I am writing this just at the end of my trip to the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Off to the airport in an hour. My reflections at this point are as much about the lifestyle here as the Fancy Food Show and staying with my brother (who lives here) allowed me to get inside the culture a bit more than merely staying in a hotel. Incidentally I had a rather bizarre last evening at a quirky comedy gig in Mill Valley, with various stand-up comedians performing - I had to get some of the jokes translated and Robin Williams was in the tiny audience. Apparently he sometimes wanders up onto stage and performs ‘off the cuff’.
As with any society it is very polarised between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and my impression is that the ‘haves’ have a lot more here than they do in the UK. That said there is a veritable glut of independent food shops here selling high quality products at much higher prices than the UK. It seems that people here, being far more health conscious, are spending more of their money on what goes into their mouths. (more…)
