American What?

I need to rant.

What is the deal with American Cheese anyway?  I don’t understand how people can call it cheese at all?  What’s sad is that it is the type of “cheese” that many people in the U.S. were brought up on so they continue to buy it not even knowing that something that doesn’t taste like processed pond scum is readily available.

According to Wikipeda Kraft Singles contain:

“milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, calcium phosphate, sodium citrate, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, sorbic acid as a preservative, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color), enzymes, vitamin D3, cheese culture.”

What is milk protein concentrate anyway and why does color need to be added?  What color would these things be if they didn’t change it?

Velveeta is even better.  According to another Wikipeda article about Velveeta “In 2002, the FDA warned Kraft that Velveeta was being sold with packaging that described it as a ‘pasteurized processed cheese food,’ which the FDA claimed was false (‘cheese food’ must contain at least 51% cheese). Velveeta is now sold as a ‘cheese product,’ using a term for items that contain less than 51% cheese.”

Cheese product?  Less than 51% cheese?  I sure am glad that the FDA has such standards as to ensure that something called cheese is more than half made of cheese.  It’s no wonder that all you have to do to make a product sound substandard is to paste the word American on the front of it.  Are we that stupid?  What is the matter with real food anyway?

I’m done…for now.

4 thoughts on “American What?”

  1. I was just thinking the same thing about Peanut butter today – well, the kind of peanut butter that most people THINK is real peanut butter. They have just been conditioned to think that it is the real thing, but it is NOT EVEN CLOSE. I have actually had some daycare kids not eat the sandwiches I make with real peanut butter because they think its gross…come on! I also have run into a good handful of people who can’t stand real maple syrup – as far as they are concerned, the “maple flavored syrup” is maple syrup – sheesh. I totally agree with the real food thing. By the way, Jimmy refers to “American Cheese” as “Floppy Cheese”, so that is what we call it 🙂 It is, after all, quite floppy.

  2. Yeah. Maple syrup and corn syrup are not actually the same thing even though they have syrup in the name. =)

    The stuff is so gross.

  3. Could the author please comment on how thankful he is to his wife for the tireless devotion to acquiring and serving real food to the family in the face of countless obstacles from the children and from himself? I hear she’s quite dedicated.

    Tam, the term “floppy cheese” is awesome. =) I am so stealing that.

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