They're in your fridge right now, just begging to be added to a burger or turned into a grilled cheese. They look the same as they did when you were a kid, although ideally you've been through a few (hundred) packages in the interim. I'm talking about Kraft Singles.
And I'm not the only one who understands their joys. Just ask Leo Rodriguez of Gourmet Magazine, who wrote an Ode to American Cheese that is as sweet as any middle-school love letter. No, seriously, he loves the packaged slices:
When the grilled cheese pulls apart supernaturally in a Kraft Singles commercial, and the hot, melty interior stretches between the two sides of buttery, golden-brown bread -- that, friends, is food porn at its most convincing.It gets less awkward from there. Rodriguez feels compelled to defend his habit of topping burgers with American cheese to foodie friends, and qualifies his support of Kraft Singles by noting that he's a bachelor who prefers food with longer expiration dates.
The idea that we have to defend the food we ate as children and still
eat as adults doesn't seem right. There should be some room in the
discussion for a balance of processed and convenient foods alongside
natural and haute cuisine. Who among us can avoid eating a Cheerio from
a highchair tray?
Rodriguez finishes his argument with a recipe recommendation for his family's Oklahoma Hot Dog Satay:
TakeThis is where heone toasted hot dog bun, spread plenty of creamy peanut butter on it,
and then fill it with one freshly grilled all-beef hot dog. Top with
half a slice of American cheese.
lost me. Hot dogs and peanut butter feel like the way you might survive
in Antarctica -- not the way you'd kick off a backyard barbecue. But I can
get on board for the last part of the recipe, which calls for a
half slice of American cheese because that means somebody has to eat
the extra half slice.
[Image via Flickr: orin zebest]
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