American Cheese Isn't Cheese

[@AtomicFrontier]

Eating my props after a hot day of filming was not a Gouda idea! Feeling Feta now though.

[@The_Engie]

Perish

[@DankDungeon]

cheesy puns

[@derf5045]

this should be punishable by law

[@noaccount4]

Your puns are curdling, you should brie better than that

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

Best way to tell if someone knows how to pronounce a Dutch cheese correctly? Look for how their cheesy puns sound.

[@Kerbezena]

"these aren't milking robots, they're milking cows" Congratulations, James! I didn't know that you were already a dad at such a young age.

[@joanbennettnyc]

hee hee hee ;)

[@T3sl4]

As long as they're not milking rats. They promised dog or higher!

[@MeteorMark]

Lely can't milk Almonds, Oats or Soy either... 😉

[@AtomicBuffalo]

Who milks the milkmen?

[@Kerbezena]

@@AtomicBuffalo to paraphrase one of my favorite games of all time: "I milk the milkmen, their milk is delicious."

[@MZachary21]

It's kind of a nitpick, but at 4 minutes when you discuss the earliest versions of canning, it's important that the bottle actually be filled fully with a liquid (water, stock, etc) that surrounds the "dry" food. The anaerobic environment provided by the liquid is key in preventing the food from spoiling. It's the same reasons why cans of beans and other vegetables are filled with a liquid. technically we can now can things in a vacuum and eliminate the need for the liquid, but thats a very recent development that Napoleon would not have had.

[@ruroruro]

adam ragusea gang

[@TMinusRecords]

Why wouldn't air work, surely the bacteria are killed in the air too?

[@obsoquasi]

maybe because air is a terrible heat conductor

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@TMinusRecords Because it contains free oxygen and oxidation is the main type of spoilage that occurs.

[@transcendtient]

This is untrue. Source: my mom has a wall of preserved canned meat, whole potatoes, and other vegetables in no liquid. Dry canning is a perfectly legitimate preservation technique that is frowned upon as a CYA measure by companies like Ball that make jars and have a vested interest in keeping inexperienced cooks from making themselves sick. Properly preparing your food and using it in a timely manner will keep off flavors and bacteria from making you sick.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Another example is Chocolate, in the UK and other European nation, American Chocolate has so little cocoa in it that it cannot legally be sold as Chocolate

[@AtomicFrontier]

Not a terrible idea for our 2023 "America Ruined food X" video. Last year was apples!

[@basfinnis]

Don't mean to be rude but American chocolate reminds me of gritty mud that someone tipped a load of sugar in 🙁

[@shadowfox1609]

@@AtomicFrontier ur way late to the cheese party. by at least 3-6 years

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@basfinnis I hate it as well

[@Zelmel]

Assuming one isn't buying actually good chocolate that just happens to be from America (as with anything, there are exceptions). Hershey's and the like are trash though.

[@advisingbob]

Canada: "What do you think of this processed cheese?" Other Countries: "Looks disgusting..." Canada: "...which is why it's *American* cheese!" Other Countries: "Makes sense...is that...pineapple...on pizza?" Canada:"...Hawaiian..."

[@deehvi1608]

Canada creating disgusting foods and branding them with nationalities to make them acceptable since 1867

[@Mr.Helper.]

In the movie Dragon, Linda’s mom tol Bruce he was not American … Bruce’s feelings were hurt

[@devil8975]

If I get time machine, that Hawaiian pizza making Canadian is in serious trouble.

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

@@devil8975I would still put pineapple on my pizza, but with pepperoni instead of ham.

[@Orange_Swirl]

​@ego-lay_atman-bay I should try that one of these days. Sounds good.

[@cnr3188]

James I used to go to school with you at Hale in Perth, so cool to see what you’ve been doing with this channel. Good luck in the future.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! Yup, come a long was since "BHD Productions". Hope you've been doing well!

[@MikevanMeer]

In Dutch we couldn't translate "peanut butter" directly because the word "butter" was protected. So now we call it "pindakaas" which literally means "peanut cheese". Very silly

[@alexandercornu6703]

pinda boter klinkt ook gewoon raar

[@l.u.c.a.s.]

Nice. In Spain we call it peanut cream usually.

[@MattyPraps1234]

Yeah ive noticed that on the jars (i live in the netherlands but dont speak dutch) and found it kinda weird lol!

[@avenged-khaos]

they couldn't have called it peanut spread?

[@bobbun9630]

@@avenged-khaos In keeping with this video, I suggest "processed peanut spread product".

[@joshuaurbany6468]

As someone in the Army, I get very pissed if I don't have my cheese spread in my ration. I can't imagine warring my way across Europe without any cheese.

[@JanBadertscher]

The european locals would provide you with awesome cheese though. No need for the highly processed canned cheese rations.

[@Wuzaaa]

well it isnt chheese as we just learned and we have really good actuall chees here in europe

[@NotoriousTim]

@@Wuzaaa Actual cheese is nice and all, but there's something about that processed cheese spread that is unique. Call me a simpleton but I've always loved American cheese and cheese whiz.

[@wasd____]

If you were warring across Europe, I don't think you'd have too much trouble finding cheese. It's hard to name any place in Europe that doesn't have several of its own styles of mind-blowingly good cheeses.

[@annasolovyeva1013]

@@wasd____ eastern Europe. Many places don't.

[@Thomas-sr2oq]

gotta say, this is probably the cleanest and most well flowing video you've ever done! your hard work is being noticed and I hope you continue growing, good job!

[@AtomicFrontier]

Wow, thank you!

[@dkaloger5720]

+1 ,I came here after the tomscott crossover and every video is getting better and better

[@joanbennettnyc]

Totally agree with Thomas. SO well done, James

[@ThePixel1983]

I find the speaking style interesting. Maybe I noticed it because it is slightly Attenborough and you're "slightly" younger. 😉 I think it's going to be easy to get used to. Good work!

[@BazilRat]

@@dkaloger5720 Same!

[@deephorizon1365]

That part where you revealed that James Kraft called it "American Cheese" as a marketing gimmick made me laugh way too hard 😂

[@godmagnus]

He's very krafty.

[@randomfactsthatdontmatter3466]

The fact that it has nothing to do with patriotism and everything to do with making more money just makes it more American in my eyes.

[@daroaminggnome]

@@randomfactsthatdontmatter3466 Also Kraft immigrated to America, so if his creations don't count as American then nothing does

[@TGPDrunknHick]

@@daroaminggnome they must do. a lot of 'american' asian foods or italian foods are considered american even though they were developed by immigrants to america.

[@KevinSmith-qi5yn]

Sounds very American.

[@Nswix]

As someone with a masters in dairy science, good job. This video makes me very excited and you got everything right.

[@AnEntityBrowsingYT]

I'm aware the comment is over a year old but curiosity will not let me by without asking and hoping for a response to: How/why did you do a masters in dairy science and what sort of career has that led to

[@Nswix]

@@AnEntityBrowsingYT I grew up on a diary farm in Wisconsin, got a BS in Food Science from UW-Madison and then my masters from there as well and currently work in quality control for companies making ice cream, cheese, etc. It's also given me the ability to travel and work as a consultant in other countries that are expanding their dairy industries, like Brazil.

[@AnEntityBrowsingYT]

@@Nswix Well I didn't expect an answer and I certainly didn't expect one within 30 minutes. Thanks for the response. That certainly sounds like an interesting career and I envy your being able to travel.

[@mannbat]

As an Australian I love the iron-ore price collapse joke. Brillant! Bega (who make the apocalypse-ready canned cheese in the video) is a very famous producer of milk products here. Ironically they got caught up in a lawsuit with Kraft over peanut butter of all things.

[@ausaskar]

If you're from WA, you would also recognize the Harvey Fresh bottle of milk he decided to use on a graphic for some reason. I live 20 minutes from Harvey.

[@westernfrontproductions]

@@ausaskar James is from WA (as am I) so that would be the reason. Check out his earlier videos - they're all great - before he headed to the states, there are plenty of WA locations featured.

[@altersami9660]

When was that in the video?

[@graham1034]

As a Canadian, I laugh at your iron ore dependence. *nervously checks oil prices*

[@LordPhobos6502]

What was wrong with the peanut butter? Did it have less than 51% peanuts?

[@posysajrazdwatrzy]

I'm happy to know whenever Tom Scott retires, you'll fill in that gap and surpass him, in time. You've grown so much. Thank you for continuing your work and I genuinely hope you'll keep doing this.

[@T3sl4]

Who cares about when he retires, when is collabs? :D ...I wonder how that would work. To greatly enhance the material I mean. The speaking-to-camera information bit is well done by both, and would only be improved marginally with a back-and-forth or interview format. Synergy requires playing off each other. Not sure exactly what topics and formats would supply that, but I'm ready for if and when it happens. :)

[@jonathanodude6660]

@@T3sl4 probably an argument where they take different stances to explore the depth of the subject matter, rather than just conveying information.

[@fariesz6786]

i mean, Tom announced the (sort of) retirement of his main channel at least, so.. yeah

[@jacewhite8540]

He just rode into the sunset, hopefully your prediction comes true!

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

Well aged...

[@hugmynutus]

Minor point: Those farms in/around point reyes are super controversial as they're on federal land. The farmer's lease expired in 1990, but no gov body has evicted them. They've nearly driven the elk species that lives in the area extinct. Currently there is only ~200 Elk left, and ranchers are campaigning to cull the southern herd leaving only ~60.

[@user-yv6xw7ns3o]

Here is a note of genuine appreciation of your implementation of the classic, subtle act of slowly approaching the camera in an outdoor location while talking about a thing to a video camera.

[@snoozyboio]

I don't think there's any reason to bastardize or criminalize the consumption of process cheese. I think, for the most part, knowing what goes into your body is more important than just being fearful of it because someone a long time ago told you they had heard something from someone who knew a guy who said something. I remember watching an Adam Ragusea video, who had a dilemma. He needed to make a cheese sauce from a bunch of different cheeses, but they all had their own melting points and melting viability. To solve this, he threw a slice of kraft american cheese (the "process cheese product" stuff) into the pot, and let the sodium citrate do all the work. An american philly cheesesteak wouldn't taste the same with a bunch of gorgonzola and feta on it, even though those cheeses are more authentically cheese than the process cheese product, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to make it healthier for better consumption in the long run. I, for one, like cheddar on mine, but that's beyond the point. I think there's more to say about the overconsumption of these things nowadays, rather than the creation of them in the first place. A lot of canned and packaged food that americans consume today have their roots in convenience for soldiers going to war (that's where you get m&m's, especially the peanut ones), and even now it's become more sustainable to purchase these because they're more readily available than the fancy frou-frou foods, and cheaper to purchase. Sometimes, it's a choice between going hungry or eating something, even if it's not the most nutritionally dense. Even fresh produce is becoming more expensive to purchase, pushing people to consume, and over-consume, products made by companies who care more about lining their pockets and turning a profit more than anything else. More or less, I just hope people become more knowledgeable about producing their own food, and putting some authority back in the hands of the consumer, instead of us literally eating ourselves to death because we simply did not know better.

[@2GoatsInATrenchCoat]

just wanna say that the original Philly cheesesteak cheese was provolone, and I still can't stomach that cheese whiz swill that's getting pushed now.

[@Eevee860]

When every restaurant scams us with this garbage fake cheese we have every right to say it should be illegal

[@ExtraThiccc]

Oh no no no, dont let the uppity europeans hear you say that! Unless youre eating raw vegan everything its unhealthy, too processed, and not even food!

[@1Cr0w]

It's also worth noting that Gorgonzola is a protected geographical indication in the EU and a lot of other territories, not only having to contain certain compounds, but also having to come from around *Gorgonzola* in Italy.

[@ImperatorSomnium]

Like all types of cheese, produced in the EU....

[@Zeblinz]

> in the EU Which is promptly ignored elsewhere.

[@sistermary1107]

Fun facts. Keeping cheese good for longer also led to the invention of the wheels with a waxed rind. Gouda is also only a protected way of making cheese, they failed to make it also protected as something regional. Who you can get Gouda style cheese as long as it appears to the same cheese making process as cheese made in Gouda. There's plenty of other Dutch cheese that are all different, with some names very protected that only a few farms still make those cheeses.

[@waveril5167]

in Switzerland too

[@mickeyrube6623]

No matter to me. I hate Gouda. It's no Gouda. Sorry.

[@sistermary1107]

@@mickeyrube6623 thanks for your input

[@mickeyrube6623]

@@sistermary1107 No problem. I've always preferred cheddar. Cheddar is Beddar.

[@crf80fdarkdays]

@@mickeyrube6623 yyyyy

[@joanbennettnyc]

James... you have outdone yourself with this piece. Congratulations, sir.

[@krossdreemurr42]

Saying "American cheese is not cheese" is like saying "meatloaf is not meat."

[@SunnyThief]

American cheese, by definition, is not real cheese.

[@JAzzWoods-ik4vv]

Just found your channel. It feels like a really well produced BBC doc You gained a subscriber!

[@davec8385]

Great video! Reminds me how some ice-cream has been rebranded as frozen desert due to the percentage of fat content and other things. Even Dairy Queen fast food ice-cream doesn't meet this requirement so they can't call it ice-cream in the branding.

[@NegativeReferral]

Ironically, "frozen dairy dessert" often is healthier than legal ice cream due to the lower fat content.

[@kaydenl6836]

@@NegativeReferral fat, provided it is not rancid, polyunsaturated fat, is good for you. Those frozen dairy deserts almost always replace healthy milk fat with sugar.

[@jonathanodude6660]

@@kaydenl6836 rancid fats are caused by oxidation, ie spoilt, and polyunsaturated fats are the good ones. trans fats are the ones that are toxic, rancid or not. milk fats are predominately saturated though, which is the worst type of naturally occuring common fat.

[@Anhonime]

@@kaydenl6836 lol, milk fat is definitely not healthy and polyunsaturated fats are good for you even sugar is better for you than the saturated fat in milk

[@X4Alpha4X]

@@NegativeReferral lower fat content does not mean healthier. per gram, sugar is so much worse.

[@samkomododragon782]

Found this video on my front page; I had never heard of you before but I found this video incredibly well-made and informative. As a cheese enthusiast, I very much enjoyed it :D

[@An.Unsought.Thought]

American Cheese absolutely is cheese. They literally use cheddar cheese as a main ingredient. They just dilute the cheese with water and binding ingredients during the boiling/melting process that allow it to keep a very malleable and easy to melt cheese derived product after it cools off..

[@GameFuMaster]

6:35 harambe, never forget

[@arenomusic]

It was not meant to happen. This timeline has diverged and will be deleted.

[@pcfreak1992]

I am always amazed at how well you integrate graphics into the video by masking yourself out of the frame, creating the illusion that it's in the background :D

[@cleolilium1180]

I've always known the deli-style american cheese is a wildly different product than singles and now I know why! You really can't judge the former by the latter. I grew up on deli-style american cheese and its great as a cheese for casual applications like sandwiches and sauces you want thick and smooth and clingy. I wouldn't put it on a fancy cheese board, but it's still delicious! Singles on the other hand I won't touch with a 10-foot pole. Not to say I judge anyone else for liking them, I just don't like them myself!

[@sonicboy678]

If there's one thing Singles are good for, it's pairing with grape jelly.

[@mikeg8276]

@@sonicboy678 I’m calling the police

[@aquariiiYT]

Never seen your stuff. Really impressed with the quality and professionalism. Great video. Instant Sub!

[@Sir_Poohheart]

11:51 Hang on now, you've just spent the past 12 minutes illustrating the difference between authentic "American Cheese" (real cheese melted and reformed with sodium citrate as a binding agent), "Pasteurized American Cheese Food" (>51% American Cheese diluted with Milk and Butter) and the "Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product" (

[@michaellasfetto5810]

"Government Cheese" That's a pretty deep cut for someone with a non-American accent who was not born in the 1980s or earlier.

[@Simple_City]

I always knew the Kraft Deli Deluxe slices tasted better than other American cheese, but I never knew why until the very end of this video!

[@SgtCarter69]

Did anyone else see at 06:50 the graph, it's written: California replaced by cheese. haha

[@taiidaniblues7792]

Awesome video! I was just wondering why I keep buying "cheese product" in the deli section. I grew up eating American cheese, and never really thought about what it was. Thanks for finally explaining what I've been shoveling into my face all these years. Swiss cheese is still best cheese.

[@growskull]

cool pfp

[@Eralen00]

Greetings fellow lungsman

[@castform57]

Then you have to nitpick what swiss cheese? Switzerland has like over 500 different varieties of cheese, which would all be called "swiss cheese".

[@selectionn]

Swiss cheese fans 🤢

[@JoelDZ]

@@castform57 "Swiss cheese" is an American variation on Emmentaler

[@pcno2832]

4:10 If the taste of cold pizza is any indication, I love "ruined" cheese.

[@bigwangmark]

I really should not watched this video so close to bedtime. Those cheese toasties I had to make half way through this video are going to give me strange dreams now. Why does eating cheese before bedtime cause strange dreams?

[@ArcherIndustries]

I appreciated you labeling Harambe on the timeline. Very important event that needs to be more recognized as reality changing.

[@JohnnyBRad]

Cheesus Christ! What a brielliantly krafted video! Shame we won't be able to make american cheese grate again after watching, and frankly I'm getting kinda feta up with these puns, but I think it's swissful thinking that I'll ever stop. Wonderful video as always! Have a mozzarhella good day!

[@AkiSan0]

i now need to listen closely if the "krafted" was a pun towards kraft foods... edit: good one :D

[@thebestcentaur]

You must be feeling gouda 'bout yourself, huh?

[@aaronnekrin5150]

your the Chad we all needed nick haddad

[@potatofarmer_116]

@@AkiSan0 I think it was a pun towards James Kraft who was mentioned in this video

[@ysko2961]

@@potatofarmer_116 He created kraft foods..

[@DenisRyan]

Fascinating video! In Ireland, a recent legal ruling means Subway can no longer say they use "bread" because their dough contains too much sugar. And just this weekend, I was picking up ice cream to go with some home baked desserts and thought to grab a cheaper ice cream to save a few pennies, feeling the focus should be on the homemade goods anyway. I noticed one carton was labelled "iced milk" and rethought my priorities, and spent a little more to get actual ice cream...

[@0xsergy]

Iced milk sounds low sugar.

[@qwertyTRiG]

Interestingly, though, Subway's bread does indeed count as bread for food purposes, just not for tax purposes.

[@DenisRyan]

@@0xsergy The listing of "sugar, dextrose and glucose" in the ingredients suggests otherwise!

[@ragnkja]

@@DenisRyan Dextrose _and_ glucose? All glucose produced by earthly life forms is dextrose.

[@DenisRyan]

@@ragnkja Yup. I'm aware. One of those two were listed as "dehydrated" or something. It.was all shenanigans. I chose not to try it out.

[@m.a.6478]

The trick with adding butter is also a Swiss invention I believe. The problem was back in the beginning of the 20th century there was no sensible way to export cheese from Switzerland accross the atlantic ocean without going bad. Until recently there was the company "Gerber" producing cheese products in Thun (they started doing this in 1911), I visited the factory twenty years ago when they still were in full production. The butter gave the cheese a more soft texture compared to the molten and solidified product. As a side effect the cheese product could be spread on bread. I too love "real" cheese and think a life without it would be very sad, but this industrial cheese product is also a kind of guilty pleasure.

[@Leonardohummel]

damm you Nile for this rabbit hole

[@TattleDelta]

Bahahaha

[@lauroralei]

That little bit of sass you threw at Australia has me in stiches

[@brycedevoe9814]

I really liked the cat drinking milk at 8:22. :)

[@5050Odds]

Amazing graph of cheese consumption. Most academics don't include the Harambe timeline divergence.

[@slpyOb]

Glad someone else noticed the Harambe on the graph lol

[@erkstz]

Dude you are a natural storyteller. It's so easy to listen to you and I love the different backdrops. Good video

[@czebosak]

So high quality and no one wasting my time with mid-video ads.

[@troyclayton]

1:11 Rennet is the puréed baby cow stomach, the enzyme that does the work is rennin (chymosin). The difference is important to vegetarians (lacto, obviously). We tend to read ingredients and buy non-rennet cheeses. We have no aversion to the glory of the mother's teat, just to eating aborted cow fetus/infant stomachs. It should be noted that the non-rennet rennin (just called enzymes on the label) is produced from genetically engineered bacteria and/or yeast. So, if you're a lacto-vegetarian with issues around genetic engineering- don't eat cheese unless it's acid curdled (I use lemon juice to make fresh curds because it's easy at home). You won't find many commercial producers doing that.

[@punkdigerati]

Not all vegetarians have the same reasons for doing so.

[@troyclayton]

@@punkdigerati Cool. Educate me.

[@punkdigerati]

@@troyclayton there are environmental vegetarians whose primary goal is the reduction of the excess global warming potential of meat production. The calves will actually even have less impact than the dairy cows themselves.

[@troyclayton]

@@punkdigerati I became an environmental vegetarian in 1990. It had nothing to do with animal rights or what I liked to eat. I hoped to preserve the planet for those who came after me. Rennet is only cheap because of the disgusting amount of cows people eat, disgusting because many people starve as resources are used to produce higher value products for 1st world nations instead of feeding the hungry.

[@DaimyoD0]

TIL

[@stickyfox]

I was in Subway behind a woman and her daughter ordering sandwiches, and she asked the kid "do you want Swiss or American?" Her answer was a loud and emphatic "YELLOW!"

[@tressonkaru7410]

It's still cheese. A lot of foods, unhealthy or otherwise, are processed. There's just many different ways to make cheese. Just like there's different ways to make bread.

[@noreason2701]

It's idiot rage bait, I wonder if the video poster knows what they're doing or is genuinely that ignorant.

[@goldenfloof5469]

You guys are talking about how europe has all these amazing, mind blowing cheeses that are so good you'll never enjoy American cheese again. That's stupid, you just grew up on european style cheese so anything that doesn't fit the mold is considered garbage for no other reason than you're not used to it. Besides, personally, Tillamook Medium Cheddar, a cheese brand based on Oregon, has cheese that tastes better to me than literally anything that I've tried to come out of europe. My dad's a cheese snob, so he regular buys expensive, imported cheese and my opinion still stands.

[@clanpsi]

If a Canadian commercialised it, it's still American. America is a continental region, not a country. American is an adjective describing something or someone from that region. In this case, North America. Hence, American cheese.

[@Weromano]

Great Video, always wondered what those yellow sheets of rubber actually are! By the way brown Bananas are very much edible, i eat them all the time, no danger of food poisoning here! Have a good one!

[@hanyougod]

American Singles, the individually wrapped slices, isn't cheese. "Deluxe American" IS cheese. The first is oil based, the second, milk based. That said, the first type is actually useful in the kitchen as a medium to blend multiple other types of real cheese into a smooth homogeneous mixture used in things like a homemade mac'n'cheese.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Did you hear about the cheese factory that exploded? All that was left was _de-Brie._ Much inventory was lost, it caused a _sharp_ increase in prices. The insurance company had to fork over a lot of _Cheddar._ At first, investigators didn't know Jack but with some _Gouda_ detective work, they traced the perpetrator to _Philadelphia._ They knew a Swiss had something to do with it. Their alibi was full of _holes._ I know this is cheesy, but I thought this was grate Who knew a video about cheese and the truth about American cheese could be so captivating?

[@flobiish]

@0:30 "They are not milking robots." Or are they? Maybe they're not "robot milking robots" just "cow milking robots."

[@RBslowman]

Here in Wisconsin, possession of Kraft Singles is punishable by death

[@nefariousyawn]

Your puns are so good, I even watched Captain Sailout's ad read.

[@nefariousyawn]

I know I was supposed to say "Gouda," but I failed.

[@JSDudeca]

Funny we don't call it American cheese in Canada. We call it processed cheese. That was definitely a good sail out.

[@kevinf8439]

Here in England we call it colonial cheese.

[@archive8080]

American cheese is cheese. Kraft singles are not cheese.

[@SunnyThief]

American cheese, by definition, is not real cheese.

[@suelancaster6959]

​@@SunnyThief Cheese - a food made from the pressed curds of milk. That is the definition of cheese and that is what American cheese is. I personally dont care about some arbitrary definition vomited out by government agencies

[@hottuna2006]

Why does your chart @ 1:39 have Gorgonzola under bacteria ripened when it's actually mould ripened? The FDA description @ 9:45 specifically states bluish-green mould.

[@theycallmerobb]

Completely wrong. Worse he had it right in front of him. American cheese is Cheddar and Colby blended together (some manufacturers use a third or more cheeses) to create a low melting point soft cheese. Because of the heat needed to do so, water and an emulsifier must be used to prevent the oil from separating. End result is absolutely real cheese. And it wasn’t scraps or cheap parts of other cheeses randomly being used, and never was. That is propaganda from rival cheese manufacturers. Pasteurized American Singles look like American cheese but are made from an oil and not a milk base. It is not cheese. If American Cheese made from Cheddar and Colby is not cheese, than neither are Cheddar and Colby. The legal battles began way before the 2000s. American cheese had a longer shelf life and sold better, traditional cheese companies did not like that and lawsuits occurred. Americans love to sue their competitors, even when they know they will not win just to slow them down… American cheese is every bit as real as any other cheese because it is simply a blend of cheeses to create a low melting point. It is why it is the perfect cheese for a burger or grilled cheese. No one wants a slab of unmelted cheese on a hot sandwich… Watch the video of the guys making American cheese. You’ll see them grate cheese, dissolve the emulsifying agent in water and melt the cheeses to blend. That’s it. No conspiracy, just two or more cheeses blended together. Cheese. Real cheese.

[@jakefrommalibu]

The huge “ice cream” selection in my American supermarket is filled with products that aren’t actually labeled as ice cream. It’s the result of the same decision making that caused Kraft to stop calling their products cheese.

[@johnseppethe2nd2]

That isn't special. The UK has that fake ice cream too

[@Sunnywastakentoo]

My favorite part is when the company gets to violate the law with no actual backlash or punishment.

[@Lotjeloveslaika]

Oh my god, you just made a complete revelation to me! I have always hated wine since the first time I got to taste it at 16 years old, and now that I'm 26 I still really strongly dislike every single kind of wine, even the really sweet types of wine that everyone seems to like who don't seem to like 'standard' wines. But I've always also disliked fondue cheese, when I really enjoy other melted cheeses, and everyone always told me it just tastes like cheese, why don't you like it? But now I realize it has that classic wine taste to it, and that's why I never liked it! 🤣

[@floppy8568]

1:59 isn't Penicillium a genus of fungi? I thought cheese is made using bacteria!

[@FLStelth]

It boggles my mind that anyone thinks those rubbery orange squares are cheese. Kraft singles ruin anything they melt on.

[@lewismassie]

"With no scientific understanding, just 14 years of trying stuff out" that qualifies as far as I'm concerned lol (I presume you meant 'no formal scientific education') Also making the original American Cheese from the original patent sounds like an interesting kitchen experiment, might have to give that a try. I knew a little bit about the legality of cheese already but nowhere near as much as you covered here. The other cheese thing I know is that a lot of old cheese varieties in the UK were forgotten over WW2 rationing, and were only rediscovered when dairylea made it over from the US, which prompted people to go looking for other cheeses to make

[@AtomicFrontier]

Yup! "14 years of trying stuff out" is basically the definition of science. However he only experimented with what would happen, not why it happened (and fair enough, germ theory wouldn't be a thing for decades). Didn't know about the UK cheese stuff, but Switzerland had something similar where they basically forgot everything except three cheeses

[@Ichigoeki]

A fake bastardization of a product so bad that the customers started digging up history books to get the real thing again? I mean if it made the product known, then sure. I just don't believe in the adage that there's no such thing as bad press. Also I woulda probably guessed that it came from the US even just from the rest of your explanation. Guess that's part of the national fame too. 😁

[@blindleader42]

@@AtomicFrontier A famous scientist once said: “The Only Difference Between Screwing Around and Science Is Writing It Down” OK. It wasn't a famous scientist, but a ballistics expert consulting on the TV show Mythbusters. But it has the ring of truth.

[@greggv8]

@@AtomicFrontier how about a video on what makes the bubbles in Swiss cheese and how it took so long to discover it?

[@Suiseisexy]

@@greggv8 The bubbles are trapped carbon dioxide formed by the cellular processes of the bacteria maturing the cheese, in this case "swiss" cheese is generally cheap domestic Emmental, which officially appears around the 11th century. However, descriptions of similar cheese appear in Roman accounts, the earliest of which is around the year 160 and is about an official who got sick from eating too much of it, the account refers to it as "alpine cheese" and the circumstances of the story indicate it was capable of being transported a few hundred miles without spoiling. Alpine cheese was probably invented when humans began to experiment with additional cooking as a step in the process, probably to extend it's shelf-life and transportability. Essentially an earlier version of the glass jar experiment described in the video and for similar reasons. As for the holes themselves they were viewed as a fault, effectively just laziness, for most of the cheese's history until at some point people came to associate them with a mature cheese with larger holes meaning more gas had collected and the cheese was older/more valuable. They're easily removed but left there deliberately by tradition, but the emergence of this tradition itself unclear but the size of the holes generally corresponds to the strength of the flavor. I would love to know when/where this tradition/association with flavor got built up but didn't find anything, I'm not sure anyone knows, though I'd love to be wrong.

[@Malaphor]

Id be surprised if anyone who's eaten a Kraft single by itself, actually thought it was cheese.

[@manusiabumi7673]

I have, when i was young and stupid, and didn't know any better

[@MrJeffcoley1]

When I was a kid I hated American cheese. I didn’t know until I was an adult that what I hated isn’t cheese at all - it’s that imitation cheese food product. Real American cheese is actually quite good and totally worth the extra money.

[@petevenuti7355]

Fine, be surprised then.

[@red1522]

I grew up not in America and for the longest of time I have never seen a real block of cheese I have always thought American cheese was in fact cheese(ie taste like what cheese is supposed to) and for the longest time I was confused as to why anyone would like that weird tasting food

[@somerandomname3124]

I thought it was edible plastic as a child.

[@darknaio60]

Surprised so few people are giving you props for including the Hyperreality Collapse that took place with Harambe. Not even many physicists are ready to recognize the ATD (alternate timeline divergence) where Harambe was still alive and covid never happened (also cheese continued to improve in that timeline, no correlation).

[@stebansan]

i saw it!

[@tarae85]

What?? Totally lost but so curious why this keeps coming up…. Especially in relation to a cheese mini-documentary.

[@buioso]

Italian here, i live in the suburbs of Milan in the town of... Gorgonzola.

[@Kimmaline]

Where in the whole grain certified fuck are you finding butter at $1.70/lb, my dude? As someone who cakes and makes my own buttercream from scratch, I am positively *giddy* when I get under $5. I literally have not heard anything else you've said. I'm gobsmacked. Under $2/lb? Are you kidding me? Dayum.

[@DraconianEmpath]

sample webpage during the ad read including an article titled "how to run with scissors" I love it when companies are open to creative adaptation of their sponsorships. nicely done! :)

[@MacGuffinExMachina]

I usually don't like it, but it works well on grilled cheese and on burgers because it easily melts.

[@JerGol]

One of your best! Several great chuckles in the opening minutes alone!

[@colingibson5237]

Says it's not cheese and then continues to call it cheese. Government lawyers don't determine what things are, they simplify things for law. KZbin watchers aren't doing law; it's cheese.

[@obeyjuancannoli7120]

Just spent two hours in my food science class trying to make American cheese. For whatever reason, the sodium citrate just refused to emulsify it, leaving me stirring a kilogram of melted cheddar in its oil for what felt like forever. Just my luck this video was recommended to me while I'm trying to forget the smell of melted cheddar.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Haha, I'm really sorry! Bet yours tasted better than mine though. I found grating the cheese and dissolving the citrate in water helped. Best of luck with the rest of the course!

[@obeyjuancannoli7120]

@@AtomicFrontier We actually tried that but it turned out that the sodium citrate wouldn’t fully dissolve in the water and formed clumps of salt that could only dissolve in the cheese after using a stand mixer. Professor said the measurements from the literature just wouldn’t make it work saying “I’d write a note to the author but he’s already dead so we’ll try it again another time” lol it is a very fun and fascinating course.

[@aurias42]

So what you're really saying is that American cheese is cheese it just doesn't necessarily follow random standards. Its still mostly or a lot of cheese or perhaps a little bit of milk which is not far from cheese. I don't really appreciate spreading how people think it's made of chemicals with a title like this.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Napoleon: I receive bananas, you receive 12,000 francs Meanwhile the US to Latin America: *I receive bananas, you receive military dictatorship* It's true that Switzerland perfect their cheese. I can confirm as I used to live there, and it was where I was introduced to high-quality chocolate, cheese, and basketball where I watched Dennis Rodman on TV.

[@arandomperson.]

Nice pfp

[@eloquenthillbilly]

Clicked because I knew that American "cheese" wasn't cheese, but didn't know it was barely American. Subbed because you had the common decency to put the sponsor roll at the end.

[@staviq]

8:20 Cats are inherently lactose intolerant, do not feed you cat milk. Yes, they might seem to enjoy it, because it does taste good, but it does not mean it's good for them and their health. Milk is not natural for cats, as evolutionary they have no way of obtaining it. Similarly cellulose, aka wood or plant fibers, is basically a type of sugar, but humans cannot digest it because we lack proper enzymes to break it down. Which does not mean it's inedible, and funny enough we now get back to milk, because it so happens that cows do digest cellulose.

[@laz272727]

>as evolutionary they have no way of obtaining it. Other than, you know, being mammals.

[@AnkerPeet]

Just to add some perspective from an American, in America, we too call this kind of cheese "American cheese". And I think most Americans understand this product to not be real cheese. In fact some of them aren't even labeled as "cheese". For example if you look at Kraft Singles, they are labeled as "American", and in small print below "pasteurized prepared cheese product" which basically just means "there's some cheese in here somewhere". For most things we use real cheese. It seems most of the time this kind of cheese is used on sandwiches, especially at fast food places like McDonalds.

[@smooooth_]

Its a really bad name PR wise, because I think people see "American cheese" and think that's synonymous with "cheese in America"

[@an0970]

@@smooooth_ or you know actual American cheese made in a deli.

[@theghostking-7951]

​@@an0970what deli makes their own american cheese?

[@Kodaiva]

it is real cheese. all cheese is processed

[@bbgun061]

I'm an American and I never buy "American cheese" if I have another option...

[@ika32]

The only problem I have with American cheese is at 8:45 where it seems as if every single slice is covered in plastic, and American cheese always comes that way. I guess it just makes it more American.

[@nunyabusiness9433]

It doesn't always come like that. Some use the plastic wrap, some use wax paper slips as dividers, and some just slap em in the package and let you fumble for the mushed together slit between slices.

[@TatharNuar]

@@nunyabusiness9433 I've only ever seen the "pasteurized process american cheese" variety offered in that last form. It sticks together very easily.

[@yorktown99]

Would you be able to do a short follow-up outlining UK & EU rules on this topic?

[@boat5522]

This was amazing and quite well put together, finally KZbin understands that i care about cheese.

[@unvergebeneid]

I mean, Kraft didn't remove the name "cheese" from their branding. Just the term "food." So maybe instead of saying it's not cheese, it's more accurate to say it's not food?

[@PiousMoltar]

Yeah, and honestly, "pasteurized process cheese food" doesn't exactly sound appetizing. I think if I made that product, and it did meet the requirements to call it that, I still wouldn't put it on the packaging. I'd just put something vague like "processed cheesy slices". Sounds more appetizing even if it's not clear whether it's over 50% cheese or not.

[@EyMannMachHin]

IANAL, but it still is a product made with cheese, so I won't actually feel cheated.

[@salvatronprime9882]

They really shouldn't be able to use the word cheese at all. It should be "pasteurized dairy-based product with cheese inspired flavorings" or something like that. Or they should be forced to do what other companies do and call it "cheez".

[@AnglosArentHuman]

@@salvatronprime9882 It might be less than 50% "cheese cheese" but it's still a rather large percentage. If you want to be nitpicky then something along the lines of "partially-cheese-based pausterised dairy product" would be a more honest tag. Realistically, the average consumer doesn't give a shit about the different legally protected terms, nor do they know the differences between them. So the semantics of the label are unimportant. Even if you give people extremely detailed tags, most of them won't know what anything means. That's why several countries are opting to add mandatory tags as simple as "high sugar content" or "gluten-free": This is the level of gastronomic information the average consumer can understand.

[@_DeathDreams_]

American cheese is cheese in the same sense that meatloaf is meat

[@JNCressey]

so, not meat-free and not cheese-free

[@wiiztec]

No american cheese is not cheese with eggs in it

[@jwenting]

meatloaf contains meat, American cheese does not contain cheese (any longer). American cheese is cheese in the way fake meat is meat.

[@isthisone]

@CaptainDuckman American cheese does contain cheese.(Still)

[@userNULL]

TLDR: It IS cheese, just diluted with water and emulsifying agents

[@ashleylastname9091]

At 1:40 The chart, I pause to look it over, and I notice Brie is in two places. Is this saying Brie can be made with either Bacteria and heating or Mould? Or is it just a mistake?

[@StuartGelin]

Having just discovered your channel, I want to thank you for filling the nerdy British edutainer sized hole left in my heart by Tom Scott leaving KZbin.

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

Hot take, I'm not a fan of American cheese.

[@Spookieham]

Only James can make a really interesting, informative but fun video on cheese👍

[@VortexStolenName]

So American Cheese is cheese, that got a milk protein concentrate added to it, thus making it not cheese because the words on the paper said so? Atop all that, it was literally made in America, making it American made. Pretty basic stuff here, weird take on a simple subject.

[@bigbeefscorcho]

I just found this channel and I am a BIG fan already :)

[@Netsuko]

I just found your channel through this video. This is SUPERB educational content. Well done!

[@Michael-mh2tw]

All I've learned from this video is that American cheese *is* real cheese, with some additives. Saying it's 'not real cheese' is like saying chocolate milk is 'not real milk'.

[@KairuHakubi]

yes it is, and yes it is inasmuch as meat mixed with spices and water and thickener is meat, cheese mixed into a sauce and then congealed into slices or bricks is cheese.

[@claricea5353]

Excellent video once again

[@charlx8979]

As an Australian, the american processed cheese product costs more than the real kind. Ah living on an island sucks, where all “foreign” foods cost an arm and a leg, even if its something as cheap as american cheese kraft singles that are actually made locally

[@oryxthemad]

The lack of music in the video reminds me of childhood educational shows like Reading Rainbow and Bill Nye. Very engaging, very interesting!

[@coolbugfacts1234]

To say american cheese isn't cheese is like saying queso isn't cheese. They're made with real cheese and milk products, along with emulsifying salts to allow them to melt without being greasy.

[@CntrazZombie4]

Although it isn't legally considered cheese, can't we all agree that the "Pasteurized Process Cheese" (nearly 100% cheese) is cheese? It might not be the same, but it's like if the cheese contained 1% pepper flakes and because of that it couldn't be cheese. I mean, Pepper Jack cheese IS cheese... Right?