Brigit, it's not just France that is cheaper, so is Germany, Italy, Czech republic even. You can have fantastic meals in Paris at the best restaurants at fractions of the price of restaurants here.

Right now cherries in Frankfurt, less than $8 per kilo, in Paris, there are generally 3 grades, from $6 to $20 and still less than what we pay for Australian cherries.

Why was it last summer that US cherries flooded our markets at half the price?

I always bring Foie Gras home from Europe .. so good, yet so cheap in Europe, unbelievable here.

Even meat, which we are so often told is so cheap here, is not.

I hope you pursue this imbalance of pricing, here, but suspect that middle men and the monopolized supermarket system will strangle any real competition as it is in Europe.

We seem to get shorn like sheep in all directions, and governments all pay lip service to cost of living, yet most do little but raise yet more taxes, levies, and surcharges.

indeed, some people in Australia even demand more taxes, in street "demands",unlike a protest .. which is against something.

Brigit, there are a number of things which could explain the differences.
Firstly you are not comparing like for like, because
of course in France, things like baguettes and croissants are
commodity items, sold in huge volumes. Not so in Australia,
where they are still considered more like gourmet items and priced
accordingly. What does a meat pie cost in Paris?

Next, minimum wages in Australia are amongst the highest in the
world. Much of the produce sold in Europe comes from places like
Spain, where minimum wages are pretty low, added with huge
numbers of North African cheap labour. Our industry generally
runs on backpackers when they are available.

Anything in the inner Sydney suburbs will be expensive, because
last time I saw a statistic, it now has some of the most expensive
real estate in the world.

RPG, meat is indeed cheap in Australia, but not if you buy it
at a yuppy butchers in Sydney who has just spent a million or two,
building a flash retail store to impress the customers.

Plenty of Aussies are still blinded by status and will pay for
it. Smart retailers know how to benefit from that. There are
plenty of value options available, for those who bother to look around
a bit.

Yabbie is right, you can get great food very cheaply in Australia. the cost of living in a Australia is very cheap, except in a few places. This article goes to the heart of the problem in Australia at the moment. We have three really big cities best or feed lots.

It's more expensive to feed a beast in a feed lot then it is on open pasture.

BTW RPG do you force feed yourself that Foie Gras?

yabby I was comparing meat prices here to the rest of the world, like Europe and USA .. lamb can be cheaper, but beef is not.

regardless of inner city pricing perceptions of yours, I don't live in Sydney so it's kind of irrelevant

I travel extensively and buy beef everywhere, and chicken also sausage

I completely disagree that all produce in Europe is from Spain, what do you think farmers in the rest of Europe do?

sorry, you seem to have second hand or anecdotal evidence, not actual experience in Europe for pricing .. it's a myth that things are cheaper because of their abundance ..

Food is too expensive in Australia and the so called 'watch dog' will only gum you to death. Only blatant disrespect for the law by business will make the watch dog put in a set of ill fitting false teeth.
There is no real competition in Australia as there is STILL too much protectionism.
The main problem is the monopolies in distribution (which are mostly foreign owned, yes the US is really a foreigner). What we need to watch out for is that the wholesaler's take that much of the available economic resource the producers can't afford to produce.
A lot of farmers are doing it tough.

Yabby, c'est très drôle, ça.

>>What does a meat pie cost in Paris?<<

You mean, the ones that Parisians buy on the way to the footy?