How do you feel about American versions of European goods?

We have a lot of ethnic neighborhoods where The majority of the residents are Chinese, Korean, Polish, Mexican, East Indian. Those neighborhoods have mom and pop grocery stores where English is not the first language that import special stuff. The college town Champaign Urbana home of U of Illinois has a grocery store covering the whole world to serve international scholars and students. The biggest section is Chinese groceries.

I think the most recent public surprise, was finding out that Stolichnaya vodka was made in Latvia, which has some relevance to current events.
Several years ago, In honor of an Australian visitor, I purchased a supply of Fosters Lager oilcans. He took a sip and said its not the same. I looked at the can and saw it was indeed made in Canada, thus allowing it to still carry the term "imported" on the label near the more visible kangaroo. That makes me look at labels more carefully, because yes it makes a difference to me.

We have Brit shops, an Irish grocery (Brownes Market - oldest Irish business outside of Ireland, 1887), Mideast, and East European shops. I've checked them all out. We find ALDI carries a lot of imported European stuff without making a show of it.

Does the EU or individual countries have rules about labeling and country of origin? I think not.

I am so disappointed in the American version of many European chocolates. Even tho the candy may carry the European name brand, either the chocolate is made here, or the company is not allowed to use the same recipe as that sold in Europe. It's always a treat to find authentic European chocolate in the US.

Ditto what pat said. 😊 “swiss” chocolate sold in the US is just not the same. For instance, the Lindt chocolate sold in the US is made in Stratham, New Hampshire. Although, I will say that I recently picked up some Lindt white peppermint chocolate balls from the grocery store and they were pretty darn good. 😊

e.g all British clotted cream is considered pasteurized in the US and can be sold as is , but it is not considered pasteurized in the UK.

hmmmm.

From the Roddas FAQ page:

IS CLOTTED CREAM PASTEURISED?
Yes it is pasteurised and therefore is it safe for both children and pregnant women to eat and enjoy.

Roddas by far sell more clotted cream than anybody else. They'd know.

https://www.roddas.co.uk/faqs/

I remember reading about some guy suing Godiva when he found out the products sold in the US are made in Pennsylvania and not Belgium 🙄

The chocolate at Aldi is probably the closest I have found to European chocolate.

I don't want this thread to get sidetracked into the particular issue of pasteurization or the more general issue of how almost completely unreliable quoting Quora posts is when trying to find out matters of fact, but here is one of many many pages that comes up when you try comparing UHT and HTST methods, and like most pages it shows that UHT (European) is superior:

https://www.differencebetween.com/htst-and-vs-uht-pasteurization-techniques/

Let's stick with the post topic of American versions of European goods and whether they measure up.

We could also expand it to include the reverse -- when you try out American products in Europe do you get the same item or something better or something worse?
I don't just mean differences in packaging or advertising, I mean in the taste and quality of the product -- like McD french fries, for example.

Does the EU or individual countries have rules about labeling and
country of origin? I think not.

In general, yes, the EU has strict rules about food labeling.

Here is what I know for sure, when Americans try to copy British shows they turn out to be rubbish. The stars don't have to be all Barbie and Ken like., they just have to know how to act.

It is the fruit/tomato story writ large. In Europe it about the taste. Here it is about appearance, durability, shipping, and most importantly, profit margin. That is nary a product in this world you can't squeeze the quality out of it for a better margin. Just buy the brand name and provide a borderline acceptable product.

Twix candy bars are delicious in Europe… awful in the US.
Corn Flakes taste much better in Europe. And not just because i’m there instead of here, lol.

Better than European versions of US products..... have you ever eaten European Catsup? Yuck.

but here is one of many many pages that comes up when you try comparing UHT and HTST methods, and like most pages it shows that UHT (European) is superior:

Avirose, UHT milk is not necessarily superior. Reread the chart. UHT is inferior in terms of taste and nutritional value.

The reason many French cheeses (e.g., Brie, Epoisses, Camembert) taste different in France than in the U.S. is because they are made with raw (unpasteurized) milk in France. When those same cheeses are exported to the U.S., they must be made with pasteurized milk. The U.S. requires cheeses that are aged less than 60 days to be made with pasteurized milk. Thus a Brie in France will always taste different than a Brie in the U.S.

I have to mention that a bonus of this thread for me has been that after so many years of listening to Sandi Toksvig when she was hosting The News Quiz, the clip shared above is the first time I've seen her!

Small comment on condiments -- I remember when Pret a Manger first tried opening stores in the USA and an interview with one of the upper management was talking about how they had to adjust the tuna salad sandwiches because 'the British like a wetter sandwich than the Americans' -- those trimmed triangles in the wasteful snap-lid containers looked neat but were almost runny by American tastes. The Pret people were betting that there was an un-exploited niche in NYC for people who didn't want to wait for their number to be called so they could order a customized sandwich from the deli counter, when many people are happy with a standard sandwich so long as it's reasonably fresh. Hence Pret's business model.

My take on that model: I really hate having to pick the pickle chips out of a pre-made sandwich so I'm happy to wait longer if it means I can get the sandwich I want, sans lingering pickle juice. Blechhh!

Back to the main topic: Opinel sells a lot of knives in the north American market and the packaging and stamping are adjusted appropriately, but the goods are still produced in the same factories as the knives sold in France. I can still imagine someone wanting to collect particular Opinel items that aren't available in stores in the USA. (I can also imagine a French collector wanting to get American market versions, too.)

Oreos and Snickers taste the same in US and UK.

Guinness tastes best in Eire. Passable in the States if poured properly.

In London, Cafe Nero, Costa, Harris and Hoole coffee far better than Starbucks could ever hope to be.

Avirosemail...if you like Sandy Toksvig, you should check out "QI," a British quiz show where the panelists are all celebs.

Every season is devoted to a different letter of the alphabet. Stephen Fry hosted the first half of the alphabet and then Sandy Toksvig took over.

Almost all episodes are on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/nPIUMSiXmIA

Better than European versions of US products..... have you ever eaten European Catsup? Yuck.

In La Rioja Kraft Heinz has a large plant. The Ketchup (for me catsup was what Del Monte made) is the same. What gets me is that in my supermarket, when they have a sale on "local products" all the Heinz products are on sale.