Re: Headline: Americans Are Happier Than Residents in Many Other Countries -- But Why?

On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:12:47 -0800 (PST), Pies de Arcilla
<dearcilla@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 7, 4:41 pm, Josh Hill <userepl...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 13:26:24 -0800 (PST), Pies de Arcilla

<dearci...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 7, 3:56 pm, Josh Hill <userepl...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 12:34:52 -0800 (PST), Pies de Arcilla

<dearci...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is why I don't read the news much.

Why wouldn't we be? Though the French have better food.

How can the French have better food? We have French food _and_ every
other kind of food here.

I don't believe that the best baguette or croissant in the world is
significantly better than the best baguette or croissant in the U.S.
That would just be crazy talk.

Best or close to it, maybe not: if you're filthy rich and live in
Manhattan or LA, we have a few three-star restaurants. But -- ever
been in France? Where the eggs at the store are so fresh they aren't
refrigerated? Comparing the quality of food in France to the quality
of food in the United States is like comparing Dubya to Lincoln --
they have much better produce and they have (PJ excepted) much better
cooks.

How fresh do you think eggs in French supermarkets are? I couldn't
find any information on that, but I did turn up a study on U.S. eggs:

"Egg Marketing in National Supermarkets: Products, Packaging,
and Prices--Part 3"

"Bell et al. (2001)
showed that the age of white eggs sold in the different
states ranged from 10.6 to 16.1 d."

"The results of the egg quality study also
revealed that the average age of specialty eggs (defined
as eggs promoted as having one or more features beyond
conventional white or brown eggs including nutritionally
altered, organic, fertile eggs from welfare-managed hens,
or hens fed all-vegetable diets) was 16.5 d (Patterson et
al., 2001)."

http://ps.fass.org/cgi/reprint/80/4/396.pdf

I always look at the dates and try to get the fresher ones. Some
people tell me that I shouldn't do that because they're harder to
peel, but I think they taste better when they're fresh, and I don't
make them very often so they don't go bad before I use them.

God, I'm as boring as Geno this morning.

Anyway, the bit about French eggs comes from a comment in something I
was reading a few weeks ago, not sure where. In general, the French
are nuts about food and that means they're nuts about quality
ingredients. The French government subsidizes its local farms, which
has over the years led to a certain amount of acrimony in the EU. The
US is at the opposite extreme -- we go for produce that's been shipped
thousands of miles and is bred to look nice and ship well. Which is to
say it's pretty tasteless compared to European food. Some of it is so
unripe when it's picked that it's virtually inedible. There are of
course exceptions -- local produce from roadside stands, a few fancy
restaurants and upscale food stores that have their own sources. When
my father had his farm, he used to sell lamb to Andre Soltner of
Lutece. But most of us don't have access to ingredients of that
caliber, whereas the French routinely do.

--
Josh

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because
I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony
.

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