Support NeoGAF

[milanbaros]

Um absolutely?

I can get a full meal in Texas for less than $10. I can have unlimited Indian food for $9. I can have a burrito the size of your face plus rice and beans and a drink for $12. And that's restaurants. If you grocery shop, you can make a full homecooked meal for less than $5. This isn't restricted to non-tourist areas, this is easily achievable anywhere you visit in Texas, or for that matter, anywhere outside an expensive restaurant in an expensive city.

In France I couldn't find a breakfast that was less than €7. You might say "Ohhhh well you went to the tourist areas!" That doesn't excuse anything when it comes to my comparison. You can find ready-made cheap food easily and anywhere in the U.S. if you want to. I don't have to trek to the suburbs to find a cheap breakfast in the U.S. If that's the case in France, then it's a valid reason for me to say that on many occasions, food is more expensive.

Food is a lot cheaper than that in Czech republic for instance.

I wouldn't say "Ohhhh well you went to the tourist areas!", but you did only go to one country out of 50.

 

[Darren870]

You can use any restroom in the U.S. for free unless it's in someone's house or sometimes certain restaurants will reserve it for paying customers. Otherwise everything from theme parks to airports to malls to hotels to train stations to grocery stores to parks and beaches and landmarks and government buildings will let you use the restroom for free.

And unless someone just unleashed travellers diarrhea into a gas station toilet, they're not any dirtier than anything I've paid for in Europe. In fact, our airports and train stations usually have immaculate cleanliness, and yet some countries in Europe charge for it under the excuse it's to clean the bathrooms, lmao.

I'm talking about public toilets. You can just walk into any toilet in Europe too and go for free. I know there is signs in some restaurants, but just go to the next place...

 

[Funky Papa]

You can't generalize France if you've only been to Paris the same way you can't generalize the US if you're only talking about Texas. Paris is one of the most expensive cities, Europe in general, is much cheaper to eat than in the US. There are countries and cities that are more expensive surely but spain Italy Portugal etc are all much cheaper.

As an European who has traveled extensively across Europe and the States... American sit down restaurants are generally cheaper. Maybe not so once you compute taxes (which are never shown in American prices), but they are still cheaper. And fast food restaurants are hilarously so. You get an absurd amount of food (well, mostly starch, fat and sugar) per dollar. American fast food prices are insane.

Groceries are a different and very local thing. Processed food is cheaper in America, but fresh produce varies wildly.

 

[Alx]

I was unaware places in Europe charge to use the toilet. Weird.

It's another per-country thing ,some have free public bathrooms, others don't. Officially you're paying for the cleaning, which makes sense (as long as they're really clean).
In Paris we had free public toilets a long time ago, but they were filthy. Then we had automated cabins that had a fee, but now they're free. Although they're too spread out, and in other cities you won't find them at all.

I remember when I went to Czech Republic you had to pay in all bathrooms, even those in McDonald's (yeah I went to a McDonald's in Prague, but the plan was actually to buy a coffee to use their bathroom ). In the end it's another thing you just have to roll with, "you have to pay to piss in this country and not in that one", and yeah paying 1€ for that is twice too much, but as a tourist you shouldn't be cheap anyway.

 

[Dennis]

Restaurant food isn't that cheap in the US once you factor in the tip.

Your $30 American meal is more like a $35 meal.

 

[The Lamp]

Food is a lot cheaper than that in Czech republic for instance.

Yeah, Czech was one of the only places I visited that had cheaper food. It was a rarity. It also had lots of food open very late at night, from what I experienced, which was nice.

Restaurant food isn't that cheap in the US once you factor in the tip.

Your $30 American meal is more like a $35 meal.

Who the hell tips at Chipotle, Freebirds, Torchys, etc? We have non-tippable options.

 

[Funky Papa]

Restaurant food isn't that cheap in the US once you factor in the tip.

Your $30 American meal is more like a $35 meal.

This is actually not a bad point to make.

 

[Cappa]

As an European who has traveled extensively across Europe and the States... American sit down restaurants are generally cheaper. Maybe not so once you compute taxes (which are never shown in American prices), but they are still cheaper. And fast food restaurants are hilarously so. You get an absurd amount of food (well, mostly starch, fat and sugar) per dollar. American fast food prices are insane.

Groceries are a different and very local thing. Processed food is cheaper in America, but fresh produce varies wildly.

Which sit down restaurants Fridays? Buffalo Wild wings? Pizza Hut?

Good restaurants in Europe are cheaper than good restaurants in the USA. I will agree if you are talking about things like Applebee's the US is cheaper even after tax and tip.

 

[Joni]

No it's not. Some Europeans are just conditioned to think it's reasonable just like Americans for some reason think you should pay for healthcare.

We don't pay anything for public toilets in the U.S. because why should you pay for a bodily function? Our airports and train stations and shopping malls have free bathrooms because thats the greatest freedom there is in life.

It is tipping to keep the toilets clean.

 

[Funky Papa]

Which sit down restaurants Fridays? Buffalo Wild wings? Pizza Hut?

Independent, knife, fork and tablecloth ones.

 

[Sutton Dagger]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

 

[The Lamp]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

Overall I found lots of good Asian food in Europe. In fact, it's better than most I've had in the U.S.!

 

[PdotMichael]

France and Switzerland have quite high living costs, while Germany is pretty cheap totally and relative to the income after all Germany is the origin of the most discounters like Aldi in Europe many of them are also internatonal successful.
Also I don't think there is a cheaper capitol to live than Berlin if you compare it to other super rich countries.

It's a case by case thing.

 

[oti]

Yeah, Czech was one of the only places I visited that had cheaper food. It was a rarity. It also had lots of food open very late at night, from what I experienced, which was nice.

Prague used to be one of the most popular destinations for German school class trips because it was(is?) pretty cheap compared to other destinations like Austria, Barcelona or London.

My class teacher however wasn't in the mood for that so we went to Bitburg. It was boring.

 

[Funky Papa]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

There are heaps of Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but finding Korean and Vietnamese ones is considerably harder. Australia is probably much better served in that regard.

But we have a dinky kebab shop every five steps, so...

 

[Hypron]

There are heaps of Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but finding Korean and Vietnamese ones is considerably harder to find. Australian is probably much better served in that regard.

But we have a dinky kebab shop every five steps, so...

It kinda makes sense considering there aren't that many Asian immigrants in mainland Europe.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

I have like 30 different chinese japanese and hundreds of indian/paki restaurants in a city of about 60k people here in italy, so i really have no idea what you're talking about.

EDIT: ah i see u mean SE ones , well yeah there are none. It's strange because i think filipino are a big immigrant group here.

 

[Haribi]

Can't be that bad of a diet if the people aren't fat can it?

As for this bread makes fat thing. We Turks eat the most bread per capita in the world (200kg per person a year), we basically use bread as cutlery for almost all meals every day and I very rarely if ever see any morbidly obese people in Turkey. And it certainly isn't because we do a lot of sports.
I mean how does it make sense? You say bread makes fat, that europeans eat an absurd amount of bread and yet admit that europeans are skinny?

 

[TanookiTom]

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

There are Thai/Viet/Chinese/Sushi restaurants all over Germany. It's hard to avoid them here in Berlin. Where did you make these experiences?

And on the tap water in a restaurant discussion: I think people might be going for dinner for different reasons here in Europe. You don't go to a restaurant because you don't cook at home, it's something you just don't do all the time. So if you go out for dinner in the evening I think it's kinda cheap to ask for tap water. So you pay for it. I think this sentiment is even stronger in the south of Europe/Mediterranean countries where going for dinner is a several-hour-affair.

If you are just going to a café or having lunch somewhere I think it's ok to ask for tap-water, and more and more places actually offer it or at least have a place where you can help yourself to tap water.

 

[PdotMichael]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

You didn't look hard enough. There so many westernised and more authentic Asia restaurants in Europe.

 

[Sutton Dagger]

Overall I found lots of good Asian food in Europe. In fact, it's better than most I've had in the U.S.!

There are heaps of Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but finding Korean and Vietnamese ones is considerably harder. Australian is probably much better served in that regard.

But we have a dinky kebab shop every five steps, so...

Weird, must have been looking in the wrong places. I specifically remember a day in Rome where we looked for like 2 hours, we finally managed to find a Chinese restaurant, if I remember correctly it was pretty good.

I love a good kebab, we have nothing on your kebabs...

 

[Cappa]

Independent, knife, fork and tablecloth ones.

From my 28 years in the US and my experiences in France Italy spain Portugal and Czech Republic absolutely not. I can't agree

 

[Chuckie]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

In the Netherlands we have shitloads of Chinese, Indonesian and to a lesser extent Thai restaurants, bot the crappy kind adjusted to Dutch taste and authentic ones.
In bigger cities you can also eat Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Indian.

 

[Alx]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

Nah, there's actually a big Asian community in many European countries, at least some of them (it's another thing that may vary from place to place).
In Paris restaurants sometimes get grouped in areas, though, and Asian restaurants may not be the most frequent in tourist areas. You have Greek (gyros) and fondue restaurants near Saint Michel (all tourist traps, don't go there), Japanese restaurants near Opera (real) and Luxembourg (fake), Britton crepe places near Montparnasse... and most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants can be found in 13è arrondissement or near Belleville, which aren't the areas most visited by tourists.

Can't say much about other cities, although I noticed London had a small "Chinatown" too.

 

[Diprosalic]

That's irrelevant to the fact I personally think it's ridiculous if you're implying to me that it's wrong to serve food at those hours solely to cockblock people from eating at weird hours. Since when is it someone's place to judge when to eat? I've had a busy-ass schedule and some days I'm lucky if I can even find time for breakfast or lunch. How do people study in France? I was an engineering student in the U.S. and there were days I was studying or working at bizarre hours and had to eat at bizarre hours. I appreciate a restaurant that can serve me.

I'm also 6'3" and weigh 165 lbs so I'm definitely not obese. I'm skinny and I don't overeat.

you cook you lazy american

 

[Hypron]

Nah, there's actually a big Asian community in many European countries, at least some of them (it's another thing that may vary from place to place).
In Paris restaurants sometimes get grouped in areas, though, and Asian restaurants may not be the most frequent in tourist areas. You have Greek (gyros) and fondue restaurants near Saint Michel (all tourist traps, don't go there), Japanese restaurants near Opera (real) and Luxembourg (fake), Britton crepe places near Montparnasse... and most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants can be found in 13è arrondissement or near Belleville, which aren't the areas most visited by tourists.

Can't say much about other cities, although I noticed London had a small "Chinatown" too.

That's likely true for bigger cities. However, the whole time I lived in France I lived in small villages so my experience is quite different. I met more Asian people in the first week after I moved to New Zealand than in the entire rest of my life lol.

 

[Cappa]

There are a ton of Asians in Italy and spain even in small towns and cities.

 

[Alx]

That's likely true for bigger cities. However, the whole time I lived in France I lived in small villages so my experience is quite different. I met more Asian people in the first week after I moved to New Zealand than in the entire rest of my life lol.

Oh yeah in that case it's true, in France the Asian population isn't very present outside bigger cities. I grew up in a small village and later in a bigger "province" city, and as far as I remember I was always the only Asian in the class.
One of the reasons for that is that the community mostly gathered in Paris (and in the southwest of France, where the first waves settled after the Vietnam wars). My parents even had to drive 150 km to Paris to buy ingredients for Asian meals.

 

[Mikeside]

I've spent 5 weeks all over Europe now and I gotta say most of your average daily diets are awful, at least from the places I see as a traveler. The irony is that they eat like shit and stay skinny (dat walking culture though).

It's not fair that Americans are the fat ones (our food is spiked with HFCS so of course we're all fat no matter what we do).

French people eat so much fucking bread and sweets and chocolate it's absurd. Every hostel and hotel breakfast I've had served included rolls with chocolate chips. Every breakfast cafe sells CAKE AND PIE for breakfast. Fucking crepes man, they're just carbs folded upon Nutella and store bought fruit jam. You guys just munch on sweets until lunch time, when it's time for more bread, and maybe around dinner time you'll eat something green that is not an onion with some wine.

Germans? Pretty much the same. You guys graze on pastries and beer like its oxygen. It's very hard to find something open for breakfast that cells, I don't know, something that isn't sausage or bread. Your biergartens are just an excuse to guzzle liters of beer with fattening foods.

Czechs drink 150L of beer A YEAR. Men drink 500L of beer a year. Yet Prague had less fat people than any of my cities back in Texas.

Spaniards at least have some variety with tapas. The first country I visited where I felt like I had a choice in how I would die from fried foods.

The worst is many restaurants are not open between 3-6 pm.

As far as being a traveller goes, it's actually way easier for me to eat healthy in America. Not only are there tons of 24 hour food options available, most sell several different types of food at once. And different food groups. Not just sausage and cheese and bread and sauerkraut. I can get a salad for less than 8 euro in America.

That, and the fact that water is not a free natural resource in your socialist haven (seriously, why do you care so much about free access to basic human needs but you nickle and dime people to use the toilet and charge more for water than beer) means that I am encourage to order beer, tea or soda almost every time I go out instead of water (which is usually more expensive because it's fancy tiny bottled stuff).

I have a newfound appreciation for my food options in America. Yeah our cheese and chocolate sucks, but I feel like I can find healthy options more easily.

Edit: yes I am being hyperbolic and generalizing. Don't take this too seriously. After discussing in this thread it dawned on me that maybe Europeans don't eat the same at restaurants as they do at home (which is different than America, I think, where we basically eat the same kinds of food at both, we just go out to eat for either convenience or higher quality). So yeah, maybe it's not the average daily diet. But it's what I frequently observed locals eating.

it sounds like what you actually learned is that when you eat in cafés, restaurants and bars everyday you tend to get unhealthy food and see more alcohol being consumed

also, I'm sure this is the same in Europe, but in the UK you can get tap water for free anywhere that serves food

 

[Hypron]

Oh yeah in that case it's true, in France the Asian population isn't very present outside bigger cities. I grew up in a small village and later in a bigger "province" city, and as far as I remember I was always the only Asian in the class.

Haha that sounds quite similar to the schools I went to. Out of the 500 students in my middle school there was exactly one Asian kid (from Vietnam IIRC). Not exactly the most culturally diverse setting I guess...

One of the reasons for that is that the community mostly gathered in Paris (and in the southwest of France, where the first waves settled after the Vietnam wars). My parents even had to drive 150 km to Paris to buy ingredients for Asian meals.

Damn, driving 150km just to get some ingredients sounds pretty rough. You better make sure you don't forget to buy anything haha

 

[TheKingOfPain]

Europe loves you back

I eat way more than 26kg of pasta a year.

European here, been to loads of places in Europe myself.
It is true that bread is pretty much in every meal in western Europe, however one thing that's different than American foods is the size. I'd say sizes in restaurants are about 1/2 the size you'd get in America.

Also if you're going to eat something bad for you, it's best to eat it in the morning, so you have the whole day of being awake and active to process it properly. Hence people eat all the sweet stuff in the morning, rather than in the evening.

I'm not trying to justify European food - we, just like the rest of the world, have been poisoning ourselves for decades. I'm just trying to explain some of the things OP pointed out, because they make sense to me.


What doesn't make sense to me is Italians. Italian culture doesn't tolerate meat AT ALL. I don't have statistics for this, but I'd say they have the least meat in their daily life from all of Europe. While Eastern Europeans eat meat 3 times a day, Italians would eat any bread from pasta to pizza and truly believe it's good for them. The mystery there is how the hell they stay fit. Because they are. lol


EDIT: I also totally forgot to mention that outdoor/restaurant eating is not nearly that popular in most of Europe. Most countries, with the exception of the UK perhaps, see going out to a restaurant as a luxury, something you do for a show off, rather than to eat good food, because nothing ever beats home made food. Europeans just cook shit. There you go.

I guess I live in another Italy, as we eat a lot of meat. Maybe not as much as other countries, but we certainly do.

About the smoking stuff you mentioned, where have you been so far in Europe, if you have been more in Southern Europe then yeah, they smoke a lot there, but in the Northwestern countries people smoke as much or even less than in America.

These are so good, but I haven't seen them here in the Netherlands in ages, I would kill for some now.

99% of the people I know smokes at least one pack a day, which means 7000 cigs a year. A lot.

It's not going to happen in Italy. I was there for 2 weeks and every meal I asked for tap water in Italian and every time they looked at me like I had just asked to have sex with their wife or something.

This is why tipping culture is important. Tips pay for the water and the refills.

And I tip more at Indian restaurants because they bring me water without even asking. With no ice too! Sometimes they even leave the whole jar for my table and refill it too

It's got nothing to do with tipping, tap water here is mostly considered bad and not every restaurant has a good purifier. I never drink tap water at home, I surely wouldn't at a restaurant.

PS: one little addendum: why using Latin if you don't know it? That "per capita" is just bad.

 

[EdwardTeach]

You were doing it wrong. Should have been drinking lots of espresso and smoked cigarettes, you won't get hungry.

 

[Spikematic]

My biggest surprise visiting Europe for the first time was how fucking good looking the average person was. Seriously, the amount of eye candy I devour during my trips is enough to make me mentally diabetic for eternity.

Oh, the food was great though! You just need to look around for healthy options. Google Maps is your friend.

 

[air jordans for dogs]

It is tipping to keep the toilets clean.

God yes in cologne I paid 1 euro to shit in a toilet that had just been washed by a toilet employee. It's so worth it. Your ass cheeks deserve better

 

[Funky Papa]

PS: one little addendum: why using Latin if you don't know it? That "per capita" is just bad.

Oh, the hilarity.

 

[Ikael]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

"Ethic food" or "international cuisine" is mainly dependant on the amount of inmigrants on each given country and their country of origin.

UK => Lots of indian / pakistani inmigrants => lots of good indian restaurants
Germany => Lots of Turkish inmigrants => lots of doner kebabs / good Turkish restaurants
Texas => Lots of Mexican inmigrants => Lots of good mexican restaurants
Brazil => Lots of Japanese and Lebanese inmigrants => lots of good japanese and lebanese restaurants
Spain => Lots of Peruvian and Moroccan inmigrants => lots of good Peruvian and Kebab restaurants

And so forth. It varies a lot from one European country to another, and I suspect that this is the case elsewhere too

 

[oti]

Coming from Australia I found that having a cost associated with Public toilets to be weird too.

One other thing we found that was different (though we might just have been unlucky) was the total lack of Asian restaurants across many European cities. A few times we randomly felt like Asian food and it was next to impossible to find a place? Is there a lack of Asian food choices across Europe, I'm actually curious?

Germany is bursting with Asian restaurants. Indian, Chinese, Thai, Pakistanian, Japanese you name it.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

It's mostly only the Mediterranean diet in Europe that is promoted as being really healthy. French are known for loving food and being real snobs about eating wild birds raw while their hearts are still beating and stuff like that but are not known for being healthy.

 

[MilkyJoe]

Haha, you got pushed over by one of the old toilet ladies? Well, just take it as tipping and rest your mind.

Get a bit annoying though when you have 4 or more of these...

Spoiler

I have the bladder of a shrew

 

[SlickShoes]

Nah, there's actually a big Asian community in many European countries, at least some of them (it's another thing that may vary from place to place).
In Paris restaurants sometimes get grouped in areas, though, and Asian restaurants may not be the most frequent in tourist areas. You have Greek (gyros) and fondue restaurants near Saint Michel (all tourist traps, don't go there), Japanese restaurants near Opera (real) and Luxembourg (fake), Britton crepe places near Montparnasse... and most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants can be found in 13è arrondissement or near Belleville, which aren't the areas most visited by tourists.

Can't say much about other cities, although I noticed London had a small "Chinatown" too.

I had amazing Japanese food in Paris but to get it I had to go to this intersection of 4 non obvious streets that seemed to house about 20 Japanese and other East Asian restaurants.

Australia is really close to SE Asia so it makes sense they should have more of those types of places to eat.

In Scotland where I live you have a huge amount of Chinese and Indian restaurants, then it drops of a bit for thai/japanese food. We have loads of places that sell kebabs and curries but i wouldnt call any of them restaurants.

 

[oti]

Get a bit annoying though when you have 4 or more of these...

Spoiler

I have the bladder of a shrew

4 or more?
Those tourists man, god bless those tourist('s money).

SERVUS OAFM OAKTOABOARFOASTLE

 

[spekkeh]

"Ethic food" or "international cuisine" is mainly dependant on the amount of inmigrants on each given country and their country of origin.

UK => Lots of indian / pakistani inmigrants => lots of good indian restaurants
Germany => Lots of Turkish inmigrants => lots of doner kebabs / good Turkish restaurants
Texas => Lots of Mexican inmigrants => Lots of good mexican restaurants
Brazil => Lots of Japanese and Lebanese inmigrants => lots of good japanese and lebanese restaurants
Spain => Lots of Peruvian and Moroccan inmigrants => lots of good Peruvian and Kebab restaurants

And so forth. It varies a lot from one European country to another, and I suspect that this is the case elsewhere too

Also depends on whether the country had many colonies. The UK, the Netherlands and France have a lot of asians from their former colonies (India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam respectively). Though obviously still not as much as Australia.

 

[SlickShoes]

That's irrelevant to the fact I personally think it's ridiculous if you're implying to me that it's wrong to serve food at those hours solely to cockblock people from eating at weird hours. Since when is it someone's place to judge when to eat? I've had a busy-ass schedule and some days I'm lucky if I can even find time for breakfast or lunch. How do people study in France? I was an engineering student in the U.S. and there were days I was studying or working at bizarre hours and had to eat at bizarre hours. I appreciate a restaurant that can serve me.

I'm also 6'3" and weigh 165 lbs so I'm definitely not obese. I'm skinny and I don't overeat.

Restaurants are closed between lunch and dinner usually to prepare for the next round of service.

Lots of places here close after lunch service and then clean up/ prepare and then open for dinner service, it also means you don't have to pay your waiting staff for 4 hours of standing around and serving the one Engineering student that is hungry and won't tip you anyway.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

I haven't read the whole thread, but OP sounds like he's doing the same thing a lot of Europeans who visit the U.S. do, which is judging food as a tourist. "Everything in France is crepes, everything in Germany is bread and sausage" and "everything in the U.S. is fast food and other chains."

I have to admit it was really hard to find a high quality grocery store when I lived in Spain though (from the U.S., spoiled by publix/trader joes/whole foods). They did have great markets though.

 

[Septimius]

And what's wrong with bread

Spoiler

Beaten. Like 16 pages ago.

 

[MilkyJoe]

4 or more?
Those tourists man, god bless those tourist('s money).

SERVUS OAFM OAKTOABOARFOASTLE

Und einer pretzel!!!

 

[Oogedei]

]I haven't read the whole thread, but OP sounds like he's doing the same thing a lot of Europeans who visit the U.S. do, which is judging food as a tourist. "Everything in France is crepes, everything in Germany is bread and sausage" and "everything in the U.S. is fast food and other chains."

I have to admit it was really hard to find a high quality grocery store when I lived in Spain though (from the U.S., spoiled by publix/trader joes/whole foods). They did have great markets though.

Yeah absolutely and while I don't understand that EuroGaf rage because of the tap water OP's rant still comes around as ignorant for me. He made several statements which are just wrong and I'm not referring to his opinion about tap water (hard to find healthy food, just Sauerkraut and sausages in Germany, only small supermarkets, etc). I mean you can have your opinion about all of that but try to avoid absolute statements. You can't tell me that your anecdotal tourist experience where you saw like 0,5% of these cities is representative for Europe especially when Europe is so diverse and when the likelihood of getting a proper impression of the daily life is so low for tourists.
I mean I'm not a fan of Germany so my bias is pretty low here but it would take me a long walk in my city to find a restaurant serving sausages while the city center is stuffed with these modern and fancy healthy restaurants, Italian restaurants, restaurants serving Asian food, Burger restaurants, Greek restaurants, Doner places/ Turkish restaurants, etc. but finding a restaurant serving the food OP describes as the only food which is available here is a hard task. I don't care if you hate or love Europe, I don't question that some things may be better in the U.S. but just try to stick to a realistic representation when you talk about other cultures or others will step up and feel the need to defend it so extremly like some of the EuroGaf folks here.

Um absolutely?

I can get a full meal in Texas for less than $10. I can have unlimited Indian food for $9. I can have a burrito the size of your face plus rice and beans and a drink for $12. And that's restaurants. If you grocery shop, you can make a full homecooked meal for less than $5. This isn't restricted to non-tourist areas, this is easily achievable anywhere you visit in Texas, or for that matter, anywhere outside an expensive restaurant in an expensive city.

In France I couldn't find a breakfast that was less than €7. You might say "Ohhhh well you went to the tourist areas!" That doesn't excuse anything when it comes to my comparison. You can find ready-made cheap food easily and anywhere in the U.S. if you want to. I don't have to trek to the suburbs to find a cheap breakfast in the U.S. If that's the case in France, then it's a valid reason for me to say that on many occasions, food is more expensive.

I can easily get everything you mentioned for the same price here in Germany. Also breakfast in France for under 7€ is something which is indeed possible lol. As I said absolute statements as a tourist is something which you should avoid.

This is btw a picture of the Pizza I can get at a proper Italian restaurant here for 7.50:

 

[milanbaros]

Nah, there's actually a big Asian community in many European countries, at least some of them (it's another thing that may vary from place to place).
In Paris restaurants sometimes get grouped in areas, though, and Asian restaurants may not be the most frequent in tourist areas. You have Greek (gyros) and fondue restaurants near Saint Michel (all tourist traps, don't go there), Japanese restaurants near Opera (real) and Luxembourg (fake), Britton crepe places near Montparnasse... and most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants can be found in 13è arrondissement or near Belleville, which aren't the areas most visited by tourists.

Can't say much about other cities, although I noticed London had a small "Chinatown" too.

The one in the centre is for tourists. The actual 'Chinatown' is in Chrystal Palace. Most immigrant communities, where you find good ethnic food, can't afford to live in the centre of a city like London. The real communities are in zone 3 and out e.g. Subcontinent and Southall.

 

[scamander]

I have to admit it was really hard to find a high quality grocery store when I lived in Spain though (from the U.S., spoiled by publix/trader joes/whole foods). They did have great markets though.

Spoiler

Trader Joe's is German.

I mean I'm not a fan of Germany so my bias is pretty low here...

How can you be (or not be) a fan of a whole country? There are a lot of aspects which define a country. You can be critical of certain of those aspects, but saying you're not a fan of the whole country is like saying you're not a fan of Planet Earth, because of North Korea and ISIS.

 

[oti]

I mean I'm not a fan of Germany

ENTSCHULDIGUNG. We got a problem over here?