As a corollary to kerouac's wonderful thread about unexpected technology in Europe, have you noticed some "un-technological" things that Europe has got right?
Although I live 6 months of the year in Florida where we can get fresh tomatoes most of the time, they don't taste like tomatoes anymore. Here in France they are smaller, redder, juicier and taste like a tomato should taste. Ditto for strawberries.
Noticed that?

My older son loved fresh fruit, but he refuses to eat strawberries in the US because he says they don't taste as good as the one we get (we live overseas). We only get fresh strawberries for a limited time, and they are on the small side...but they ARE good!!

The boy has a point!

The "technology" for geting better-tasting fruits and vegetables often amounts to simply growing your own in a backyard plot.

My European friends like to gloat that this is what Non-GM foods tastes like, and we Americans have forgotten.

I think it's because all the food in Europe tends to be picked and consumed right away, so the food is fresher and not forced.

Consider yourself lucky.

Many of the strawberries sold in supermarkets in the Western US are from California where they are picked year-round. I have visited my parents for Christmas in Central California and the strawberry pickers are hard at work (I grew up in Santa Maria, the thrid largest strawberry producer in California).

I now live in Washington State. We also have small strawberries that are grown here and are available at local farmer's markets and a very few supermarkets for just a few weeks out of the year.

They are exceptionally sweet & juicy. They are completely different from the strawberries grown in California.

Come visit Seattle and Western Washington in July and your son can enjoy some wonderful strawberries, just like home!!

i grew up in Orange Co. CA and lived there for over 30 years. I am SO spoiled regarding strawberries. They are the ONLY thing I miss about CA.

I used to be able to smell them in the car (with the windows rolled up) as I drove to work. I could stop at any of several field stands and buy them right there - perfect, huge, and delicious!

We had some fabulous ones in Washington on vacation this year from a farmer's market stand.

Unfortunately, here in UT, I don't even buy them. If I can't smell them when I walk past in the grocery store - they aren't fit to eat.

When friends and family come to visit - they have a stnding order to bring me a flat.

Here's a recent article from Smithsonian that exlains the dilemma:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues...karp_wiles.php

<i>it's because all the food in Europe tends to be picked and consumed right away, so the food is fresher and not forced.</i>

Let's mot romanticize European marketing. Many items come from South Africa and other locations overseas. Spanish products are no closer and no better picked than California products. From my experience, local California stone fruit purchased at the SF farmer's market--and not the fancy one at the Embarcadero--taste better than the stone fruit from Moissac sold at the market in P&eacute;rigueux. On the other hand, nothing beats the <i>mara des bois</i>, but that is an issue of varietal. We do have the red heart in CA which is better than the standard year-long strawberry.

I think that the quality in local French outdoor markets tends to be better than in American supermarkets, but is no better than in local farmer's markets in the States. While the produce looks pretty good at a Leclerc, the taste tends to be as weak as what is sold at the local Safeway.

Michael I agree with you. Living in a country where most fruit and veg is grown in greenhouses year round I can tell you that most tomoatoes strawberries etc you can buy taste of nothing. Dutch tomatoes are nicnamed wasserbommen in Germany so tasteless are they. I grow my own tomatoes now. Sometimes I have a glut, sometimes (this year ) hardly any. But they are fresh and tasty. If I had a bigger plot I would grow more of mine own fruit and veg. It is very hard to find good local produce where I live though I do buy cheese from a local farm.

I have to agree with Robjame. I live in FL 12 months a year and seldom get a good tomato or strawberry anymore. California must keep all the good ones because what they ship here are woody and tasteless. We get maybe a month of good local Plant city berries and that's it. I don't think I've ever had a tasteless berry in the UK .

Ruskin tomatoes from FL are also good but not great, but then the season is so short. I've actually been getting pretty good tomatoes at Costco. They come from CANADA!!

The strawberries we bought last month in France at the produce store in the center of the town where we had our house exchange were like no strawberries I had ever tasted.

I used to go strawberry picking in Massachusetts every year, and I still buy fresh local strawberries when they are available at farm stands. But whatever variety these were in France, they were very different. Their aroma filled our dining room for days.

Strawberries in the Perigord are fresh and local, and good, from March until October.

Grown in the area, with different varieties coming in at different times of the year. We're spoiled, actually say 'Strawberries - again!??' Then I taste berries in North America and stop complaining.

When I was a kid in Oregon, I used to pick strawberries in the summer. They were so good. I was only about eight years old, so didn't really care about the money and usually ate all the biggest ones. So much of the fruit is hybrid, produced for appearance, and longgevity while being transported over quite some distance. They don't care about taste.

I had a fabulous tomato crop this year and now the end is near and I could just cry. I do NOT eat uncooked tomatoes if they don't come from my garden, they are mealy and tastless. I haven't found much difference at our farmers markets either. There isn't much local and it's actually brought in from CA most of the time.

Robjame, I thought the same thing about the tomatoes when I was in Budapest a few weeks ago. I can't comment on strawberries, though, since I didn't have any.

&quot;Homegrown&quot; tomatoes as they are called from the Southern US.. Ga., Ms., Al. are fabulous but only for that small time in the summer. However, when I am in Paris I always buy tomatoes and they are so good anytime of the year. Also love the tangerines. I thought it was just me. Good tomatoes are my favorite. I will now have to add strawberries. Looking forward to October!!

gg

Re produce:

When I was a wee lad in Baltimore, MD, strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes, etc were very flavorful. Even the bread was good.

However, with the rise of supermarket chains, farmers began to have to contract for their whole crop well before it is picked.

Thus, we have cheap produce all year 'round, but the quality has dropped.

Apropos the general lessening of standards, I bring to your attention a statement by Henry Wallace, Sr (father of FDR's VP Henry Wallace, 1941-1945) who complained that when he was a child, milk tasted like milk, today (1932) it is tasteless.

Hi,
I go strawberry picking every year in VT and the strawberries are wonderful. Just as good as Europe. The ones shipped to the supermarkets are designed to stay firm and not rot. They smell good, but have no flavor. Look for locally grown produce that is only available when the produce is ripe.

Enjoy your local produce it can be fabulous, Yipper

I agree that one shouldn't romanticize Europe too much. Beside the point that there are huge differences between the countries regarding food culture, the same market principles are at work in the USA as in Europe. Germany for example has one of the most cut-throat retail market in the world where Walmart found itself unable to keep up with the local competition. This is hardly a place dominated by little mom-and-pop shops selling the tomatoes from the local village fields.

&quot; Here in France they are smaller, redder, juicier and taste like a tomato should taste&quot;

Robjame, I think they probably taste so good because tomatoes are in season right now! Try buying tomatoes in France in February and you'll find them pretty tasteless and woolly.

Just reread my post and realised it sounds a bit stroppy! not my intention

Incidentally, I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, about her experiences growing and eating seasonal food in the US. Lots of interesting information about seasonality, the food industry, etc. (Though it does rather romanticise the situation in Europe.)