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It's an observation, not a value judgement. Try finding a fresh loaf of bread in the average American suburb.
by Gabriel54 11mo ago
It's an observation, not a value judgement. Try finding a fresh loaf of bread in the average American suburb.
- cm2012 11mo agoAmerican suburbs tend to have excellent bread in middle class neighborhoods or higher. This isn't the 90s.
- Insanity 11mo agoHonest question.. where? Most bread seems to be high in additives and promoted as a “healthy food”, like additional vitamines etc. And even when buying natural bread without these added “benefits”, it often has high levels of sodium (up to like 200mg per slice). Bread is one of the easiest, most plain things to make, yet finding high quality bread isn’t straightforward in the States. But I do really want to know which shops and which brand you get, I’d love to find good bread lol.
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago> where? Wealthy communities. Upper-middle class, maybe. That, or an immigrant bakery. (Mexican. Korean. Taiwanese. Japanese.)
- slibhb 11mo agoSearch Google maps for "bakery" and sort by rating. It's not hard to find a good bakery in any dense area in the US. I have to imagine people claiming otherwise are indulging in Yankee-bashing, a favorite European pastime.
- thomasmg 11mo agoWhat one considers a "good bread" or "good bakery" depends on the person. I'm from Switzerland. When I was in the United States (Bay Area, San Francisco), in 2000-2003, I did _not_ find what I consider a "good bread". I did find "bakery".
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago> When I was in the United States (Bay Area, San Francisco) The good bread is in the Santa Cruz mountains. In San Francisco, I’ve only had it in wealthy homes where home staff made it fresh that day.
- thatfrenchguy 11mo agoI mean, in San Francisco, you’ll find plenty of good bread and pastries, it’s the only mid size city in the US that has enough French people to have two competing French language schools for kiddos.
- chipsrafferty 11mo agoI live in the largest city in the US and saying that the average bread/pastry quality even comes close to Europe is insane. Sure, you can get good bread here. However it's going to cost you 5x what it costs in Europe and it might take you up to 30 minutes to get too depending on where you live. Most bread in the US is low quality. Most bread in Europe is high quality. There is good bread to be found in the US, and there's bad bread in Europe. But the average bread just isn't even close to being equal.
- slibhb 11mo ago> Sure, you can get good bread here Yes.
- trenchpilgrim 11mo agoI can walk five minutes to a local grocery store and get fresh bread from their bakery. Immigrant bakeries are also great, I had some buns from a chinese bakery last weekend that were a "if this is what food is supposed to taste like, what have I been eating until now???" moment
- Insanity 11mo agoMy partner is Chinese and so we get Chinese (and bread-like products from other Asian countries) quite often. In my opinion, it’s tasty but also not quite what I would expect bread to be like, mainly because it’s so soft. It is a running joke between us that Chinese teeth can’t chew through European bread (like an actual French baguette). But agreed, Chinese bread > American bread for flavor at least!
- murukesh_s 11mo agoWondering why someone did not solve the problem already? Of all the countries in the world US is brimming with entrepreneurs who want to "solve" a consumer problem, and with modern population I assume there is enough demand on fresh/healthier products - why on earth someone wouldn't try to fix it there?
- baobun 11mo agoNext up on Show HN: Uber for baking
- plorkyeran 11mo agoSolving the problem of european tourists being unable to figure out that they have to walk to the bakery section of the supermarket rather than the shelf-stable bread-like products section if they want something they consider bread does not sound like much of a business opportunity.
- Ylpertnodi 11mo ago>Solving the problem of european tourists being unable to figure out that they have to walk to the bakery section of the supermarket rather than the shelf-stable bread-like products section if they want something they consider bread Every supermarket I can locally go to has a bread-on- the shelf section, as well as a very fresh bread section. Not to mention 'bread shops' exist. Don't underestimate the ability of tourists from anywhere to not understand how to look around a shop. Finding bread in America that isn't over-overloaded with sugar is very difficult. Quite a few of my family take their own bread to the US. Of late, the problem has been solved as, apart from work, people just aren't travelling there anymore - for non bread-related reasons, of course. For the US fam that now travel back to the eu (an awful lot) more, they go wild for eu bread: it just doesn't taste like cak, /sp - i mean cake.
- enaaem 11mo agoYou think Europe does not have supermarkets?
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
- cm2012 11mo agohttps://www.ibfoods.com/locations/ https://www.ibfoods.com/locations/ Long island new york, here is a a store chain with out of this world bread.
- kstenerud 11mo agoYup, agreed. The first thing my gf complained about when coming to North America for 6 months was the food. And she never stopped complaining. Then we went to Germany and I finally understood. Not only can I pop in to the local bakery on the corner (or the next corner, or the next) for the most amazing breads ever, but I could also go to a Rewe or Edeka and get quite good bread that's still head-and-shoulders above anything in America. My fav right now is a walnut spelt bread roll that I get for 90 cents apiece at Edeka. A bit pricey but it's worth it. Put on some President butter [1] and some cheeses and it's divine! [1] https://www.president.de/produkte/butter/meersalzbutter-250-g/ https://www.president.de/produkte/butter/meersalzbutter-250-...
- Insanity 11mo agoYeah, I was like that. It’s been almost 5 years so complaining is to a minimum, I got used to a lot of the food, but bread is one of those “staple foods” to me that still has me complaining every now and then haha
- hulitu 11mo ago> Bread is one of the easiest, most plain things to make, yet finding high quality bread isn’t straightforward in the States Finding high quality bread isn’t straightforward anywhere in EU. It either has sugar or additives or it is cooked at a too low temperature to be useful.
- watwut 11mo ago> or it is cooked at a too low temperature to be useful In what way is that bread "not useful"?
- chipsrafferty 11mo agocooked too low
- fragmede 11mo agothey said bread, not sugar fluff with a brown outside. Don't get me wrong, shit's delicious. It's just not what bread should be.
- cm2012 11mo agoIf you can only find wonderbread I am surprised. Example of great bread: https://www.ibfoods.com/search.php?search_query=Bread https://www.ibfoods.com/search.php?search_query=Bread
- rendx 11mo agoNone of the breads listed there I would consider to be of the category "bread" as a German, and what I would be looking for when I wanted one. Yes, a French baguette-type soft white bread is formally "bread", but it is treated as a different/single category here, as "white bread". With examples of typical bread being, say: https://www.hofpfisterei.de/download/Hofpfisterei-Sortiment-Natursauerteigbrot_SD_0924.pdf https://www.hofpfisterei.de/download/Hofpfisterei-Sortiment-... And I don't think the images really carry across the difference (and variety) in texture and density, to someone who simply never had this kind of "non-soft" bread. You can spread cold butter from the fridge on it without breaking it, maybe that gives away a hint towards the difference. Also note the variety of grain: rye, spelt, wheat, barley, oats, in different compositions and degrees of fineness. And this is just one brand/bakery. Some more "typical German bread" images. I picked types that maybe convey the difference to "white bread" the best in viewing: https://5-elemente.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/rheinisches-Schwarzbrot1000.jpg https://5-elemente.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/rheinische... https://heicks-teutenberg.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Honig-Nuss-Schwarzbrot-e1600768153261.jpg https://heicks-teutenberg.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Honi... https://img.chefkoch-cdn.de/rezepte/2468131388854443/bilder/650104/crop-960x720/kuemmelbrot.jpg https://img.chefkoch-cdn.de/rezepte/2468131388854443/bilder/...
- cm2012 11mo agoFascinating thank you!
- 11mo ago
- ericfr11 11mo agoMost suburbs have very artificial breads. Best bread would be in NY or DC, with a big population of foreigners ready to pay the price for fresh bread.
- chipsrafferty 11mo agoNo they don't, lol The garden variety baguettes in Spain that go for 50 cents are superior to $8 "gourmet, artisanal" bread in the US.