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Comment by bobthepanda | Hacker News Reader

The technical definition of American cheese is that.

In practice, unless you are going to look specifically for it, Kraft, Velveeta et. al. are more than happy to sell you "American cheese product" which does not meet FDA standards for labeling for American cheese, and in practice a lot of people criticizing American cheese are actually criticizing cheese product, which is what is super easy to find both in American supermarkets and abroad.

Europeans also generally take offense at some of the stuff in American supermarkets that has implied labeling like European cheese, like the powdered Kraft Parmesan.

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Unless you are buying the absolute cheapest package of cheese slices it will still be real cheese. I'm not even sure if I've ever even seen a Kraft or Valveeta sliced cheese product, only lesser no-name brands. I've been am American all my life and do not buy process cheese product as it does take like plastic, but actual American cheese is delicious on burgers and grilled cheeses and a few other select meals.

What's crazy is Europe allowing 5% non-milk-fat/vegetable fat products to be called "ice cream". Thankfully in America it has to be 10% milkfat at least.

The hero image for Kraft Singles on Wikipedia clearly states “Pasteurized prepared cheese product” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kraft_Singles.jpg

It is a sleight of hand that it says American, but it specifically does not say American cheese as a single phrase.

You are looking at the wrong product. This one[0] does say "American cheese" as a single phrase. And the slices are not individually wrapped, as they don't need to be.

[0]https://www.kraftheinz.com/kraft-deli-deluxe/products/000210...

Kraft Singles and their Velveeta equivalent are what is available abroad, not the Kraft Deli Deluxe. 40 percent of American households in 2019 bought Kraft Singles.

You may not like it, but it is the public face of American cheese.

I might say the 60% that didn’t buy Kraft Singles might be the public face of American cheese considering it’s the larger number?

There’s no data to suggest that actual fancier American cheese sells more than heavily marketed slices, especially since a huge chunk of the remaining population, and I would say most, is not consuming either “American cheese” or “American cheese product” with sodium citrate.

Wait so when Europeans complain about American cheese, they are talking about Kraft/Velveeta? I always thought of those as their own independent thing, do they not purchase their cheese at the deli? Most foods exported across the Atlantic are not going to be the fresh kind...

They purchase European cheeses given that most American cheese types are descended from European cheeses; cheddar is English and blue is descended from English Stilton.

Your reply doesn't answer my question and seems to imply things I can't understand. Are you suggesting people in Europe simply use the same kind of cheese with everything? I find that hard to believe. Perhaps you have never bought cheese at a deli? There happen to be many kinds.

Your last point is even more confusing, why would the fact that chedder and blue cheese originate from England have anything to do with this? It's like random trivia you interlaced here, it's very strange. I can't seem to grok it.

They don’t buy American cheese, the melty product. They actually don’t buy much American (of origin) cheese at all at their delis because American origin cheeses are all descended from the diverse array of European cheeses, and there are melty, non-sodium citrate European cheeses. So yes, the most common form of American cheese found is the Kraft/Velveeta variety and that is really mostly aimed at expats nostalgic for it.

Europe exports $2.8bn of dairy to the US. The reverse is only $167m of trade.

Considering how protective Europe is of it's markets I'm not surprised their dairy imports are small. They even treat town/village names as a kind of trademark to facilitate this, leading to much confusion (I will die on this hill right next to them).

I've tried many kinds of the imported European cheese, I enjoy the variety and gimicky stuff, one noteworthy one was this coffee cheese which was surprisingly tasty. Ultimately it sits right next to an equally diverse array of domestic cheese brands which are of the same quality. "New York Steakhouse" usually makes my favorites.

However Kraft and Velveeta are usually in their own section with the sealed imported cold cuts that taste like plastic. It would be ignorant for me to judge Euros on those but I guess many Euros do exactly that when they see Kraft? It's like space food. Real cheese is purchased at the deli counter or in chunks.

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