First off, although England has its fair share of convenience packaged items, the ingredient lists on these are significantly shorter than on most packaged items in the US. In addition, you are highly unlikely to see high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), in packaged food items in the UK. In the US, you would be hard pressed to find packaged food without HFCS. Candy, soda, sweetened yogurt, bottled dressings and marinades, etc. in England use cane sugar as the primary sweetener. Where as in the US, you have to really search to find soda or candy that does not contain high fructose corn syrup.
Second, although the packaged/pre-made food items are prevalent in England, you don’t see as much advertising for them. I actually did not notice this until I got back to the US. Once back in Chicago, everywhere I turned I saw adds for pre-packaged microwave rice, frozen entrees, canned soup, instant sauces, frozen skillet suppers, and on and on. I don’t know why, but advertising for packaged food in England does not seem to be as pervasive as in the United States.
Third, everything is so much smaller in England. This point I am sure does not come as a surprise. Everyone knows that US portion sizes are ridiculous. However, I am not just talking about portion sizes. I am talking about the actual size of vegetables. You would never find a potato the size of a small football in England. Eggplants in England are the size of our pears. Even the heads of lettuce are smaller in England. I am not sure why this is, but I suspect that it has something to do with agricultural methods. Oh, and it is quite noticeable that the smaller fruits and vegetables in England taste much better than what you get here in US supermarkets. Pretty much, the size of the fruits and vegetables you find at the farmers’ markets here in the US are the standard sizes of the fruits and vegetables that you find in the grocery stores in England.
Fourth, the produce isle in the Sainsburry’s, Tescos, Booths, Morrisons, and Waitrose I went into while in England were noticeably more diverse than what you would find at most American supermarkets. While a Safeway in the US may have a huge produce section, the variety of produce you will find is still small. You are not likely to find more than maybe three different varieties of potatoes, for example. One of the Tescos we were in must have had over fifteen different types of potatoes.
Fifth, for the most part, the supermarkets in England carried more seasonable produce. I did see some fruit that were obviously shipped in—mainly tropical fruits like bananas, mangos, and pineapples. And I did see some raspberries, although I am not sure where they were from. However, I did not see nearly as many fruits coming from the Southern Hemisphere as you would find in a US grocery store—I rarely saw asparagus, raspberries, blueberries, and so on. There were far more turnips, beets, celery root, sunchokes, rutabaga, potatoes, and winter squashes and gourds.
Sixth, the variety of cheeses and cured meats was astonishing compared to US supermarkets. Granted, many of these cheeses and cured meats were being imported from Italy, France, and Spain, and because of EU tariff agreements, there are no import taxes on these items as there would be if they were coming into the States. Also, there is the obvious issue of England being closer to continental Europe than the US. So I am not so sure this one really is a fair point. But nonetheless, it was something I noticed.
Seventh, chicken breasts in England look like they come from a normal sized chicken, and not some mutated Franken-bird with breasts so big that it can barely walk. There is a HUGE emphasis in English grocery stores on free-range chickens and eggs. This is in large part due to English celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver who publicly put enormous pressure on grocery store chains to only carry free-range birds.
I could go on, but I think that all of my observations tie into the food policy differences between Europe and the United States.
I see the matter as one that boils down to scale—the scale of the food economy in the US versus England. The United States is a FAR bigger country than England. Because we have these massive GMO monocultures of corn, potatoes, and soy, we have an enormous surplus of these crops being shoved down our throats. Because England is a smaller country, and has policies against these massive GMO monoculture crops, you see more variety in their food, and not to mention, fewer additives in the food that are made of corn and soy. In sum, I would say that all the differences I saw between US and English supermarkets can be boiled down to the scale of agriculture that exists in each nation. Smaller farms mean more variety of food, as well as fresher food. Huge industrial farms mean industrial sized and industrial tasting food. Obviously, this is quite a superficial assessment—it really is all speculative. I have not done enough research into the numbers to back up my theory here. But the issue of scale is my educated guess as to the differences I observed. You will see in coming posts, that this will be a recurring theme.
But for now, I am off to enjoy a cup of tea.
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