Kraft Dinner

The prerequisite to a shelf-stable packaged macaroni and cheese product was the invention of processed cheese, where emulsifying salts help stabilize the product, giving it a longer life. While living in Chicago, James Lewis Kraft of Fort Erie, Ontario, began to build his cheese business after winning a patent for one such method in 1916. During the Great Depression, a St. Louis, Missouri, salesman, Grant Leslie of Dundee, Scotland, had the idea to sell macaroni pasta and cheese together as a package, so he began attaching grated cheese to boxes of pasta with a rubber band. The product was first marketed in many U.S. states in 1936, typically for 15 cents a box (“grated cheese and macaroni--dinner for four in nine minutes”). The box's primary colour changed to blue in 1954, later used in an advertising campaign where children were encouraged to ask for "The Blue Box". Marye Dahnke, Kraft's resident chef, suggested reviving macaroni and cheese after Kraft was facing competition from Miracle Whip. A version with spiral-shaped noodles debuted in 1975, while Velveeta Shells & Cheese were introduced in 1984. In 2006, the cheddar and white cheddar versions switched to organic macaroni, while Easy Mac Cups were introduced the same year. In 2007, the noodles switched to 50 percent whole grain. In Europe, food that contains Yellow 5 requires a warning label saying "This product may have adverse effect on activity and attention in children." In 2014, none of the European varieties were made with artificial dyes. In November 2013, Kraft announced that new pasta shape varieties for children in the U.S. would no longer include Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, the sodium and saturated fat content would decrease, and there would be six more grams of whole grains. In April 2015, it was announced that those changes, including the elimination of artificial preservatives, would be extended throughout the line after January 2016. Paprika, annatto, and turmeric are used for colouring. According to Kraft, the changes were a response to consumer feedback. In 2018, Kraft-Heinz introduced the KD Shaker, which was a plastic bottle of Kraft Mac and Cheese Dinner's powdered cheese, allowing one to use the cheese powder as they wish, without needing to worry about unused pasta. The product is similar to shelf-stable Parmesan cheese powder bottle cans. ==Mascot==

The product advertises the Cheesasaurus Rex. He was introduced in 1991, and was kept until the late-2000s and can still be seen in commercials and select boxes of Kraft products. He is depicted in commercials as a friendly orange tyrannosaurus rex who loves all things noodle-y and is covered in cheese. He lives in Noodletown. ==In Canadian popular culture==

Kraft Dinner has been called a de facto national dish of Canada. Packaged in Quebec with Canadian wheat and milk, and other ingredients from Canada and the US, Canadians purchase 1.7 million of the 7 million boxes sold globally each week and eat an average of 90 million boxes of Kraft Dinner each year. The meal is the most popular grocery item in the country, where "Kraft Dinner" has an iconic status and has become a generic trademark of sorts for macaroni and cheese. It is often simply referred to, and (as of 2023) is now marketed by the initials K.D. As Kraft Dinner has a different name in Canada from the United States and other markets, the Canadian marketing and advertising platform is a made-in-Canada effort that cannot be easily adapted to the US market. Pundit Rex Murphy wrote that "Kraft Dinner revolves in that all-but-unobtainable orbit of the Tim Hortons doughnut and the A&W Teen Burger. It is one of that great trinity of quick digestibles that have been enrolled as genuine Canadian cultural icons." Douglas Coupland wrote that "cheese plays a weirdly large dietary role in the lives of Canadians, who have a more intimate and intense relationship with Kraft food products than the citizens of any other country. This is not a shameless product plug – for some reason, Canadians and Kraft products have bonded the way Australians have bonded with Marmite [sic, recte:Vegemite], or the English with Heinz baked beans. In particular, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, known simply as Kraft Dinner, is the biggie, probably because it so precisely laser-targets the favoured Canadian food groups: fat, sugar, starch and salt." Immigrants often mention Kraft Dinner when surveys ask for examples of Canadian food. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin regularly referred to it as his favourite food, though he also confessed that he was unable to prepare it. During the same election former Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that "I'll never be able to give my kids a billion-dollar company, but Laureen and I are saving for their education. And I have actually cooked them Kraft Dinner—I like to add wieners." Most Canadians ignore the instructions and use alternate methods of preparing the food, like adding wieners or cheese. ==Nutrition==

Prepared Kraft Dinner is 71% carbohydrates, 11% protein, and 5% fat (table). In a reference serving, Kraft Dinner supplies 382 calories and rich contents (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of sodium (56% DV) and iron (25% DV), with calcium in moderate content (15% DV) (table). ==Variations==

The product is available in a variety of compositions: • The Original Recipe of dry macaroni pasta (roughly 172 grams) and 70 ml (approximately 42 grams) of powdered processed cheese. This category includes additional flavours of powdered cheese sauce (see Flavours and shapes). • The Deluxe form, with the powdered processed cheese replaced with a prepared, processed cheese sauce that comes in a foil pouch (cheese sauce formerly came in a can). This allows the cheese to be applied directly to the cooked pasta without additional preparation or ingredients. The pasta also differs; elbow macaroni replaces the thin, straight macaroni supplied as part of the "Original Recipe". • The Homestyle form is similar to the "Deluxe" form, though it provides a large size and includes seasoned breadcrumbs to apply to the macaroni and cheese. It has three flavours: cheddar cheese, four-cheese, and Old World Italian. • In the summer of 2021, Kraft Heinz released a selection of stir-in flavour boosters in the Canadian market. There are six different Kraft Dinner Flavour Boosts in the following flavours: Jalapeño, Butter Chicken, Poutine, Buffalo Wings, Ghost Pepper, and Cotton Candy. These packets are added to a prepared pot of Kraft Dinner and are designed to enhance the experience by providing a new flavour variation for the eater. Kraft Dinner Smart Kraft Dinner Smart (also known as KD Smart) launched as a healthy sub-brand of the Kraft Dinner brand. It represents a line of Kraft macaroni and cheese products with no artificial flavours, colours, or preservatives and added ingredients like cauliflower, oats, or flax seed blended into the noodles. It comes in four varieties. Kraft Dinner Smart launched in Canada in March 2010 with two vegetable varieties. In June 2011, the line-up was re-launched with new packaging graphics and two new varieties (Flax Omega-3 and High Fibre). The product is made with cheddar and is manufactured in Mount Royal, Quebec. Flavours and shapes The shapes come in the original tenderoni, various pop culture icons, alphabet, numbers and spirals. Organic and whole-grain versions are also available, as well as a larger format box called "family size". ==Marketing==

The product was marketed as Kraft Dinner with the slogan "a meal for four in nine minutes for an everyday price of 19 cents." It was re-branded to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in the United States and other countries, although the word "Dinner" still appeared in small type on the U.S. version until the 2022 rebrand, and is referred to as the “Kraft Mac & Cheese Dinner” in the product webpage for the American variant. In several markets, it goes by different names; in the United Kingdom, it is also marketed as Cheesey Pasta. The product is heavily promoted to children in the United States on television. When advertising to younger children, the television advertisement encourages the children to ask for "The Blue Box". In 2010, Kraft launched a $50 million multi-media marketing campaign with a nostalgia theme aimed at adults to promote all varieties of Kraft Dinner. In Canada, Kraft has advertising programs intended to make the meal appealing to newly arrived immigrant groups. There are regular promotional tie-in versions of the Kraft Dinner aimed at kids. Packages have come with pasta in the shapes of various characters popular with children, such as Looney Tunes, Super Mario Bros., and Star Wars. In promotion of the introduction of its "Cheddar Explosion" variety of Kraft Dinner, Kraft sponsored the demolition of Texas Stadium on April 11, 2010. In its last act of 2009, the Irving, Texas city council made Kraft Macaroni and Cheese the official sponsor of the demolition. Kraft paid $75,000 to local charities and donated another $75,000 in Kraft products. A national essay contest directed at children who "have made a difference in their community" was held with the winner allowed to push the button initiating the controlled demolition. The winning essayist was 11-year-old Casey Rogers of Terrell, Texas, founder of a charity serving the homeless. ==Gallery==

File:Kraft dinner preparation.jpg|Kraft Macaroni & Cheese preparation—pot of boiling water with pasta inside, package of cheese powder (labeled "Kraft cheese sauce mix"), and colander to separate the noodles from the cooking water File:Kraft Dinner Cheese Packet 2018.jpg|Kraft Dinner (with the KD label) is packaged with a processed cheese powder packet (Canada, 2018). File:Kraft Mac & Cheese Original Cheese Sauce Mix.JPG|The American version of the cheese powder File:Kraft Dinner, additional ingredients for classic prep, plus cheese powder 3.jpg|Additional ingredients are needed for a "Classic Prep" of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese—milk, butter, and cheese powder—which are added to the noodles. File:Macaroni and cheese (1).jpg|American Kraft Mac & Cheese served on a plate in Sweden, garnished with fresh spinach leaves File:Flickr qmnonic 123431456--Kraft Dinner and veggie dogs.jpg|A Canadian meal—Kraft Dinner with added Cheddar that has been integrated with sliced vegetarian hot dog and fresh tomato slices File:Kraft Easy Mac.JPG|Kraft Easy Mac close-up File:Now I Know For Sure I am in Canada - (15618046301).jpg|Original-flavour Kraft Dinner sold in bulk 12-pack sizes in Canada ==See also==