I live in the largest city in the US and saying that the average bread/pastry quality even comes close to Europe is insane.

Sure, you can get good bread here. However it's going to cost you 5x what it costs in Europe and it might take you up to 30 minutes to get too depending on where you live. Most bread in the US is low quality. Most bread in Europe is high quality. There is good bread to be found in the US, and there's bad bread in Europe. But the average bread just isn't even close to being equal.

> Sure, you can get good bread here

Yes.