- Kraft and maybe a couple other brands of “not cheese” slices and blocks
- A larger selection of real cheese blocks and pre-sliced, pre-shredded options (I know dust parm and some shredded have filler that we’d probably also not count as real cheese)
- A whole deli counter on the other side of the store of all “real” cheese options.
Now, maybe consumption is 80% those Kraft slices, idk the stats, but just in terms of shelf space, it’s like 80-90% real cheeses.
How are you finding so much Kraft? Are you shopping at a 7-11? Even here in Albuquerque, not particularly known as a mecca of fancy cheeses, the vast majority of cheese is not Kraft.
One trick to remember is that a lot of grocery stores have cheese in two places: near the milk and butter they have basics like Tillamook or the usually-decent store brand for cheddar, pepper jack, etc. Then over closer to the deli, there's a refrigerated table with the better cheeses.
I grew up on kraft yellow cheese slices as well, my parents could've afforded better cheese however I think its more to the availability (much like the OP states) of better quality items. Grocery stores in America (well big cities at least) have changed massively in the past 30 years, and once you have some decent cheese, you wont buy single slices again.
It doesn't help that the markup on real cheese at most stores is extreme. Going to a grocery store with a flat percentage markup over wholesale on everything was pretty eye opening - cheese was much, much cheaper, and milk was actually more expensive.
If you go to a grocery store, you'll find many versions of cheddar cheese specifically. Some of it is blocked, some slices, some shredded. You'll also find that in at least one of these forms, the store has it's own brand – called a "private label" – of cheddar cheese, probably shredded. Because Kroger, or Wal Mart, or Whole Foods has said "hey, selling cheddar cheese is a good idea and we can compete in our own stores". So they make a competing congruent product, maybe quality and prices are lower, but that's OK. The customer can make their own decision on which cheese to buy.
This is exactly the same concept as Amazon's private label businesses.
I used to laugh that Kraft singles were labeled as “cheese product” instead of just, you know, cheese. Now I can appreciate Kraft for their “honesty” (even if it may have been mandated by law). Still don’t buy their products, but I don’t have a negative view of the brand. I’m sure there are things they are actually good at/for.
I have the orange wrapped slices in my fridge solely because the children (who have terrible taste) beg for them. For myself I buy better cheese, but it's still a pretty far cry from fancy. We're talking cojack, swiss, provalone, and cheddar slices, shredded cheddar and mozzarella, and the occasional block of pepper jack. Usually from Aldi, but they could easily be found at any discount grocer. I feel like this is a pretty common state of affairs in middle America.
You haven’t seen most North American supermarkets, then. Many, many supermarkets except the cheapest of the cheap carry real domestic and imported cheddar for at least 10-15 years.
Go to a real grocery store. If you're shopping at any of the "name brand" grocery stores you're not going to get that much of any quality. Local coops and "high end" grocery stores generally have a great selection and often they have someone working there to help you understand and select cheeses.
Same in the US. You have to buy Kraft premium American cheese (or another brand) to get real process American cheese, which is just cheddar plus an emulsifying salt.
If you look in the cheese section of a decent store, you’ll find many real cheese with ingredients like “pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, cultures”. These contain living cultures but not raw milk, and many of them have long shelf lives.
My point is that, while you’re unlikely to find raw milk in a sterile so-called cheese product, actual cheese is not sterile despite often containing pasteurized milk. And that pasteurizing the milk isn’t necessarily done for food safety reasons — some cheese recipes call for raw milk and some call for cooking the milk.
The other reply was correct. I'm not talking about all cheese in America, I'm talking specifically about the fact that Kraft slices are ostensibly "American cheese", but in reality are not legally "cheese".
Every contemporary grocery store I've been to in the Northeast US has an artisanal cheese section... And I don't even live in a big city. It's not mixed in the with the "normal" cheeses though. My grocery store makes mozzarella in house too.
- Kraft and maybe a couple other brands of “not cheese” slices and blocks
- A larger selection of real cheese blocks and pre-sliced, pre-shredded options (I know dust parm and some shredded have filler that we’d probably also not count as real cheese)
- A whole deli counter on the other side of the store of all “real” cheese options.
Now, maybe consumption is 80% those Kraft slices, idk the stats, but just in terms of shelf space, it’s like 80-90% real cheeses.
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