[−]icantevenhold · 2026-10-11 Sun 02:06 UTC ·
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n=1 but when I was visiting the US I was amazed how expensive real food ingredients were and how cheap fast food. I was kinda broke back then and could rarely afford real food and mostly ate fast food.
Where I live it’s mostly the other way around.
Never really understood how that works
[−]CharlieDigital · 2026-10-11 Sun 02:21 UTC ·
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not just you.
whole and fresh prepared foods are pricey in the US.
Processed food ingredients in the US are highly subsidized by the US government. The resulting processed foodstuffs are shelf stable, widely distributed, and trounce local options in the market place through sheer scale. More often than not, "real food" == "health food" == "luxury item". It's unfortunate and unhealthy.
whole and fresh prepared foods are pricey in the US.
The government subsidizes the crops used in processed foods, specifically corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar crops.
But these crops also supply animal feed, fuel, exports, and ordinary foods.