Prices in the USA

[The Savage Squirrel]

Fruit/Veg certainly varies wildly in the USA and can be eyewatering. I always assumed that it was because of the greater distances involved and different nature and scale of agriculture. They do tend to have vast tracts of identical growers just in one area – the cornbelt being the most obvious example, with California’s Central Valley being another, while our climate and growing regions are much smaller and more localised. I mean, if you live in, say, Birmingham (the UK one) you’re only 100 miles or less from the Rhubarb triangle in Yorkshire, the productive veggie fields of The Wash in Lincolnshire, the orchards of Gloucestershire and the Strawberry Line in Somerset and a whole load of other areas of productive excellence for lots of different things. If you’re in a random bit of the middle of the USA then they may only be growing corn for 300 miles in every direction. Your fruits and veg in Manhattan and Chicago may well be getting shipped from California and Georgia.

Of course if you’re in the right area at the right time, the upside is they practically give top quality stuff away, but anything gets monotonous quite quickly in overabundance, no matter how good.

Even as a USA fan, I do find myself really hoping any hotel breakfast will feature fresh fruit as it may be my last opportunity for exposure to it that day!

[slidey]

Fruit and veg in the US are far more likely to be coming from mexico. The only time you seem to get good quality fresh products there is if there is a local market, as supermarket stuff tends to be poor imo.