Australian Supermarkets and Chocolate - Any Good?

Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

Nope!!

Nothing available but rice and tinned fish!!


ps. What's 'chocolate'?


wrote in message
oups.com...
Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

I am feeling pretty charitable, but I still have to ask, Just how dumb are
you ?

--
like fu_ a porcupine
1000 pri_ks against one
_
wrote in message
oups.com...
Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

I can tell by your post you are not very clever. You probably have some
other good qualities though.
I ask this because I've traveled to other developed countries only to
find that the supermarkets and food is well below the standard of the
US and Western Europe. I'm thinking that Australia is isolated with
only 20 million people. Do they have a high quality food industry? It's
a good question.

AlmostBob wrote:
I am feeling pretty charitable, but I still have to ask, Just how dumb are
you ?

--
like fu_ a porcupine
1000 pri_ks against one
_
wrote in message
oups.com...
Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

wrote:
Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

I'm an Aussie in the US, and I can't wait to get back to Australia's
fantastic quality of food and especially chocolate. YUMMY!!!

It's not a good question. It's an ignorant one.

May I suggest you do some research on Australia's comparative living
standards before you shoot the other foot? Perhaps then you'll understand
why your original questions were treated with derision.

Mel

wrote in message
oups.com...
I can tell by your post you are not very clever. You probably have some
other good qualities though.
I ask this because I've traveled to other developed countries only to
find that the supermarkets and food is well below the standard of the
US and Western Europe. I'm thinking that Australia is isolated with
only 20 million people. Do they have a high quality food industry? It's
a good question.

AlmostBob wrote:
I am feeling pretty charitable, but I still have to ask, Just how dumb
are
you ?

--
like fu_ a porcupine
1000 pri_ks against one
_
wrote in message
oups.com...
Does Austalia have good, well stocked supermarkets like in the US and
Western Europe? Are the products high quality? How many brands of
chocolate are there? Do they have sport drinks?

Tell me then, why do some countries with similar standard of living
indices not have very good food? But most importantly these are
question to ask people who live there and have visited the US. It's the
only way to get right answers to my questions.

Ok. I live in Australia and have visited the US numerous times, staying with
family and friends so am quite familiar with the supermarkets there. I'll
try to give a serious response to your original post, which I initially
thought may have been a troll.

The two noticeable differences were (and this is my personal opinion only):
US food is generally cheaper, and has much 'louder' packaging. There
appeared to be no appreciable differences in range of food lines,
cross-section of brands or quality. Some of the confectionery lines I found
unusual, ditto for dried cranberries which are a taste I can't possibly
acquire. What I did notice however were subtle differences in flavours in
what were basically similar products. Does this mean one or the other is
superior quality food? I think not.

To give you some sort of comparison, many of our British friends have
commented on the better quality of food available in Australian
supermarkets. As I've never grocery shopped in England, I have no idea
whether this sheds any light on your question.

Yes, we have sports drinks - by the dozens of dozens - and lots of
chocolate, much of which is imported. Foods may be called by different names
to what you're used to. On my first visit to the US, I was bewildered by
marinara sauce being served on chicken, pork, beef, lamb and vegetables.
Over here, marinara is a seafood sauce used in Mediterranean cuisine.

Hope this helps. But frankly, I believe that much of the fun in travelling
is in experiencing a new culture, whether the cuisine be good, bad or
indifferent.

Mel



wrote in message
oups.com...
Tell me then, why do some countries with similar standard of living
indices not have very good food? But most importantly these are
question to ask people who live there and have visited the US. It's the
only way to get right answers to my questions.

Thank you. That was helpful.
It is not fun, at least for me, travelling to a far away place to find
the scenery breathtaking but the food terrible. I've had this
experience a couple of times. Last time I arrived at a luxury hotel
after being on a plane for hours only to find the only thing they
served between lunch and dinner (also horrible) was horrible tasting
hamburger meat and wet french fries - and this was about the standard
of the whole country. Then after hiking up a ciff over looking the
ocean I got thirsty and tried their own "stawberry drink". Said
something like "refreshing" on the label. I took one sip and if I
wasn't so thirsty would have spit it out. It tasted like cleaning
fluid. Really. And this was a developed country. So now I'm planning to
visit Australia. I want to know: Am I going to get a good steak or
something that looks and tastes like rubber. Will I be able to get
chocolate or will I have to settle for some homemade type sweets that
are third rate. I don't know. I couldn't find out anything online. My
guess is the food quality is similar to the US. Some European culinary
tradition has made it there but there isn't not the diversity as in the
US. Maybe I will find out for myself in a few weeks.

On 27 Nov 2005 22:41:49 -0800,
wrote:

I can tell by your post you are not very clever. You probably have some
other good qualities though.
I ask this because I've traveled to other developed countries only to
find that the supermarkets and food is well below the standard of the
US and Western Europe. I'm thinking that Australia is isolated with
only 20 million people. Do they have a high quality food industry? It's
a good question.



I can tell by your post you are presuming that no culture
could match your own level of civilisation. Arrogance or
ignorance? Both? Or troll?

For the lurkers, I'll reply anyway.

Sadly, I found it very difficult to get used to the very
restricted range on the shelves, in the shops and in the
delis when I was travelling.

It was one of the nicer pleasures of returning home after my
'round-the-world trip to be able to get back to a civilised
supermarket and mall system again.

That was neither sarcasm nor a joke. The consequences of our
Western culture in an Asian setting, coupled with
immigration from the whole of the world over the past 60
years had led me to expect a range of goods on the shelf
that just isn't matched in the rest of the world. I shop in
a small country town; I travelled to the USA, the Caribbean
and every country in Western Europe. Obviously some goods
will have different names and different types - but the
range is wider.

The only supermarket that went even close to our range in
major supermarkets was a Tesco's in Prague (when it was
non-EU), and possibly the commissary in Keesler AFB Biloxi.
Albertsons isn't even in the hunt.

There are differences in style as well. We have seperate
stores for drugs (chemist) and most supermarkets in larger
towns are part of a mall complex in dormitory suburbs (not
in the CBD) usually with 30-50+ specialty shops and a "food
court" with a dozen take-away/sit-down restaurants.

These are the two main chains, but there are lots of others.
Of course, only a small part of the range appears on the
web-sites.

http://www.woolworths.com.au/
http://www.coles.com.au/

To get some idea of what Aussies mean by a "mall", here is
one in Sydney:
http://westfield.com/parramatta/ourstores/index.html
and Melbourne:
http://www.chadstoneshopping.com.au/

Of course, true shopaholics will also discover the real
places to shop - such as Melbourne's Richmond factory
outlets, or South Yarra's Chapel Street. Or Vic Market or
Paddy's Market. But that's a different question.

Cheers, Alan, Australia