The US is a pretty wealthy place. I lived in Italy for something like 15 years, and people there eat a lot of fish too, of varying kinds. By and large, they do not have as much money as people do in the US.

If it were only about efficiency, you'd probably just eat beans and rice, day in and day out, with a bit of this and that thrown in.

Edit: BTW, this book has some interesting ideas about the US and food: http://amzn.to/2oVeaYz

Among other things, he points out that the US does have slow food with a high degree of regional variety: barbecue.

Being from Oregon, I had no idea until much later in life how diverse different styles of BBQ are.

There's some interesting coverage of BBQ as an exception to the homogenous, fast-food culture in the US in Tyler Cowen's book "An Economist Gets Lunch": http://amzn.to/2nZDa0k

I was really blown away to discover just how regional barbecue is - from a book by an economist of all things:

http://www.amazon.com/Economist-Gets-Lunch-Everyday-Foodies-...

Where I'm from in Oregon, there are a few places, but they're few and far between, and I doubt the quality measures up to areas where there is more knowledge and competition between establishments. Indeed, I have to admit to having had absolutely no clue about real barbecue growing up.

I think it's pretty cool that it's such a local thing, in an age when so much of life is so homogeneous in the US.

> It's only when you get into strip-mall-landia where things start appearing incredibly boring and monocultural

A famous economist / foodie has written an entire book about how you've got it EXACTLY backwards:

http://www.amazon.com/An-Economist-Gets-Lunch-Everyday/dp/05...

The best food, he asserts, is in strip malls. You just have to know a few tricks to find it.

Great book. Go read it.