At whose houses were pretty much all of them eating? People who cook well, or poorly? In what sorts of restaurants are they eating after suffering through their - relatives? Airbnb owners? - crap cooking? Good restaurants?
I mean, there were parts of France where I don’t imagine I’d get the kinds of foods I ate in the nicer parts of Paris, and while I ate the best food of my life in Tuscany, not all of it was excellent. I love Mexican and Indian food, but they developed their tastes for spice to combat the taste of food going bad. Spicy cuisines are found in warmer climates for that reason.
I don’t know where you are, and America is not alone in having this advantage, but we’re a big county with a great deal of space, which lends itself to cattle. Australia and parts of Latin America as well (Brazil, maybe?), but I think the US is the largest exporter of beef in the world. I’ll admit that some of my impressions may have come from living in Texas, which is the US’s largest producer of beef. I currently live two doors down from a small beef farm, and live in an area that prizes locally sourced food (as Tuscany does), so while prices are higher, food tends to be very fresh, at least during the growing season. During the winter, I have the grocery store, with its food from everywhere. Tomatoes suck, but pretty much everything else is fine.
@dagill2, it’s funny to me that conversations you’ve had with other people indicated that the food is crap, but your own experience was different. Does that not give you pause?
Also, piggy-backing on @SkyzykS and @pfury’s comments about knowing where to go, possibly knowing what you’re looking for regionally is key. Again, we’re a big country, and both palates and resources vary. It’s clam chowder in Boston, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican dive or good steak in Fort Worth, etc.
I’m not harshing on the foods found in other countries, I’ve enjoyed eating my way around, and each country has their thing (except maybe Ireland, but could be I was missing something). I’m only saying that it’s silly in the extreme to suggest that America is not coming correct with its food. It is.