Why fruits and vegetables taste better in Europe

Because they're ripe.

I worked at an outdoor produce stand when I was younger. I've been to a number of distribution facilities where fruits/vegetables are bought in bulk.

For the more expensive produce that goes to grocery stores, they use artificial ripening chamber to make the fruit look ripe on the outside while they're nowhere near ripe on the inside. It guarantees a good looking product that has maximum shelf life.

For other fruits, like strawberries. They're massive size is what contributes to the poor quality taste. Selectively breeding to produce maximum output has a bad effect on quality.

Vegetables become bitter when they get old. Supermarkets have gotten better at keeping vegetables looking fresh for longer but old tastes old, period. Anybody who has never had veggies fresh from the garden has no idea how good they can taste.

Everything about the modern supermarket focuses on presentation over quality. Even the produce section is strategically placed next to the entrance to give shoppers an impression of freshness and vibrance.

It's all for show, keeping consistently full bins of fruits/veggies means a lot of product will go to waste and the supermarket needs to use every means possible to extend the shelf life as long as possible.

A much more realistic, albeit messy setup will look more like Walmart. There will be bins that are nearly empty, variations of quality, size, condition, etc. Real produce (ie not the plastic sold in supermarkets) is sometimes messy, dirty, ugly. You don't buy it for how it looks, you buy it for how it tastes.

If you want really good tasting produce, buy from a produce stand. They can't afford refrigeration and long-term storage so they buy the cheaper and better tasting produce.

The author mistakes Europe with Italy. North of the 45th parallel the tomatoe experience is very similar to that of the US. And even in the south - the area of Almeria in Spain is the home of the most mass produced, tasteless vegetables possible. Sadly, Northern Europeans also focus on price and color, not on smell and taste. EU regulations for fruit and vegetable trading classes only consider form, size, color. Nothing about taste. The closest to getting good produce (except for buying at the producer) is to look for organic produce.

As far as I remember I never ate an American tomato but I can assure you that even in Europe homegrown tomatoes taste way better than those you can buy at the supermarket.

Let's see whether our supermarket tomatoes will get even more watery when TTIP passes :/

So, basically MBA's, and tasteless Americans.

I think the key is seasonality, though I'm sure that regulations and customer willingness to pay for quality do play a role. For instance, I find that fruits and vegetables taste better in India too and the typical Indian customer is very price sensitive and generally unwilling to pay a premium for quality. But availability is usually seasonal.