Cast iron foundries US or otherwise originally clustered where the sand was best. Whether the thing they were known for was cookware or tiny statues of viking axe murderers. Apparently Scandinavia was one of the few places in Europe with that sweet sweet sand. And some brands there were well enough known to open foundries based in the US (in an around the great lakes where there are lots of skandies). Also apparently Poland was super good at cast iron. But the large amount of land in the US with access to good ass sand round abouts the Midwest accounts for the prevalence of good cast iron cookware in the US vs Europe. We just had a lot of capacity to do it well, where as Europe had Denmark and a couple bits of Norway.
I’ve a lot of family in Ireland. And for a couple decades Cast Iron has been the thing to get while traveling about . Over there it costs more per piece than french copper, apparently. When the folks come over here its one of the things they’re looking to ship back. All I hear from them on the subject is “the cast iron at home is crap from Norway/Denmarl blah blah blah blah”. I don’t know what they’re complaining about. What little I’ve had occasion to use is better than lodge. It is pricey though.
