Seven years living outside the US and no regrets leaving. Motivation for leaving was more a desire to live where I now live than hating where I was (left before Trump), though there were aspects of American life that I was and am still fed up with.
That said, being away makes me appreciate the good aspects of the US more during my brief visits back.
Planning to spend a month in SoCal this winter for the first time in five years. Looking forward to some affordable golf, In-and-Out, and great tacos, three things hard to come by in Japan.
not only this but most USA cities are going to be a lot better than just about any other country in this regard
Any discussion of food is going to need to separate Western countries from Eastern countries because Eastern countries are honestly on a whole different level when it comes to food.
For example, in my city of ~500,000 people, there are imho 2 excellent Chinese restaurants, 2 excellent Pho, 1 excellent Bahn Mi and 0 zero excellent Indian/Thai/Japanese/Korean.
I know that I have much higher standards but if you have spent years living in Asia and come back to the USA and youâll have a really hard time saying that there are lots of great Asian restaurants in the USA.
Also, seeing shitty frozen food chain restaurants all over the suburban hell scape is titling and depressing even if it is possible to eat at decent local restaurants instead.
I can only really speak for Los Angeles, but the array and quality of food here is amazing. From Michelin stars to order-at-the-counter James Beard nominees, weâve got it all. Every possible ethnic cuisine and some awesome cross-pollination - I ate at an Oaxacan/Lebanese place in Boyle Heights last week. And LA Countyâs population is higher than 40 states, so I donât know what makes any of them more âAmericaâ than LA. I assume the same can be said about NY.
I was shocked in Paris at how many completely terrible chains there were. There is a Pret a Manger (basically Panera) on every corner and it sucks! And the actual French people went there!
Worse is the amount of people chain smoking on the streets, which really ruins any kind of street food culture.
Ya this pretty much sums up what I have felt for a long time in a better way than I could ever write. Also your points about Eastern food being better then Western food are 100% correct.
