Here’s what is crazy to me. It’s cheap to buy a Payday candy bar which is peanuts and a shitload of sugar. But if you want an equivalent number of peanuts in a small bag without the sugar, it costs 3x more.
Let me just say I love an effing Payday. And recently I discovered this, which is kinda like a Payday if the center part was hollwed out into a tube and filled with peanut butter. So damn delicious.
I’ve had those! They are pretty tasty as a rare treat. Ironically, I used to treat myself to a Payday candy bar every payday when I was in my early twenties. That was my big splurge for the week, a Payday, a small bag of jerky, and a 32 oz Gatorade. Then it was back to bagged lunches, beans and rice for the rest of the week to make ends meet.
Even so, its still difficult to avoid sugar in normal foods like bread. Even the nicer bread brands still have some amount of added sugar and I can taste it
Have you tried whole grain breads from brands like Dave’s Bread? Those don’t seem sweet to me. That said, my friend who grew up here and then moved to Europe told me that our sandwich bread would be considered cake in Europe.
As an American who has only eaten bread in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, I can’t really relate. I always buy the breads with the least sugar in them, and that’s good for my pallet, but I haven’t been to Europe yet - unfortunately - so I can’t compare. I do agree with you though that sugar usage is excessive here, which leads to me being meticulous about reading nutrition labels for both myself and my dog.