I guess I am spoiled. Only a few miles from is a boulangerie and patisserie, owned by a real french family. Their baugettes are just as good as any I have eaten in France. And their lemon tarts are to die for!

And even the mass-produced bread in Spain is good... at least for a laugh. One of the leading brands is called "Bimbo" (for you Spanish speakers, in English that means "golfona"). I cracked up the first time I saw that printed on the side of a delivery truck.

I beg to differ with the meat in Spain/Europe being better. That's straight up wacked. Dude, the meat there overall doesn't compare to here. Maybe it's different in Canada, but in the U.S., where the beef is grain fed and has a much more abundant grazing resource, it's way more tender than the grass fed, tough 'ternera' meat I ate in Spain. And what they try to pass as 'hamburguesas' in Spain made me sick. They can't pull it off.

I know many of you will retort simply because "anything/everything in Europe is vastly superior to anything in the U.S." I agree about some things, but not others, and meat ain't one of'em. Not by a long shot.

By the way, bottled water is bottled water. And the quality of bread is only as good as the ingredients and bakers; it knows no nationality.

The thing with the water is that in Madrid the tap water comes from the mountains and is almost like the mineral water. It's not the same in all Spanish towns.
About the meat there are different kinds & qualities, depends on the price or the place, also with the hamburgers, although these are normally very bad quality.

I have had fabulous breads in Spain and other places in Europe, but I would have to say that they are not any better than the best breads in some of my favorite bakeries in America. I can even find a really great baguette here in Ames, Iowa, because I know where to look. However, you get what you pay for, and a really amazing baguette is going to cost about $3 (even more at my favorite bakeries in Minneapolis/St. Paul). The thing is, you can't usually find great breads in the USA at a grocery store--you have to go to specialty bakeries and even then, it's trial and error. Some bakeries sell spongy, awful stuff and call it bread, while others use the BEST ingredients and produce breads even Europeans would enjoy (I have a French friend who swears by some of the bakery bread here in the U.S.).

Meat, well, you can't tell an Iowan about finding tender pork elsewhere--people here think they have a monopoly on the stuff (and it IS really good--particularly the thick cuts of pork chops this state is famous for--an inch thick and really tender). My experience with beef is mixed--but as I like steaks done medium rare, I prefer it here in the states. Most of the meat I have had in Spain is overcooked, to my taste.

Water--SIN gas, always. I sneeze when I drink the other stuff.

Funny thread!

Is that supposed to be humorous?

Well, maybe I am a bit dry, but I think the question was something like "the worst bread in Europe is better than the best bread in America", which I find false. Obviously you have never had artisan bread in any restaurant or bakery in San Francisco. I'm not trying to be a snob though, really! I am just saying that I have had better bread here than most that I ate in Spain - maybe that is just my luck...

No one has mentioned Cuban bread!

Well to add my $.02, as far as meat (beef) is concerned I didn't have anything memorable but nothing horrible either, except for one instance in Guadalajara, when I had an oxen steak. In another instance, what I did try (ordered well done), was still mooing. I was told by my Spanish dinner companions that if you don't want to see blood, have them butterfly the meat.

IMHO the best cuts of beef can be enjoyed in Argentinian restaurants or in specialty steakhouses here stateside. But I also think that every developed country in the world has the best and the worst of food. One just has to look hard enough and will be redeemed! I don't think you could find a great sirloin burger in Spain ... but then you woulnd't find suckling pig here like they cook it in Segovia. So let's celebrate our differences!

Con gas y con vino!

Churro

The only superior beef I have come across in Spain is entrecot or chuleton served Galician style. They sear the outside, leave the inside completely raw, slice it and send out a very HOT terra cotta or metal plate so you can cook it yourself. Accompanied by copious amounts of sal gordo, it is delicious!