A quick question to our friends across the pond

Countries of Europe, why is it that you cannot make decent gum? Your cheese is delicious, I've quaffed gallons of your wine, and you even have the leg up on us in terms of Coca Lite (SO MUCH BETTER THAN DIET COKE!). But man, your gum blows. When The Texan and I were in Berlin a few weeks ago, we were trying to find ways to burn through the euros we had left - we were unaware that a tiny bottle of water cost 4 euros, and that as hungover as we were, we'd go through a lot of bottles of water while sitting through a two-hour delay at the airport - so we went to duty-free. After we made the crucial booze purchase (Bacardi Black, for those of you playing along at home), we still had some discretionary spending. So we bought candies for the flight, and finally out of desperation bought a ten-pack of gum.

I have gotten into the habit of needing to chew gum while I work, so I go through a lot of packs of it. Unfortunately, I can't get through the European gum fast enough - I think it's breeding while I sleep. I still have four packs to go. Gah.

And no, I'm not basing this undeniable fact - that European gum sucks - on a single incident. Every time I'm over there, I keep hoping that they'll finally have figured out how to make their gum's flavor last longer than thirty seconds. Not so much.