U. S. Eu food and Agriculture Comparisons

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Consumers in the EU and the United States are some-
times regarded as being very different. In his 1976
book The Joyless Economy, Tibor Scitovsky refers to
“the greater choosiness of the European buying
public”, and discusses the many differences in
European and U.S. food preferences. However, there
are a number of similarities in the consumption trends
occurring in the United States and the EU. Food
consumption patterns originally came from Europe to
the United States, along with immigrant populations,
but in recent decades, some food consumption trends
have traveled from the United States to the EU, and to
the extent that rising incomes drive food trends, higher
incomes in the United States mean that the United
States will experience food trends ahead of the EU
(Connor, 1994). Additionally, both the EU and the
United States exhibit variation among regions, although
the variability seems to be higher within the EU. 
This article examines EU and U.S. food consumption
patterns and finds that the percentage of income spent
on food and food prices (given income) are somewhat
lower in the United States, and there are definitely
some differences in EU and U.S. preferences for food
characteristics and specific types of food. However, in
some cases, the differences among EU countries in
food preferences dwarf the differences between the EU
and United States. Additionally, the EU and the United
States are experiencing similar demographic changes.
In both regions, people work more hours, cook less
and eat more prepared food, and consolidation is
taking place in the food retailing sector. 
The first section of the paper discusses prices, expen-
ditures, and income. The second section deals with
food availability and consumption patterns, the third 
discusses preference trends, the fourth discusses demo-
graphic trends, and the fifth discusses food retailing.
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