and a few local(?) chains.
I’ve visited Oregon as a European a few months ago. Best bet are Trader Joe’s or making your own bread. Some higher end patisseries might have a proper baguette but most of the time it devolves into the soft milk bread you’ve described. Another worthwhile visit is whole foods but it’s expensive as frick. Either way, enjoy the beautiful nature over there! America has some pretty wild untapped beauty to discover!
Thanks for the recommendations. I haven’t actually been to a Trader Joe yet. In Europe I do prefer Aldi Süd over Aldi Nord, so I didn’t seek them out. Maybe I should.
I have noticed a huge spread in grocery prices. Like cold cuts and pre-sliced cheese starting at $6-7. That’d be at least half that back home. Then in another store in another place I bought pre-sliced Gouda for some super reasonable price which I don’t quite remember.
I think I’d buy one of those bread making machines if I lived here I think.
The nature of beautiful though. No doubt.
I didn’t really find anything to write home about, but I was also just there for only a couple of weeks. I’ve been back in Europe for almost a week now and I’ve been eating loads of bread.
Admittedly I could have tried a smaller bakery but I checked once or twice and there weren’t any near me.
True. The US obviously has a lot to offer in other aspects. The nature was absolutely amazing, even though we stayed mostly in the less spectacular parts. I think Americans tend to do visitor centers and museums very well too. But Europe isn’t really that bad in that regard either.
As for Tex Mex we visited this place: https://goo.gl/maps/VUej9DhgFY1aPMZu6. I have no idea if it was authentic or particularly good for those who get to eat good (Tex) Mex more regularly, but it was one of our favorite meals during the trip. I do love the Mexican food we prepare at home too, though it is probably all sorts of inauthentic.
We stayed in Flushing during our visit to New York and the Korean/Chinese food there was absolutely fantastic too.