Why do a lot of non-Americans say American chocolate is inferior?!
Why do a lot of non-Americans say American chocolate is inferior?
I hear a lot from people not from America, when they are in the U.S. how the chocolate in America isn't good and the chocolate from *insert country here* is so much better. Is there really that much of a quality gap between American chocolate and chocolate from Germany, Belgium, UK, etc...? I've tried chocolate from many nations, and while I've liked pretty much all of them, nothing made me wanna say "American chocolate sucks, this other country's chocolate is far superior!" Though, granted, Palmer chocolate does suck, but the little kids who eat it prolly don't care, haha.
Answers:
European candymakers don't make real chocolate.
The standard of identity for chocolate says it is made with cocoa butter as the only fat. Because cocoa butter does not fully liquify at the temperature in your mouth, you can end up with a greasy taste. Since European manufacturers adulterate their product with other oils instead of cocoa butter, you don't risk that greasy taste - but it's not really chocolate, either. You could also point out that a DumDum lollypop is not greasy, and is not chocolate.
The other thing is that American chocolate is pretty much defined by Hershey Bars, which is a *milk* chocolate while European so-called "chocolate" is dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is sweeter and has a higher cocoa content, while milk chocolate is smoother and creamier. Dark chocolate is apparently more popular in the northeast than in the rest of the US.
As Theodore Sturgeon pointed out, 95% of everything is crap, and it's as true of chocolate as anything else. That's because we get bored with the merely average experience, and yearn for the extraordinary.
Hershey bars don't suck. In fact, the same chocolate coating peanut butter is pretty good - but they get tiresome after a while. In the US, local chocolatiers tend to make exceptionally good chocolates, but there are some regional and national companies making good chocolates, too. Cella uses some of the best chocolate in the world to make their dark chocolate Queen Anne cherries, for instance.
On the other hand, M&M's has terrible chocolate. They are far less concerned about the "melt in your mouth" part than about the "not in your hand" part.
At the same time, you have other products masquerading as chocolate. When the makers of Oh Henry bought Wayne Candies, they started to use the same brown imitation chocolate coating found on Oh Henry in making Bun bars. Wayne had always used real chocolate in making Bun bars, and sales really plummeted. When Storck bought the Bun bar line, they went back to real chocolate, and sales soared. Duh. Sturgeon's Law applies to company management as to everything else.
August Storck, of course, is a German company, but the chocolate they used for Bun bars was somewhat similar to Hershey Bar chocolate, and it was *real* chocolate, not the european pseudo-chocolate.
But which is better? Let's see. European women seemed to find Hershey bars and nylon stockings irresistible in 1944 and 1945, and many US soldiers left before knowing they had fathered a bastard. Is European chocolate equally effective in getting American women pregnant? No.
People on vacation in Florida will drive 75 miles to have supper with acquaintances that, back North, they wouldn't cross the street to say "Hi!" to. The grass is always greener....