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Ode to the Oddly-Orange: Kraft DinnerJul 23 '07 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line It's pretty hard to beat a .69 meal in a box, especially when it has journeyed from Canada to my dinner table.
The Discovery It's hard to imagine that during our many phone calls and managing a separation that spanned 2936.1 miles (thanks, Google maps!), Elvisdo and I segued to a conversation about macaroni and cheese. How that actually occurred remains a mystery, yet through this enlightening conversation, I discovered a food-stuff at the time unknown to me: Canada's beloved Kraft Dinner. Questions: How could you be unaware of Kraft Dinner? Do you live under a rock? Answer: Regardless of the fact my finicky son would eat Kraft macaroni and cheese on a regular basis, and besides the point that I have a Nabisco plant two-towns over from where I currently reside, Kraft dinner was an enigma to me. You see, Americans refer to the magical orange meal as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (or at least we do in NJ). The name Kraft Dinner seemed to represent an exotic meal that wasn't worthy of my humble mealtime. Thus, Elvisdo sent me a care package consisting of twelve boxes of Kraft Dinner Original (The Cheesiest). With that kind gesture, my family entered a beloved Canadian culinary world that made Elvisdo feel right at home when he came to live in NJ. Ingredients and Whatnots Questions: Wait a second, isn't Kraft Dinner the EXACT same product as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? Aren't the ingredients absolutely identical? Don't they both have the same neon-orange hue when cooked? Answers: These were some of my first questions concerning the foreign box of Kraft Dinner that stood proudly on my kitchen counter. The ingredients seem very similar but take on different permutations (ingredients listed below). The box sports a fancy bit of Francais to signify that no, American consumers are not in Kansas anymore when we whip up a dish of this Canadian delicacy. KD, as it is called by Canadian diners, is so popular in The Great White North that more than 78 million boxes a year are purchased. No one in the world eats more Kraft Dinner than Canadians. Therefore, I surmised, SOMETHING in this slim box was certainly more magical than the pedestrian Kraft macaroni and cheese that my son and I had ingested over our twelve years of living together. The contents of the Kraft Dinner box were identical to that of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to which we’d been accustomed. Small tubes of pasta, a wondrous packet of powdered orange cheese. Nothing more. Yet Elvisdo had challenged me to discover that Kraft Dinner was, in fact, a creamier, more delicious product than its American counterpart. Challenge accepted! Cooking this product was second nature since it requires the same steps that you would expect: boil the noodles, drain them, add butter and milk to the pan, and sprinkle in the scary-orange cheese powder. Stir—then, behold! A meal fit for a king—or Canadian. Elvisdo believes in a strict “keep the flame on while you add the milk and butter, then stir” policy when he concocts his delightful macaroni and cheese meals. Perhaps it is his special “Canadian Heat and Stir Method” that imparts such a creamy feel and flavor to this boxed meal. After a taste test, my son and I concluded that (probably due to the power of suggestion) Kraft Dinner was, in fact, a superior product in texture and flavor. Many moons later, we still reach for Kraft Dinner if we are lucky enough to have a box in the house over the American Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. And yes, we have asked for shipments from Elvisdo’s Motherland, Vancouver, for holiday gifts. History’s Mysteries Although Kraft Dinner is a product that was “Made in America,” its cultural presence in Canada surpasses any sort of love for the product in the U.S. It is as beloved as Poutine, and is so popular, according to a survey not funded by the US, because Canadians find it “deeply situating.” (Canadians have a fancy way of speaking about “comfort food” apparently.) The famous food was created by Kraft in 1937, which correlated with WWII and more careful rationing of ingredients such as cheese and milk. Still an affordable meal, it is hard to rival its price and convenience. While accustomed to the variety of noodle shapes I can purchase in the store (I’ve eaten Blue’s Clues, Scooby Doo, SpongeBob Squarepants, and Pokemon noodles in my day), I discovered that spiral noodles were not introduced until the mid-1970’s. “Those take long to cook,” my husband said recently as I caved and purchased a .69 box of spiral noodle Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. An extra two minutes perhaps? And I thought New Yorkers were impatient—perhaps the appeal of Kraft Dinner in Canada is due to how fast dinner is served. A steaming plate of orange goodness can be yours in six minutes—just in time for the hockey game. Interested in some variety? In the more recent 1990’s, Kraft innovated its macaroni and cheese products, introducing new options such as Thick n Creamy, Deluxe Four Cheese, Cheesy Alfredo, Light Deluxe, and Premium White Cheddar, and Easy Mac to its product line. Although I have eaten the White Cheddar flavor (one of my husband’s favorites), my family and I always return to the Original if it is available. We are purists, perhaps—eating florescent orange cheese powder. Keeping up with the current consumers’ desire to eat more naturally, Kraft now offers organic macaroni and cheese options, as well as wheat-noodles. Kraft has sensibly addressed obesity issues, and enriched their product with more vitamins, minerals, and fiber. It is possible to enjoy the product and get some nutrition out of a box! Secrets from Elvisdo’s Kitchen Whether you prefer your KD vintage-original (straight-off-of-the-box ingredients of milk and butter) or spiced up with some add-ins, Kraft Dinner is easy to personalize. Canadians enjoy slicing up “wieners” (their term for the mighty hot-dog) to toss them into the warm macaroni and cheese. My husband makes his special variety, “Pasta a la Fromage sur la Mer” which barely translates to mean “Macaroni and Cheese with Tuna Added from a Can.” He likes to add a little dried herbs, such as basil, as well. The first time he served me this travesty, I balked. Green flakes of basil in the perfect orange food? Yet, after I braved the first bite, I discovered the versatility of this meal—everyone can find a way to design a Kraft Dinner to call his/ her own. The macaroni and cheese is a fairly neutral base for experimentation. Final Thoughts Kraft Dinner is a special meal that appeals to just about everyone—and currently enriched with more vitamins and nutritional value, people may find it easier to overlook the 1000 calories that the box imparts once milk and butter are added to the mix. Is it better than Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? The ultimate test took place at my son’s “International Day” during his seventh-grade year. After electing to represent Canada, my son and I cooked an enormous amount of Kraft Dinner for the participants and visitors to the exhibit at his school. No other food offering at the exhibit was as “licked clean” as the Kraft Dinner. Everyone who ate it raved about it—nevermind that the clientele consisted mostly of ravenous elementary and middle schoolers, and ignore the fact that most children will eat anything that is a color not discovered in nature. The empty plates confirm the obvious--Kraft Dinner is pure genius in a box. This is my nearly-late entry in Elvisdo’s 2007 Canadiana Write-Off. Better late than never—read more entries HERE. *********** Ingredient Comparison: Kraft Dinner: Macaroni: Enriched Wheat Flour, Cheddar Cheese Sauce: Modified Milk Ingredients, Cheese (Milk, Bacterial Culture, Salt Rennet and Microbial Enzyme, Calcium Chloride, Lipase), Salt, Sodium Phosphates, Citric Acid, Color (Contains Tartrazine). Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Original: ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (DURUM WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, GRANULAR AND CHEDDAR CHEESE [MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES], WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6).  |
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