My highly scientific verdict is that there are only two truly good industrial alimentary products made in the United States: bourbon and clam chowder. It could be an interesting experiment to live on only these two.
My local supermarket - totally agree - is on average worse than average European fare. But if you travel a few towns away and go to the more premium ones like Mariano's or Whole Foods, it's a lot better.
Other places I shop for really good food are definitely somewhat more foreign to be fair: Seafood City, Mitsuwa, H-Mart, Brookhaven. (That last one is my favorite, and is heavy on eastern European foods like tea, dried fish, wine, cheese, beer, etc.)
Other honorable mentions: Harris Teeter, Trader Joe's, Wegman's, Fresh Market.
* Real slow-cooked barbecue is excellent
* Salmon from the Pacific Northwest is great and the fresh stuff is seasonal.
* Beer and wine have improved a lot and are quite good in some places. TBH I prefer beer here in Oregon to the places I lived in Europe, Austria and Italy.
Yeah, but that's not commonplace in New York - but you're not wrong!
Also, American-ethnic foods are really good:
* American-Italian
* American-Asian
* American-Mexican
But yes, Europe has better wine, cheese, bread, and chocolate. But hey, we've got great bourbon! And our wine and cheese are getting much better! But our bread is cake (literally, in Europe) and our chocolate is garbage in comparison. There's really no point consuming the calories for American chocolate.
California wine is world class. You can’t say Europe is definitively better when you have phenomenal bottles coming out of Napa or Paso Robles like Austin Hope.
Then there’s https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)
American seafood is pretty poor compared to Europe and other continents. Its always so expensive and hard to get. Local fish is really expensive. Local California prawns price are insane. Even that salmon will be 30/lb.
We also don't have a good culture if eating it general.
And a painful death, most likely...
Anyway, there is plenty of good food in America. How much you'll find depends on which stores you go to and where they're located, as the cheaper stuff tends to be absolute garbage, but I've found crappy cheap junk foods in European store as well. The worst wine I've ever had by far was in Greece. (I was young, and it was a 1 euro for a bottle, IIRC.)
How much of it can be achieved without being "unhealthy" for you?
For example, I can think of some good barbecue or burgers or steaks. How many people don't have "portions too big" covered in too many unhealthy sauces/cheeses/etc.?
Say something basic is 600 calories. To make it good with mayonnaise, butter, cream, cheese, etc. you can quickly double the entire caloric intake for the meal.
You are either going to make a dish "good" through its texture (meat typically), spices, or savoriness/richness from fat of some sort, no?
Truly local products don’t suffer this unfair comparison. One never drank a Swedish bourbon or ate clam chowder in Paris.
Maybe this is why Europeans are so attached to regional foods and their name protections. The diversity makes the experience more unique.
You were expecting better? Every European who comes to the US complains about the food. Edit: Now that I think about it, so do a lot of the Indians.
If you can find it, give a watch of the episode "The Tick vs. Europe":
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0723382/
ETA: found it
The US Vegetarian cuisine isn't anything to write home about, so that's not surprising.
I've heard good things about south-east Asia, Thailand is pretty good supposedly, but I haven't been there.