That's one of the things Europeans (anecdotally Germans and French) who work or study in North America complain about. Cheese quality and selection (and price!) here is crap. In fact, food quality here seems to be a notch lower.
2. All milk products are do not taste so well and often have poor quality. Cheese, Yogurt etc.
3. You can get excellent cheese and yogurt but this comes with a hefty price tag. E.g. Whole foods etc.
I have the impression that supermarket foods in the US have a much lower quality compared to Europe. You can get the same or better quality, if you can effort to pay for it.
I don't believe this. Milk sold at a super market comes from cows and cows need to be semi local to bring milk to any store. I'd love to know how milk from other places is somehow superior. My suspicion is that it isn't and just confirmation bias (that or someone is comparing different types of milk (e.g. 2% versus homogenized) which is a poor comparison).
Most US-made milk is produced using genetically engineered growth hormones (rBGH) which are banned in the EU as they are believed to increase the risk of cancer. It would not be legal to sell US milk in the EU (or Canada) for health reasons. That, and other differences in production methods, could go some way towards explaining the perceived superiority.
If I had to guess, I'd say the most likely reasons for flavor differences are 1) different pasteurization techniques 2) fat content 3) consumption temperature (you can't taste sugars as well when they're cold).
Not true. I was suprised to see that milk in the Phillipines is imported from Australia
It's true in the United States which was the topic of the conversation. Not sure what the Philippines has to do with this.
https://www.google.com/search?q=rainbow+grocery+cheese&safe=...
https://www.google.com/search?q=zabar%27s+cheese&safe=off&es...
https://www.google.com/search?q=24th+street+cheese&safe=off&...
https://www.google.com/search?q=fairway+cheese&safe=off&espv...
https://www.google.com/search?q=cowgirl+creamery&safe=off&es...
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/462749102-an-employee-selec...
https://www.google.com/search?q=whole+foods+cheese&tbm=isch
There's also other chains like Bristol Farms, Gelson's that have large cheese sections
I'd be really curious to know how those compare.
In North America -- excellent but expensive selection @ luxury grocery stores for upper class or upper middle class individuals in gentrified areas
Europe - reasonable selection at reasonable prices at large and small grocery stores for ordinary people, fresh, and of good quality and with regional local specialties.
Same goes for wine. Cider. Beer. When I visit family in Europe it's a totally different experience -- here in North America quality is a luxury option, and "local" and "regional" is a branding exercise, and imitative of Europe with little indigenous invention; in Europe generally just sheer weight of history and the influence of 2000 years of farming .. it's entirely different.
The only decent cheeses at this Whole Foods are the safe choices like hard aged cheese. The more delicate cheeses to get right, like an Emmenthal de Savoie (you want it yellow, mellow and flavorful; not white, hard and tasteless) or many types of goat cheese, always disappoint.
Note that French supermarkets (Carrefour, Super U, etc) offer much worse cheese than Whole Foods. At least that was the case a decage ago - I haven't visited the cheese section of a French supermarket since, so I might be out of date. If you want good cheese you need to head for a cheese shop ("fromagerie") or a farmer's market (which might also supply good bread to pair with your cheese).
You can find specialist stores everywhere. Some of these "specialist" stores in the US, amount to a regular corner store in France...