Hacker News Reader

Comment by asveikau | Hacker News Reader

Having grown up on the US east coast and lived on the west coast for more than a decade (first Seattle, now SF), I need to point out that San Francisco and the west coast in general is not the center of US sandwich culture.

I would go so far as to say the average quality of bread available in any random supermarket on the west coast is much lower than in the northeast. That was one of my first culture shocks here: suddenly good bread was a speciality item that needed careful selection.

View on HN

Italian and other European immigrants have certainly left their mark on sandwiches on the east coast. It's the best of both worlds. Quality cured meats and US portion sizes.

The US portion size thing I am not so much a fan of lately. I tend to make my own and put no more than an ounce or two of meat. (28g-56g for non-americans)

Whenever I am in Europe I am super impressed with the availability of good cured meats, often from Italy or Spain regardless of what country I am in, and cheaper than the same quality item in the US.

I travel a lot to Europe for work, and that's one of my least favorite aspects of getting a sandwich. I am not a large person at all, but I am never satisfied by a typical European sandwich that is more bread than meat.

I think I used to experience something like this too. But I was also overweight. In the last few years I got myself used to a smaller portion and the weight just kind slid off, and I am now at a different baseline. That was my experience, not claiming any of that to be universal.

Well, I rarely eat breakfast during the work week. Based on the quality and size of breakfasts at Nordic hotels, maybe people just aren't as hungry during lunch? Not sure if that's a hotel thing or an every household thing.

I actually remember reading about their lunch habits which are relatively unique in Europe

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190103-the-norwegian-...

Yeah, but sometimes that’s just toooo much meat... also, while the cured meats are indeed good, I’ve yet to experience cured meats on par with Italy/Spain. It’s just like cheese. There is decent cheese here if you know where to look, but it’s still a step below what Europe has to offer.

I also grew up on the US east coast and now live in Silicon Valley.

I have not noticed a difference in bread that you seem to have experienced. I buy the same brands of bread at the Safeway down the street as I bought at Stop & Shop in New England and whatever the grocery store I frequented near Seattle, WA. I never noticed a difference, but I also wasn't looking for one.

What am I missing that I have not noticed this stark difference in sandwich culture between the coasts?

Bagels.

This is an unusually glib comment for me, but it's something I've missed so much since leaving the northeast that I bring back pizza and bagels with me to Seattle whenever I visit New York.

The bagels specifically, are often doughy, "sweet" (they actually add sugar in many places), and with all the wrong textures. It's odd that you mention brands, since I typically buy "supermarket/local baker brand" but I've definitely found that to vary.

Similar comment for donuts, the big brands here e.g. top pot are practically cake rolls.

(Philly also had wawa and corner cheesesteak shops providing way cheaper "decent low-end hoagies" than I can consistently find out here.)

I struggle to come up with a reply to the comment you are replying to, because eating is such a subjective experience and hard to describe.

But I think that quality of an out-of-region bagel is also something I find in regular bread out here.

Also I infer from what is stocked on shelves and what I see friends and acquaintances buying that people here have much higher tolerance for stale bread.

Like the commenter above I was not seeking out these experiences, but felt like they kind of smacked me in the face when I got here. It used to be I could shop for bread without thinking. Now I need to be careful and sometimes shopping in the "wrong" place means I have to deal with worse options.

Yes, couldn’t agree more here. I’ve a got a theory, that there are concentric rings of “bagel quality”, and that they get worse and worse the further away from NYC one gets. Also, spot on with grocery store bakery bread.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com