This YouTube video's been pinging around the Web like a runaway shopping cart on the parking ramp at Whole Foods (Grist, Huffington Post, etc.). It shows a breathless American exploring a corner of a fancy supermarket ― complete with ostrich eggs ― in Berlin's Alexanderplatz, and discovering the American "ethnic section." What does said section contain? June Taylor jams and real smokehouse hams from the Ozarks? Nah ― try crap. Shelves and shelves of branded processed foods: Swiss Miss, Betty Crocker, Newman's Own, even Paul Prudhomme "Magic" Seasoning blends. Of course, the YouTube host seems more excited than depressed. Which, in itself, is depressing. With the possible exception of the U.K., it's hard to think of any other nation being represented by such a range of processed formulas. Talk about American exceptionalism
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