I think we're going out on a tangent.

The point I was making was about what people normally eat - so mainly at home - and the nutritional value and healthiness of food not how tasty and varied (in its culinary traditions) it is, so your post, whilst interesting and informative, doesn't really cover it.

Mostly due to legislation on farming, husbandry and food safety (in everything from hormones in beef and allowed pesticides and herbicides to how the EU uses the Precautionary Principle in approving food additives whilst the US does not) the quality of the average ingredients in Europe is superior to the US and the prices of fresh produce are lower (because Farming Subsidies are aimed at maintaining more traditional farming, so they'll end up in things like apples, lettuce and olive oil, not intensivelly reared beef and corn).

Absolutelly, you can find good quality ingredients in the US - that's the point of places like Whole Foods - but what's available in abundance and for the average person to affordably make their own meals is not as good.