Yeah my title is rubbish, I know!
O’er here in the good Old World, we love making fun of American cheese, which is un-affectionately called “plastic cheese” or canned cheese where I live. We look down on it and basically when laughing at American stereotypes, cheese (weirdly) comes up more than you would think.
Foodie types often rate it negatively compared to various cheeses from Europe such as mature Cheddar, Camembert, Bavarian Smoked etc but here is the thing, cheese is such a variable food that different cheeses have different uses and are impossible to place on a scale of good/bad.
Some cheeses work in some things, some work in others. Cheese is like the term “vegetable”, its hugely variable. When someone asks if a meal would taste good with “a vegetable” you would immediately ask “which one?” as it would depend.
You would use Mature Cheddar for a Mac n Cheese for example but probably not Brie or Camembert (which are very sticky when melted). Some cheeses are used in puddings like Sweet Mascarpone or Cottage Cheese and it would be horrible if you used Stilton or Gorgonzola (very salty blue cheeses) instead etc.
For this reason, we should stop making fun of American “plastic” cheese. It has its uses. It melts very quickly and is best used as a type of sauce, rather than a piece of cheese. It also makes for a good topping on pasta bakes and its easy to use on burgers to add a little moisture to dry, grilled meat.
Basically, we should leave Brittney, ahem, sorry, American cheese alone. You can’t say a cheese is better or worse than another. Its too wide a food group.
American cheese is good, actually. Does this count as unpopular haha?
EDIT how is a joke post I made about cheese whilst slightly intoxicated the most commented thing I have ever done? Apparently Cheese brings out people’s passion like nothing else!
https://www.allrecipes.com/thmb/iRcip7RaCHF_RmbzDV4bC8gqNYs=/1500×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-504780334-2000-1caaee9e697c40a8935db7b8d9818a85.jpg:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-504780334-2000-1caaee9e697c40a8935db7b8d9818a85.jpg)
I should add that when I say “American Cheese” I mean the processed, single squares of milky, relatively tasteless cheese you buy in the fridge section of shops. It melts VERY quickly and stays melted for ages.
I am aware that America has access to a wide variety of cheese! I mean more like national cuisine, rather than just what is available/people eat.
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Do you work for big cheese?
As an American “American Cheese” is one of my least favorite things about my country.
Keep your Spanish maggot cheese franchise! You melt American cheese over American doritos and then you have spicy Nacho’s it’s the best.
Good for burgers
As long as they keep taking the piss out of beans on toast, I’ll take the piss out of the absolute abortion they call cheese.
You are aware that besides “American cheese”, Americans have a 400 year history of making cheeses that resemble the Dutch, English, Swiss, French, and German immigrants who brought countless recipes.
We have states like Vermont, New York, Wisconsin where you can’t toss a rock without hitting a small batch artisan cheese maker. Every state has hundreds of varieties. I’ve been all over the world and some of the best Brie I’ve ever had is Four Fat Fowl from Vermont.
Also I’m not sure this is unpopular. Some version of American-like simple cheese is commonly sold all over the world, so clearly there is a market.
Tilamook is the best of the proletariat cheese
I dont disagree but the funniest part about this and most “Europe vs American food” arguments I see is just the idea that America is somehow devoid of good cheese (or good anything).
Maybe if you’re looking at the dairy aisle of a small town supermarket. But anywhere with more than 10 traffic lights there’s basically going to be a store with a whole cheese section that has almost every possible variety. Any area that qualifies as a “city” and you can expand that to a full aisle.
And also we’ve got the “plastic” American cheeses, which most people agree aren’t good tasting on their own, but melt well into unhealthy comfort food like mac and cheese or grilled cheese.
I feel like American cheese is to US cuisine like surströmming is to Sweden (to a lesser degree). It’s famously associated with the country, but not actually a common staple.
ETA: and just to be clear American food standards and consumer protections are a joke. I literally hate some of the shit we’re legally allowed to sell. But that just means we have a low floor for food quality. It doesnt really change the ceiling at all, and honestly the one thing the US is pretty killer at is having an insanely diverse agricultural selection and then distributing said selection amongst itself. I can drive in a 5 mile radius and get good sushi, bad sushi, proper Italian and Greek food or the American fusion knockoff versions, hundred dollar cheese, 50 cent “cheese”, fresh baked artisan breads or sliced preserved breads.
Where I am specifically the only foods I cant seem to consistently find are good Mexican or good BBQ, because I’m in the Seattle area lmao.
Edit 2: from OP swinging from “Well all the beer was nasty” to “I only shopped at 7/11” to “no I was joking, i actually went to dozens of pubs and there was nothing but nasty light beer!” to “No I actually tried tons of local brews!! they were all bad” I think it’s safe to say OP had a fun time visiting NYC, did no research on food and drinks (fair enough) bought whatever crap was on the cheap side, and has walked away confident he can now just say anything and blame it on being Scottish.
I’m an american…F American Cheese
The whole debate is so silly if you’ve ever shopped at a decent US grocery store—not to mention an actual cheese monger. Not only do we import just about every type of European cheese, we also have plenty of unique American, Canadian, Mexican, and South American cheeses that Europe doesn’t.
Additionally, the American cheese that Europeans make fun of also exists in Europe. In neither location is cheese in a can or Kraft singles seen as the best.
As a European who is very passionate about European cheese, American cheeses have their place, for example if I wanted to melt some cheese over nachos or on a burger I would go for American cheese because it’s better for that specific purpose
I mean, I’m kind of on board with this. Kind of (and I’m an American). The issue I have with American cheese is that it is mass produced, factory style, with more industrial ingredients.
In fact, many varieties of cheese in the USA are made that way now. Even some traditional kinds.
And I know this is true to some degree in Europe as well. I’ve seen videos of some types of cheese being mass produced there.
But by and large, there is still a lot of cheese made the old fashioned way. It’s hard not to prefer that.
I’d be content if Europeans could accept that America has more cheeses than just American Cheese.
American cheese is to cheese what sausage is to meat.
American cheese is actually trash. American-made cheese is not. Vermont is making some of the best cheese in the game.
I mean, those opinions are completely ignorant of the fact that there are tons of highly regarded cheeses being produced in the USA by small independent producers. They just don’t get the global attention.
The FDA calls it “pasteurized processed American cheese food.” In order for a food product to be a true “cheese,” it has to be more than half cheese, which is technically pressed curds of milk. So each Kraft American single contains less than 51% curds, which means it doesn’t meet the FDA’s standard.
So its not cheese. Same as fake chocolate that doesnt meet minimum cocoa percentage. You might like it but its fake like a boob job
I haaaate “american cheese”, I can’t get past the flavor. But the cheeses I do love were also made in america. The cheddar and goat cheeses I get from my local market are amazing! If anything I get sad when foreigners assume the the best cheese we have to offer are single wrapped slices labeled as “cheese product” because they’re not actual cheese. Nothing wrong with people enjoying them, I’m a bit jealous since they’re so much cheaper….but yeah we have a lot more to offer in the cheese department. With that said I appreciate your defense and you’re absolutely right that it has a lot of benefits. I wish I could like it lol.
Throw some plastic cheese on a hamburger and tell me there is no place for it in the world. But that’s about the only place.
Blessed are the cheese makers!
Even with American cheese, there are different kinds.
Plastic cheese isn’t even real American Cheese, those are singles, that is Process Cheese Food. Used for grilled cheese mostly, maybe by kids for their sandwiches. No one I know buys the individually packaged cheese.
You have real American, deli American cheese. Stored in blocks just like the cheddar and swiss, sliced off when needed. Land O’Lakes, Cooper Sharp, etc. It’s primarily cheddar, colby, and some emulsifying salts. Waaay better than anything you’re buying prepackaged. That’s what I use 99% of the time I’m using American cheese. Sandwiches, burgers, grilled cheese, omelettes, etc.
Then you have the prepackaged kind that isn’t individually wrapped. Kraft Deli Deluxe would be an example. Higher milk content, melts better, still not tasteless crap. I’ll occasionally buy this for grilled cheese, pretty much my only usage.
But singles, velveeta, anything like that. That’s not American Cheese, that’s the cheese product / cheese food kind of thing.
Bit more of a write up – https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese
We have all the plastic cheese but we also can easily (if you’re not in the sticks) get a virtually unlimited number of “real” gourmet cheeses both from here and abroad.
My local ShopRite in New Jersey was recently renovated and there is an entire gourmet cheese section including a cheese monger. I love browsing the selection.
Isn’t American -> European the scale of bad -> good cheese?
American cheese is good for one thing only: smashburgers. Not even grilled cheese, come at me haters.
Wisconsin is producing more cheese than most countries.
ITT: Arrogant Europeans acting like Wisconsin doesn’t exist.
My buddy in Christ, we have won international cheese tasting competitions. Not all American cheese is Kraft (almost always made in Canada) Cheese.
American cheese ain’t even real cheese. So it’s bad.
A block of cheese is a loaf of milk
There’s good cheese in the US, even if a lot of it is European inspired, which isn’t a bad thing, though I roll my eyes at parmigiano from Wisconsin.
Most of it is pasteurized though, which is almost always inferior.
Still most of the time you get some weird ass cheese like product if you didn’t actively look for proper cheese.
“American cheese” needs a different name.
I think the issue is less around insulting plastic cheese and more around insulting American culture under the misapprehension that they don’t have anything else other than plastic cheese. I’ve got no issue with people having a cheese preference, its just that people are rarely discussing cheese, they’re just insulting each other.
Slightly unrelated but this is way my least favorite phrase is “apples to oranges”, implying that they can’t be compared when you absolutely can. One is orange and one is red.
I’m gonna say that cheeses can be compared
The people that think all we have is that plastic and canned cheese are the same people that think we only have bad beer because of Bud Light.
Don’t worry about us, we have plenty of great cheese and great beer!
As an American, “American cheese” is different than cheese made in the US. I personally hate American cheese on anything except a cheap, greasy burger. The US has some excellent cheese makers, and you can find almost any cheese you can think of here.
“There is no scale of good and bad cheeses” … say WHAT.
Of course there is. And square cheese has some uses, and even on these uses (namely, melted on top of a burger), there are lots of better alternatives.
The only people I see genuinely knocking American cheese are pretentious foodies. Tons of high profile chefs are still using American cheese where it’s best – on burgers.
The only cheese that is a sin against the cheese gods is that maggot cheese.
It always cracks me up when foreigners that never visit the US think all Americans have the most trailer trash diets. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten cheese out of a can and I never buy “American Cheese.” I don’t even think you can legally call those things cheese since they’re made using a different process than traditional cheese making processes.
We sell good cheese here too and you can even find it in a normal middle class grocery store
Usually I go for a decent aged cheddar for versatility, a pecorino or parmasean block for Italian dishes, a manchego or Gouda for snacking, and a Brie for elevating sandwiches.
I usually call the cheese I’m getting by its name instead of just “cheese”
Naw, Europe’s right. American cheese is shite, and if it’s your go to for grilled cheese you’re in possession of an inferior tongue.
While we’re here, if you dont like onions you’re a lesser being on the cosmic scale.
American cheese is nasty and only belongs on a cheeseburger. For everything else you should use Velveeta or a proper cheese.
>For this reason, we should stop making fun of American “plastic” cheese. It has its uses. It melts very quickly and is best used as a type of sauce, rather than a piece of cheese. It also makes for a good topping on pasta bakes and its easy to use on burgers to add a little moisture to dry, grilled meat.
My European friend, have you heard of the grilled cheese sandwich? It is best with American cheese. American cheese is also fine on burgers, although in my opinion it’s not the best choice. But on a grilled cheese, there is really no alternative IMO.
You mean American “cheese product”?
I’m sure you guys make other cheeses that are good. That sliced stuff is just not that gouda.
You can definitely compare cheeses. You are also free to like the taste of American cheese, or hate the taste of French blue cheese, or just hate all cheese. Taste is subjective.
“American cheese is the best cheese for a cheeseburger because it splits without melting” or arguably is best for any hot sandwich
OP, brace yourself. I’ve got some very bad news for you:
>Britons named the processed cheese used in burgers and sandwiches as our top cheesy taste.
>Far from being cheese snobs, a survey of 2,000 people by UK takeaway app Foodhub, ahead of National Burger Day (Thursday 26 August), has revealed we turn our noses up at a classic camembert.
Source.
Meanwhile, the most popular cheese in the US is mozzarella, with cheddar coming in second and the despicable processed cheese food slices coming in third.
Looks like you should be looking in the mirror. To be clear, there’s plenty of reason to mock the US right now, but cheese isn’t one of them.
Quick side note: many of us we also call American “cheese” “plastic cheese.” In fact, the phrase may have originated here. “Canned cheese,” however, is a different abomination entirely. It’s even worse than the plastic “cheese” slices. Many of us call it “spray cheese.”
There is only one fundamental distinction: pasteurized and unpasteurized (raw milk). All great cheeses are unpasteurized.
There is a huge difference between Kraft singles (not actually cheese, but processed cheese food) and artisanal American cheese made in places like Vermont, Oregon, California, and Wisconsin. Much like how the Germans used to make fun of American beer before the microbrew revolution in the US. Or the French made fun of American wine before wines from Napa and Sonoma started winning international contests.
As an American, I’ll ride my bald eagle to the moon and paint it red white and blue.
I don’t know if it’s nostalgia, but American cheese used for cheese burgers or grilled cheese sandwiches just hits different. I’ll concede that European cheese in general is better than what we have (especially in variety).
dude Americans also make fun of American cheese
American cheese on its own is pretty shitty. But, mac and cheese without at least a little bit of American to help the melting is shittier.
Honestly this is more uninformed than anything. There’s a great deal of Americans who don’t touch plastic cheese.
>when I say “American Cheese” I mean the processed, single squares of milky, relatively tasteless cheese
The problem is that’s still a wide range of plastic wax, sometimes made from milk and sometimes not.
This has always puzzled me. Like somebody a hundred years just thought it was good marketing to call it “American cheese” and the name stuck. We didn’t vote it our official cheese. We don’t ritually consume a handful of everyday. It’s just a product that’s had the name “American” attached to it. Other cheeses are available and other cheeses are more consumed.
There are certain categories of things, such as tree and worm, whose usefulness overlays a giant falsehood. Cheese is one of them.
I’m not sure what ppl are even making fun of. If you go to ANY grocery store in a city (aka not in some tiny 50-person town in the middle of nowhere), there are a WIDE variety of cheeses to choose from. For example, I would also use Cheddar for Mac & cheese, and smoked Gouda for a sandwich, and Brie for some cheese and crackers. The only time I use “American cheese” aka those plastic slices is when I’m looking for that specific flavor and consistency (so almost never, but every so often in a sandwhich). I think Europeans have a misconception that that is the only cheese Americans use, but that’s wildly incorrect, especially in metropolitan areas. Cheddar and goat cheese are probably the most popular in my area, for example. I don’t know a single person near me that uses the Kraft slices. If you go towards more heavily suburban areas, that percentage probably increases.
The debate is about cheese or cheeselike products. America has good cheese as well, but also fabricated stuff.
Truly unpopular and WRONG
I just always found it weird that Americans would want to put their name on processed cheddar cheese, which is easily the worst kind of cheese. Still good because it’s cheese, but easily the worst kind.
Here we call it either processed cheese or plastic cheese.
I’m American and am a cheese lover…I would never eat a slice of the plastic wrapped processed imitation cheese food. It really doesn’t count as cheese to me either. It must have been developed back in the day when they started making ‘new’ food type products, like Tang…instead of actual Orange juice. But this was like a million years ago!
It’s like Italians and beer. There might be a handful exceptions, but for the most part they can’t brew.
I believe midnight moon would be comparable to finer cheeses from Europe, of course to similar ones like Gouda (typically from France iirc) or even Spanish Manchego. Midnight moon is a cheese made in America, probably Wisconsin
Kraft singles legally have to be called “cheese product” because there isn’t enough dairy to make them real cheese. That said, I think chefs and other people who work in the culinary industry have come to a pretty wide consensus that it still has its uses on burgers and such
Someone’s never been to Wisconsin. At least based on the beer/cheese comments
I wont go as far as saying American Kraft Singles are “good”, but I will advise putting a slice of a good sharp cheddar with a kraft single is amazing when it comes to a grilled cheese sando. You get the taste and bite of the cheddar, and the melt of the kraft single.
Cheese is such a dumb thing to be snobby over. All food is really.
Irony is that American Cheese originated from Switzerland. But I prefer American cheese for burgers. Other cheese when melted have rubbery texture.
I’m kind of stuck on pudding cheese. I want to be disgusted, but I’m kind of intrigued.
American cheese is actually a brand name. the American government actually doesn’t define it as cheese.
True story, the US Department of Agriculture does not classify Kraft Singles, Velveeta, Cheese Wiz, EZ Cheese, or “cheese in a can” as real cheese. And neither do most Americans.
No one in America thinks those kraft singles are real cheese.
We like our giant bricks of cheddar…thanks.
Did you know the US invented powdered cheese during WWII?
If you use American cheese on baked pasta. I would call the police for murdering dinner.
I agree that cheese is too broad a category to exclude American cheese. And I agree that intrinsically there is no metric that would be able to put out an objective tier list of cheeses.
Non unpopular
American Cheese and cheese from America aren’t they same thing. American Cheese implies plasticky Kraft single bullshit. There’s some great cheese from the USA.
I totally agree, they aren’t even playing the same game. I like almost every cheese when applied in it’s appropriate cuisine/dish/presentation. Love a goat cheese as a sweet or savory spread, love blue cheese as a sharp bite in a bright salad, love parmesan and asiago with pasta. And I fucking love American cheese in a grilled cheese or melted into something. It melts like no other, and adds a salty, creamy, cheesy loveliness to whatever it is melted into. It’s a great cheese.
Blessed are the cheesemakers.
They think our cheese is kraft singles, and cheese wiz.
Admit it; you’re over there huffing Velveeta.
I am American and I look down upon American cheese. It sucks.
Stop calling those plastic sheets cheese and we will. American “cheese” is a disgusting abomination
Didn’t a Wisconsin cheese win some international cheese competition last year?
I cook w American every fucking day. Out of all the cheeses I have to use, it melts the worst, the slowest. I’ve tried many brands. The best melting deli cheese ever is Muenster, and it actually tastes good. Buttery, a tad like Gouda, a tad like Swiss. Mild. Should be the standard, not American. The problem with American is that it is just ok for many applications, but it’s never the best cheese to use for something.
American cheese rules. Gruyere cheese rules. British pub cheese rules.
Natty light rules. Belgians rule. Craft IPAs rule.
They gonna call their wax aged crap cheddar I’m gonna mock their flavourless hard butter as a pale imitation.
But jokes aside, America does produce decent cheese.
We have lots of good cheese but grocery chains carry only a few types of mass produced stuff
This opinion doesnt make sense, because what americans call cheese isnt even cheese. Its a cheese lookalike.
Amaerica cheese is Iike a drag queen, that might has a female apearance. But it will feel and taste different once it goes in your mouth.
If Kraft Singles and Velveeta and shit are the examples “American cheeses” then… Yeah- but as evidenced by the comments, many ppl in the U.S. Look at it the same way.
Including me I disagree that it doesn’t deserve to be made fun of. It does, even though I do like a few good dips with Velveeta in them lol. I still don’t look at it as “real” cheese though. It is overprocessed junk, and I have no issue with the stereotype as it fits.
Quick reminder processed cheese is Switzerland’s fault.
No one in America thinks “plastic cheese” is good. Kraft singles have 2 places. On a grilled burger or a cheap grilled cheese. We can also buy deli American cheese, which is way better. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I bought “plastic cheese.” We have very good cheese here as well. They are used for so many different applications. I love French triple creams and Italian cheeses as well. One of my favorite cheeses is made by beechers and is a gruyere and cheddar blend. There is a wide world of cheese, and i want to eat it all. Except goat cheese for me. Eat what you like.
Americans call it plastic cheese too lol it’s not popular here at all. There definitely should be a cheese system. cheese is amazing!!
Yeah American cheese mostly blows, but there simply isn’t a better cheese for burgers, gtilled cheese, or breakfast sandwiches
What’s wrong in calling plastic cheese what it is?