No joke, a big thing I noticed the first time I went outside America was, "Holy shit, the food is real." No matter where I go, I find cheap food that's simply better quality than anything that's even mid-range in the US. It's especially noticeable with snacks/junk food, where everything in America is some odd artificial flavor that tastes nothing like what it claims to be, while (particularly in Japan) things taste exactly like what they claim to be and often are made from those exact ingredients.
Agree with the exception of mainland China where processed food is even more race to the bottom than in the US. Recommend that you assume food served on internal flights is inedible and plan accordingly.
Don't buy heavily processed food in mainland China. The fresh food is amazingly fresh. I'm visiting my family in China right now, and love going to the market every morning.
I agree on the airplane food. Take a high speed rail if at all possible!
