[bitops]

That would be fine except Hershey's chocolate really isn't very good. They use way too much sugar and not enough cocoa to really make it respectable chocolate. The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance and that many Americans are deprived of exposure to good, high-quality chocolate.

When it comes to food we should remember that the Bay Area is a total bubble. Some of the finest food in the world is produced here and some very innovate and ground-breaking work in the various food movements came from here.

Sorry, but Hershey's gets me worked up.

[ghayes]

> The only reason it sells well is because of market dominance

That's a tautology.

You can have your opinion, and down-vote me all you like, but it's really disrespectful to call an entire country provincial because you disagree with a particular taste palette.

[eliasmacpherson]

Did he edit the comment or something? I see nothing that calls an entire country provincial. Calling something terrible is fine by me. Life would be terribly boring if you had to preface everything with "In my opinion". I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone who does preface everything like that, by calling their lives terribly boring.

[saalweachter]

I don't actually know my chocolate preference, but as someone who enjoys well done steaks and sweet wines, let me tell you: people are not very tolerant of alternative palettes.

[unclebucknasty]

Yeah, especially with certain foods, it becomes a matter of quality vs. preference. As in, "this wine cannot possibly be of high quality because it is too sweet". So, you're an ignorant peasant for preferring it.

So, white wines in general are inferior to reds. I always chuckle when I come across red descriptions that read "hints of leather and chocolate" or similar. I never taste what's described. Either my palate is severely underdeveloped (as with any good peasant) or there's a lot of Emperor's New Clothes going on.

Over the last few years, however, the elite seem to be relenting at least somewhat. Reislings have begun to cross over at least to the extent that you won't lose your trust fund for sneaking down a glass now and then.

[mcv]

> That would be fine except Hershey's chocolate really isn't very good. They use way too much sugar and not enough cocoa to really make it respectable chocolate.

That description sounds a lot like the chocolate milk we drank in Indonesia; it tastes very watered down with added sugar. Totally undrinkable. Chocolate milkshakes were the only way to get something chocolaty, milky and drinkable.

Interestingly, lots of stuff about Indonesia struck me as surprisingly American (for a former Dutch colony in Asia), but I hadn't considered that this could also be true for their chocolate milk.

[pionar]

I think the discussion is about "milk chocolate", a solid chocolate used in candy, not "chocolate milk", milk flavored with chocolate. 'Tis an interesting transposition, though!

[mcv]

You are absolutely correct that there's a difference between mil chocolate and chocolate milk. However, the comparisons with both having less chocolate and more sugar in the US is relevant for a comparison of American vs European tastes.