bad financial numbers 'because consumer tastes have evolved'.
Why make it sound so glum? I was eating Kraft dinner as a
toddler in the 1950s, and yes, today I know how to make Bechamel,
throw in some fancy cheese, and pour it on whatever bizarre shaped
pasta I have on hand. The population has increased and food
variety has exploded. The people buying KD for their children
are die-hard nostalgics, and I see it fly off the shelves when there
is a multi-pack special because that is how people shop these
days; in bulk.
I need to share a little secret, here. My mother, a convent-educated
person knew how to cook, but mac and cheese was a foreign food
to her. She found the taste too strong and only used half the envelope.
This was fine by me; the next morning I would make buttered toast
for myself, and spread the left-over cheese packet on top of the butter.
It melted; probably my first foray into cooking for myself.
Of course, I was a health-conscious mother; I would prepare macaroni
for my toddler daughter with half cottage cheese, half cream cheese.
We are cream cheese enthusiasts. I also much appreciate Miracle Whip, the
usefullness of mayonnaise with half the calories: a discrete food product.
I track my weight like a CIA operative, and Miracle Whip on my daily greens
is the difference between a stable weight and weight creep (I have actually
tested for this).
In all then, Kraft has nothing to fear from me; I am a life-long customer
even if of what Kraft product has evolved.
* * *
The origins of cheese are lost to us. Once one
has cows - and milk - one has a perishable product that
needs to be stored and perhaps transported. Adding some
acidity will curdle milk in chunks making it possible to
drain. Voilà! Rennet is also a possible cheesemaker.
The first cheese, then, would have been a dry cottage cheese.
The flavor of cheese will show the influence of what cows
were fed, and from what region.
It is believed that the Romans introduced cheese-making to Europe.
The humid conditions prevailing there allowed for the controlled
intoduction of bacteria and molds that would add flavor as cheese
matured over long periods in caves and other dark places. Thus the
great variety of harder cheeses we know today.
The existence of cheese for noble households is attested in the Middle
Ages although it was regarded as a common food by the aristocracy of
the 19th century. Today, chefs love it.
Processed cheese is an industrial age twist on classic (pasturized) cheeses which
transforms it through the addition of emulsifiers into a product that can be heated
and melted without separating or clumping. Kraft dinner (1953) was probably
a demonstrator of this property for its inventor, James Kraft. Queso, the
Mexican dip, is melted processed cheese.
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