[Twisell]

It seem even funnier. From my research.

The "side by side" standard US frige is what we call in France American fridge because it has two door and look so oversized and fancy compared to the standard fridge in france.

The US "french-door fridge" take the oversizing a step further by adding a third door on the bottom of the "side by side" design. We don't even have a name for theses fridges as nobody buy theses, so I guess we'd call them big American fridge.

Symmetrically EU "regular fridge" probably don't sell in the US because it's perceived as too small. An thus is probably called small/tiny fridge.

[pimlottc]

Importantly, in the "side by side" fridge, the two sides are separate compartments; one side is a freezer and the other is the refrigerator.

In the "french door" fridge, the two doors on the top both open to the same compartment, which is the refrigerator. The bottom compartment is a freezer and opens as a drawer.

[goriloser]

I wonder if EU fridges are smaller because people buy food more frequently, but in smaller quantities. Because the grocery shops are closer.

[leoedin]

Does food in the US not go off? The limiting factor for me isn't the size of my fridge, but the fact that after a week all my vegetables are looking sad and my milk's starting to smell. I probably wish my fridge was bigger a handful of days a year - and that's because I'm having a party and need to squeeze in more wine and beer.

Quite a lot of my fridge is taken up with random jars that I'll probably never eat. A bigger fridge would just enable more of those.

[PeterisP]

Having lived on both sides of the pond, you'd tend to buy different kinds of products, in USA the grocery variety pushes you towards less fresh/spoiling products and more towards various processed products which will up a fridge for weeks.

And also actually food in US does somehow seem to last for longer, as probably the manufacturers anticipate this need and optimize for that (as there's no free lunch, likely at the expense of other factors); I'd never ever buy a half-gallon of milk in a single container in EU because it would start to go bad by the time I get to the end of it, but in USA that was fine.

[saiya-jin]

Which begs the question - what not-yet-in-the-spotlight chemical crap makes this happen? Since ingredients are the same, devices are the same yet they last longer as you mention.

Maybe something about vastly different food quality standards between the sides of the pond.

[stateofinquiry]

There are many factors the general public is not aware of but that play a major role in food shelf life; the whole field of "food technology" is pretty amazing and under appreciated.

Chemical treatments are not the only factor- in terms of fresh commodities (fruits and vegetable) varieties grown play a big role; so too might post-harvest treatments such as irradiation (might be for phytosanitary reasons, but often can extend shelf life if the commodity can withstand it and remain high quality), nano particle coatings that reduce water loss and spoilage.. these are just a few of the things that are going on "behind the scenes" to make our food last longer and reduce food waste.

If you would like to learn more here is a good review on physical treatments specifically for cereal crops: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5920410/ . There is an awful lot that goes into "food quality", and there are important trade offs with every choice.

[derwiki]

We buy lactose free milk because it lasts much longer

[account42]

How long do your need to store your milk? Regular UHT milk is already good for months.

[TeMPOraL]

> And also actually food in US does somehow seem to last for longer, as probably the manufacturers anticipate this need and optimize for that (as there's no free lunch, likely at the expense of other factors);

Probably taste, at least anecdotally - every single person from my side of the world that visited the US that I talked to, mentions the food there tastes just bland in general - and that's both veggies and highly-processed foods.

[screye]

> Does food in the US not go off?

Sadly, you're right. It doesn't.

In my experience, american fridges contain products that do not perish as easily. Lots of frozen goods and processed foods. Even the fresh foods seem to last longer out here. Milk lives for 2 weeks, their bread is unkillable and longer lasting greens (Kale) are more popular.

[jabroni_salad]

>after a week

where I live the groceries are in the next town over and most people I know go once a week. At the end of the week you have improvised casserole to get rid of anything that is on the verge of funkiness. Always keep some amount of frozen and shelf stable in reserve as well.

I also do canning out of my garden and that stuff will last for ages.

[croes]

I doubt that things like american cheese can even rot.

[nicbou]

We definitely make much smaller grocery trips.

What I don't remember (as someone who left North America) is how we managed to have so much food without wasting all of it.

[lionkor]

Possibly all the processed foods?

[mewpmewp2]

Why do Americans have so big cars then?

Seeing the cars was most shocking thing for me when visiting US.

[bee_rider]

Lower population density and bad zoning means the trip to the grocery store is farther, so you only want to go once every week or two. So, you get a bigger car, to fit more groceries and a bigger fridge for the same reason.

Then, some stupid person fills their car completely with groceries, can’t see out the back window, and backs into you. So, you get a still bigger car, so they can’t possibly help but see you, and then you crash into them, and it goes back and forth until we are driving around in these land-ships.

[laeri]

It actually makes sense to own a larger car and fridge in this case. I wouldn't have thought about this as I usually go once or twice a day to the grocery store and just buy what I currently need as the grocery is on my way to work (walking distance).

[michaelt]

> you only want to go once every week or two

How are y'all getting decent bread and milk?

[cqqxo4zV46cp]

There’s a hilarious Reddit post I always come back to, where an American was pining for a delicious loaf of bread that he bought on a whim in Australia. Said it was the best bread he’s ever had. Fresh, tasty, nothing like what he had back home. After some prodding by the commenters it became evident that it was a standard loaf of supermarket-brand white bread. But it’s still better than the ‘it’s just a crappy cake’ bread that he was used to in the US.

Now Australia’s food quality is pretty damn good compared to most other countries, but it’s just as much if not more of an indication that the average quality of food in the US is abysmal. From the week or so I’ve spent in the US, in a major coastal city, as a ‘rich’ person seeking good food, I’ve gotta say that this is my belief.

So in short I don’t think that many Americans are getting decent bread.

[thfuran]

They probably aren't getting decent bread. Grocery store bread is mostly crap and/or ridiculously overpriced (like $6 for a mid-sized loaf of 'brioche' with more sugar than butter), and bakeries are much less common than grocery stores.

[bee_rider]

A friend nearby got into making bread during the pandemic. Before that, I’d have decent bread for a day or two after shopping and then sandwich bread.

American milk is very pasteurized and might last a month before being opened. But I think I’m mildly lactose intolerant anyway, can’t stand the stuff.

[marcosdumay]

Not from the US or Europe, but I buy fresh bread and store it frozen. It comes back quite well.

[jeromegv]

Freezer for bread and there’s hardly a need to drink cow milk regularly.

[cassepipe]

An evolutionary arm race then

Funny but it seems more complicated : https://youtu.be/oOttvpjJvAo?si=1KfRQYKZLdg4d5Bo

[gnfargbl]

No, we just have a habit of putting up with needless inconvenience. It's ingrained in us somehow, possibly as a result of the deprevations during and after WWII.

At some point you just have to accept that there are certain things the Americans have gotten right, and we haven't. Family-sized fridges, laundry machines which are roughly colocated with clothes storage and (arguably) sink-based garbage disposals are examples of that.

[bee_rider]

We do have a thing in the US called a micro fridge. College students will often get one for their dorm rooms.

For the biggest fridge you describe, the extra space is usually a freezer. If you are going to have a freezer anyway, it seems like an overall savings to include it in the fridge. If you don’t have a freezer, you won’t have any icecream, and then is life really worth living?

[alpaca128]

In my experience that mix only means twice the failure rate with twice the fallout.

[Liftyee]

Are these fridges compressor-based like the larger fridges or Peltier (thermoelectric) like a lot of food "hot/cold boxes"? The latter are hugely inefficient, though on such a small scale maybe it doesn't matter as much...

[goriloser]

European fridges also have a freezer, while remaining single door. Top half fridge, bottom half freezer.

[anthk]

More like 1/3.