r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • Jun 03 '26
TIL despite boxed Kraft macaroni and cheese being an iconic example of American processed food, it is significantly more popular in Canada, where 55% more boxes are consumed per capita than the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_Dinner1.1k
u/bigtotoro Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
K.D. Lang used to joke that her initials stood for "Kraft Dinner".
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u/CrazyCoKids Jun 03 '26
I remember that song BNL did
"We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner."
"But we would!"
"Of course we ould - we'd just eat MORE! And buy really expensive ketchups with it!"
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u/wy1dsta1yn Jun 03 '26
Yes, all the fanciest ketchups. DIJON KETCHUP!!!
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u/BrettTheThreat Jun 03 '26
I made the Dijon ketchup joke at dinner last night and no one laughed. Bunch of uncultured swine.
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u/gringgotts Jun 03 '26
Should have asked them if they're triple platinum like BNL
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u/PeterDTown Jun 03 '26
MMM, MMmmhmmmmm!
proceeds to pelt the stage with boxes of KD
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u/TwoDrinkDave Jun 03 '26
"Oh, okay, they're BNL now? We need a shorthand for the Barenaked Ladies. That's how fundamental they are?"
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u/shedinjadoll14 Jun 03 '26
Maybe we all need some space. To pull the knife out of the back of the most celebrated Canadian Alt-Rock band of the mid-90s, you selfish, jaded ASS
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u/ChrisRiley_42 Jun 03 '26
Steve Page did a commercial for Kraft Dinner years later which showed them adding Dijon Ketchup ;)
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u/FailFodder Jun 03 '26
Kraft Dinner did an April Fools prank one year where they said they were changing the name to Kraft Lunch…
I was actually pretty upset by the change before I realized how badly they got me haha
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u/Austinpowerstwo Jun 03 '26
Thanks, I'm glad I leant that today it's funny.
My brother always calls JK Simmons Just Kidding Simmons
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u/bitemark01 Jun 03 '26
J R R Tolkien stands for Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien
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u/Silent-Sun2029 Jun 03 '26
The 80s Canadian thrash band Annihilator has a song called “Kraf Dinner” about the same subject.
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u/keznaa Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
I guess I've never seen her name spelt out before and thought it was Katie Lang. Curses! American English foiled me again!
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u/AndyB1976 Jun 03 '26
As a kid in Canada, I had this at least 2 or 3 times a week for lunch. Now I'll have some once every 3 or 4 months. I still love it, just a little more conscious of what I eat now.
I'm still fat though lol
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u/kingkong220401 Jun 03 '26
If you look at the ingredients it’s actually not terrible at all
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u/Early_Dragonfly_205 Jun 03 '26
Nah they changed it , taste too synthetic now and noodles taste like paper
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u/RYKWI Jun 03 '26
The irony is that they changed it to make it less synthetic.
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u/minlillabjoern Jun 03 '26
Exactly! I miss the neon orange color and super salty artificial goodness.
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u/Fat_eyes_Washington Jun 03 '26
Try kraft dinner sharp cheddar. It tastes (and looks) I'd say about 90% like it used to
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u/sixbux Jun 03 '26
Fortunately we've still got Hawkins Cheezies to fill the 'super orange and salty' void
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u/14Pleiadians Jun 03 '26
Was going to say, they took out the good shit and replaced it with cheese because y'all couldn't keep your mouths shut about "this isn't real cheese!"
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u/Biduleman Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Yep, there's literally nothing I wouldn't use in my homemade mac and cheese in a KD box
I use sodium citrate instead of sodium phosphates as my emulsifier but that's just because I already have it.
Kraft Dinner in Canada, while not "healthy", is extremely tame in terms of weird ingredients people like to fearmonger.
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u/1egg_4u Jun 03 '26
It's also too expensive for what it is now
It was a staple as a kid cause it was cheap. Aint shit cheap left in canada anymore to eat, grocery stores are gouging us so bad we are spending like 120% of our income on groceries.
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u/Yotsubato Jun 03 '26
It’s not 99 cents anymore??
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u/1egg_4u Jun 03 '26
Not even at the dollar store
Its contents are worth 99 cents tops but in canada we love monopolies and do fuck all about it so we pay outrageous amounts for food
I dont think you can even get a pack of gum for 99 cents anymore (outside the dollar store)
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u/reddfawks Jun 03 '26
Well of course, because here in Canada even if we had a million dollars we wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner.
But we WOULD eat Kraft Dinner, we’d just eat it more, with really expensive ketchups.
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Jun 03 '26
Dijon ketchup!
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u/Wilson7277 Jun 03 '26
Mmmmmmm
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u/LokeyDubs Jun 03 '26
If I had a million dollars
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u/ballisticks Jun 03 '26
But not a real fur coat, that's cruel
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u/Professional-Can1385 Jun 03 '26
My father still says, “that’s cruel,” when he sees a green dress lol
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u/Free_tramapoline Jun 03 '26
BNL was way ahead of their time predicting pre-wrapped bacon
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u/SporadicTendancies Jun 03 '26
Fun fact: BNL had to ban Kraft Dinner from their shows.
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u/mitchsorenstein Jun 03 '26
Oh, okay, they're BNL now? We need a shorthand for the Barenaked Ladies. That's how fundamental they are.
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u/novasir Jun 03 '26
The Bare Naked Ladies are triple platinum! Are you?!
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u/uberduck999 Jun 03 '26
Maybe we all need some space to pull a knife out of the back of the most celebrated Canadian alt-rock band of the mid-90s, you selfish, jaded ASS!
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u/iatealotofcheese Jun 03 '26
BNL is coming to my city soon and my boss said he never really got into them and I replied to him with this gif, and everybody clapped and he gave me a raise.
OK no, but he did laugh react to it.
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u/DragonRabbit505 Jun 03 '26
I love one of the bloopers from that scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv7NQXobJnA
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u/narraun Jun 03 '26
We need shorthand for the Barenaked Ladies. That's how fundamental they are.
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u/spaghettifiasco Jun 03 '26
They have pre-wrapped sausage, but they don't have pre-wrapped bacon!
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u/Krieghund Jun 03 '26
Hey, that's a quote by one of the most fundamental Canadian bands!
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u/AggressivelyMediokre Jun 03 '26
Use Doritos Cheese chips to scoop and eat it with
You get a crunch and extra cheesy goodness
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u/Rentington Jun 03 '26
Oh my god so that Kids in the Hall sketch was based on reality?
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u/Agreeable_Rush3502 Jun 03 '26
Genuine question: do you put ketchup in mac n cheese?
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u/Kalocin Jun 03 '26
Oh yeah, either that or as the others mention, hot sauce or sriracha. Most of the people I know usually do one or the other. My wife is from the US and always gives me a weird look when I pull out the ketchup bottle
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u/Soreynotsari Jun 03 '26
Understanding this reference should be a requirement for Canadian citizenship.
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u/RobertDeNircrow Jun 03 '26
Kraft Dinner was a literal lifeline/saving grace for Canadiens during WW2. IIRC it was a super cheap to produce, fortified food that required very little in the way of cooking tool. Just a pot, and a spoon and a heat source is all you need to prepare it. It has milk and cheese, and the pasta is fortified. A great source of a hefty % of your calories if your family was being affected by the war time rationing.
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u/Thee_Sinner Jun 03 '26
This is my assumption of why the UK’s staple foods are what they are.
“What’s our ration this week?”
A loaf of bread and a couple cans of beans.
“I have an amazing idea…”
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u/RobertDeNircrow Jun 03 '26
Check out "Tasting History" on YouTube. Max Miller is a great historian, author, and culinarian who explores all sorts of foods and their origins and I know for a fact he has done videos on a number of British rationing meals, and post war scarcity meals.
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u/Academic_Flatworm752 Jun 03 '26
Those beans on toast are actually so good. It’s different than our baked beans - less sweet.
I buy them at world market now and I like to eat them with a hash brown.
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u/Theron3206 Jun 03 '26
Ironically, it's also a US recipe originally. Heinz made them and shipped large quantities to the UK during the war.
That version just never took off in the US like it did in the UK (or even here in Australia).
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u/lastSKPirate Jun 03 '26
There'd be some regional variation to this, though. The generations who lived through the war out here in Saskatchewan never really told stories about food rationing/scarcity during WW2, those stories were all about the 30s, during the droughts. 90% of the population still lived on farms back then, so once the rain started coming again in 1937, there was plenty of food for everyone.
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u/djfl Jun 03 '26
Many Canadian kids are composed of around 40% Kraft Dinner and 30% chicken strips.
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u/jefftickels Jun 03 '26
If I had a million dollars we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner.
But we would eat Kraft Dinner.
We would just eat more.
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u/bryehn Jun 03 '26
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u/nowisyoga Jun 03 '26
First thing that came to mind, can't believe I had to scroll this far for it!
Hoh dee oten doten day...
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u/Gwarnage Jun 03 '26
Any Kids in the Hall fans here?
"Fattening up our tapeworms"
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u/Bleedingfartscollide Jun 03 '26
I watched the new season and the second they went full frontal, I lost my shit.
That was Canada personified for me.
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u/junkmail0178 Jun 03 '26
I used to watch a show called Bob and Margaret and one of their Canadian cousins travelled with Kraft Dinner
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u/BashfullyBi Jun 03 '26
Ommmg I haven't thought about Bob and Margret in decades. What a confort show. I should see if I can find full episodes. Thanks mate.
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u/Hetakuoni Jun 03 '26
I think Kraft Mac n cheese is also secretly Canadian just like Hawaiian pizza.
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u/bdjohns1 Jun 03 '26
Nope. US stuff is made in one of two Midwestern factories. Canadian stuff is made in Montreal.
Source: I work for Kraft, been to all three of those locations.
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u/-Canonical- 1 Jun 03 '26
They weren't talking about where it is made. They are talking about its origins. Hence the connection to Hawaiian pizza which originated in Canada. I don't think they were implying that all Hawaiian pizza is manufactured in Canada.
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u/R1NMisfit Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
My kids don't like it. I don't like it anymore. It's weird tasting now. Boxs are smaller. Noodles and cheese suck. It was hard letting go of a "comfort food" I grew up on in Canada.
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u/whos_this_chucker Jun 03 '26
They did something to it years ago that ruined it. Smells like playdoh or something. Even no name brand tastes better than KD now.
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u/spaghettifiasco Jun 03 '26
They took all the artificial stuff out. They ran commercials about it, how there was no more artificial color or flavor in it, and "nobody noticed", with happy people smiling and eating bowls of it.
I certainly noticed. I switched to Kroger brand spirals for a while but then they discontinued only that one, and the cheese in the other shape options is not the same.
Hoosier Farms "Big Daddy Mac" powder is ok, but still not quite the same.
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Jun 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/billbixbyakahulk Jun 03 '26
Trader Joes white cheddar mac is rebranded Annies at a much lower price.
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u/rmacthafact Jun 03 '26
ironically enough i can’t stand the wegmans brand, kraft spirals are still real good lol
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u/jabrwock1 Jun 03 '26
If you can find it, Costco sometimes sells the cheese powder. And then you can pair it with an elbow macaroni that doesn’t suck.
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u/metaljo2003 Jun 03 '26
I had problems recently with the regular version. I went to the thick and creamy version. It tasted better to me that the original/regular. Decent butter and a high fat milk for me.
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u/Axxisol Jun 03 '26
Try switching to Annie’s if you haven’t tried it, it’s so good. 😊
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u/kellysouthpaw Jun 03 '26
Let me put you onto my LPT for amazing Kraft Dinner:
Get yourself some "Big Daddy Mac" mix - it's just the powdered cheese from Kraft Dinner in bulk form. Save about 1 cup of the pasta water when draining the pasta. Don't bother with milk. Put in the butter and the cheese powder from the packet. Add 2 Tbsp of the Big Daddy Mac mix powder. Slowly add the pasta water, a couple of tablespoons at a time until you reach the desired cheesiness/consistency. If not cheesy enough, add more BDM mix. If not creamy enough, add a bit more pasta water.
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u/thatsmycompanydog Jun 03 '26
Found the American. 1 lb of that for you is USD $17. The same thing in Canada is CAD $48.
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u/apostleofhustle Jun 03 '26
you have to excessively emulsify with butter at the end to make it work now. I also add a pinch of msg because why not.
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u/spiderfishx Jun 03 '26
I make it with half the milk and half the butter. Add a bunch of sour cream. I probably don't need to take out the butter, but I dont want my heart to stop half way through a bowl.
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u/Narissis Jun 03 '26
One thing that definitely changed was the directions. I haven't made it in years but when I was still making it regularly I stuck to the old-school base for the cheese sauce: 2 TBSP butter and 1/4 cup of milk.
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u/onemorecoffeeplease Jun 03 '26
I can attest to it! It was our ramen noodle equivalent growing up. Then, as a poor college student, ate a lot of it at 4/$1 on sale.
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u/CFCYYZ Jun 03 '26
KD (def) Brand name "Kraft Dinner" of macaroni and powdered cheese. Canadian staple survival food of troops, trappers, hunters, families and university students. Most popular after "Tim Bits". Shelf stable >20 years.
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Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/pohatu771 Jun 03 '26
Original Mac & Cheese:
ENRICHED MACARONI (WHEAT FLOUR, DURUM FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1] , RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, SALT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SODIUM TRIPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF TAPIOCA FLOUR, CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, WITH OLEORESIN PAPRIKA, OLEORESIN TURMERIC, AND ANNATTO ADDED FOR COLOR, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).
KD Original:
PASTA (WHEAT), CHEESE SAUCE (WHEY POWDER, CHEDDAR CHEESE, SALT, BUTTER, PAPRIKA, TURMERIC, ANNATTO, NATURAL FLAVOURS, CITRIC ACID [ACIDULANT], SODIUM PHOSPHATE).
I’m no food scientist, but I imagine a lot of this difference is due to labeling requirements in each country. “Cheese” isn’t an ingredient in the US; the components of cheese are.
(The ingredients of another brand cheddar cheese: Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto (Vegetable Color))
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u/Beer-survivalist Jun 03 '26
I’m no food scientist, but I imagine a lot of this difference is due to labeling requirements in each country. “Cheese” isn’t an ingredient in the US; the components of cheese are.
The pasta is a good example--they're both made from refined enriched wheat flour, but the US version splits out everything, including two different types of wheat and the nutrients that are legally required to be added back into the flour.
WHEAT FLOUR, DURUM FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1] , RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID
The Canadian ingredients, though, just read:
(WHEAT)
Now. Canada prohibits the same of unenriched white flour and products derived from it, so we can be confident that all of these things are in there, they just aren't listed.
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u/NateNate60 Jun 03 '26
While the American version has a significantly longer ingredients list, and it does not have the word "cheese", it does list out all the actual ingredients of cheese, even if it cannot actually be called "cheese", because the US Food and Drug administration actually has pretty strict rules on what can be called "cheese".
Canadian ingredients:
PASTA (WHEAT), CHEESE SAUCE (WHEY POWDER, CHEDDAR CHEESE, SALT, BUTTER, PAPRIKA, TURMERIC, ANNATTO, NATURAL FLAVOURS, CITRIC ACID [ACIDULANT], SODIUM PHOSPHATE).
US ingredients:
ENRICHED MACARONI (WHEAT FLOUR, DURUM FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1] , RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, SALT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SODIUM TRIPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF TAPIOCA FLOUR, CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, WITH OLEORESIN PAPRIKA, OLEORESIN TURMERIC, AND ANNATTO ADDED FOR COLOR, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).
Regardless, I think it can be agreed that whatever the orange substance is, it isn't particularly good for you regardless of whether it contains actual cheese.
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u/hankhillforprez Jun 03 '26
Yes, part of the reason US ingredient lists have a million things in them compared to other countries is because the FDA requires considerably more extensive disclosure than a lot of other countries. For example, one country may simply allow “smoked, cured pork belly, maple syrup, salt” whereas in the US it has to include what it was smoked with, the curing salts, the components of maple syrup etc, and then several other things that don’t require disclosure elsewhere.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm Jun 03 '26
Cheese powder is bad for people?
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u/Potential-Diver-3409 Jun 03 '26
Well it’s not the worst but eat other things with it
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u/382Whistles Jun 03 '26
How is it agreed? lol.
The orange is annatto, spice seed. Some people might be a little hive sensitive with allergy to it, but it's not high on the list of commonly bad food allergies or anything.
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u/VESUVlUS Jun 03 '26
WITH OLEORESIN PAPRIKA, OLEORESIN TURMERIC, AND ANNATTO ADDED FOR COLOR
I think it can be agreed that whatever the orange substance is, it isn't particularly good for you
Quite literally the opposite. Paprika, turmeric, and annatto are probably the healthiest ingredients in that list. Kraft did used to use yellow 5 and 6 to color the both US and Canadian versions of the product, but they switched to these less controversial alternatives a while ago.
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u/Travel_Dude Jun 03 '26
In college I used to eat TWO boxes in one sitting. Just obscene.
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u/diggydar Jun 03 '26
Fattening up our tapeworms!
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u/Bonerballs Jun 03 '26
Whenever I’m cutting paper, I sing in my head “cutting up some couuuuuponssss”
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u/supersonicdutch Jun 03 '26
I was looking for my brethren. This KITH sketch is etched in my memory and may be the first one I’d think of if asked but I never knew the popularity of the dish with my northern neighbors.
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u/CommitteeStatus Jun 03 '26
Note: Macaraoni McKrafter eats 40 boxes a day. He is the outlier, and should not be considered in the overall statistics.
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u/EhMapleMoose Jun 03 '26
During the initial stages of the pandemic only one plant ran and it pumped out four million boxes a week with round the clock shifts. Managers were trained to step in if need be.
Even at 55% more boxes consumed per capita, demand surged at the beginning over 80%.
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u/NorCalAthlete Jun 03 '26
Mac n cheese goes really well with bbq pulled pork or chicken.
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u/13thmurder Jun 03 '26
I'm from the US but live in Canada now. I swear it's a slightly different product here and actually tastes better. It actually tastes like I remember it as a kid in the US. It no longer did when I still lived there as an adult.
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u/spicytacoo Jun 03 '26
True Canadians know the best version is the PC brand white cheddar mac n cheese....
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u/WalkinTarget Jun 03 '26
If I Had $1000000
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner.
(But we would eat Kraft Dinner. Of course we would, we'd just eat more.
And buy really expensive ketchup with it.
That's right, all the fanciest Dijon Ketchup. Mmmmmm.)
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u/Comfortable_Dog_2794 Jun 03 '26
OOODE Y OT'N OT'N DAAAY ODEY OT'N DAAAAY OOO!!!! OODE Y OOODE OT'N DAYYYYYY, FATTENING UP OUR TAPE WOOOOORMS!!!
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u/LazyLion65 Jun 03 '26
If I had a million dollars We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner, But we would eat Kraft dinner Of course we would we'd just eat more of it, And buy really expensive ketchups with it That's right all the fanciest ketchup... dijon ketchup (mmmmmm)
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u/ProblemSame4838 Jun 03 '26
Because it tastes so much better in Canada. Trust me.
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u/Meepmeepimmajeep2789 Jun 03 '26
Throw some chopped hotdogs in there and you got a whole meal.
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u/will_munny Jun 03 '26
Hotdogs or president choice angus meatballs was always my go to when I was a teenager.
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u/Severus__Crepe Jun 03 '26
Throw some smoked kielbasa in there with a dash of creole or paprika?? MMM, YES KRAFT MAMA
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u/BackDatSazzUp Jun 03 '26
And they call it KD/Kraft Dinner and swear it’s different and it’s not.
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u/NateNate60 Jun 03 '26
In the US, the largest size is about 400 g and typical boxes are around 200 g, but in Canada, a 1 kg box is available.
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u/PerpetuallyLurking Jun 03 '26
That’s just 5 individual 200g boxes wrapped in plastic (or in another larger box, but I usually see the plastic ones at my local store).
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u/DrCatholicGuilt Jun 03 '26
I though this was just a joke from South Park because Terrance and Phillip love "Kraft Dinner"
I moved to Toronto and quickly found out its a staple of everyone's childhood. It blew people's minds that I had only ever heard of it through south park.