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Comment by gerdesj | Hacker News Reader

There are largely three types of cheese in the US: Swiss, American and Cheddar. I live near to Cheddar (Somerset, UK) but I'm not going to get too outraged.

All countries, without exception, do something unpleasant to an ingredient or dish that the rest of the world will cry foul over. It is the way of things.

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I'm always somewhat amused that British supermarkets seem to have a cheese section and right next to it a Cheddar section. (Ie Cheddars take up as much space as all the other kinds of cheeses combined.)

Are you sure? I live within 1 mile of Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl (OK) and within say five miles of a lot more supermarkets and all the cheeses are mixed up somewhat across the aisles. I will have to stray to Sherborne or Crewkerne for the really exotic mob (Waitrose).

I'm quite partial to Somerset brie and I'm putting my head up over the parapet here 8)

Well, I mostly lived in the UK in the 2010s. Perhaps things have changed in the meantime?

> There are largely three types of cheese in the US: Swiss, American and Cheddar.

All sources I can find have cheddar #1 and mozzarella either #2 or #3 (with cream cheese #2 when moz is #3) in the US. American is behind them and Swiss is way back behind a bunch of other things including Jack and various blends.

Swiss/American/Cheddar might be the big three for a particular sandwich shop, but...

Did you form this picture of US cheese after visiting a hot dog cart?

Few things are more popular among Europeans than making up ignorant nonsense about how dumb and backwards Americans are.

My favorite is that we don't have bakeries or endless varieties of fresh bread.

Americans are richer per capita than Europeans. Particularly when it comes to disposable purchasing power in a foreign country. A lot of European stereotypes about America are filtered through both tourist traps and cost constraints.

(For a similar effect in respect of Europe, see the median Russian tourist summarizing Western Europe.)

Switzerland and Norway usually have a higher per capita gdp than the US. Most Western European countries are not so dramatically behind the US. But on the other hand, European countries have far less income inequality than the US, and less poverty. Then, not everything is about money. Culture matters a lot when it comes to food.

> Switzerland and Norway usually have a higher per capita gdp than the US

And strong currencies. You don’t get this bias in either, generally.

> on the other hand, European countries have far less income inequality than the US, and less poverty

Irrelevant. I’m not saying one is superior to the other. Just that the median European tourist probably isn’t experiencing any American city or town like the median American who lives there.

This is partly due to tourist effects. But it’s also due to cost. After GDP/capita differentials and FX effects, you’re comparing drastically different worlds. (Same for Americans traveling to Europe and, outside a few pricy capitals, generally finding a cheap, luxurious holiday.)

> Switzerland and Norway usually have a higher per capita gdp than the US.

But lower median disposable income. Europe mostly just poor.

Processed cheese is ~20% of the US market, and Swiss cheese is less than 3%. Mozzarella by itself is something like 30%.

hey, you forgot #4 and #5: queso fresco and cotija in the southwest. we also import and make plenty of other good cheeses =)

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