WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT????? Heretics!

That is what happens when Kraft, makers of the plastic cheese takes over.

You won't really have to worry about Cadbury eggs changing in Canada or the US. They never were the same.

But the British Cadbury chocolate is superior to what is sold in the US and in Canada. There is a shop in our area that carries British Cadbury Chocolate. I stop in occasionally to pick up my favourite chocolate bar.

I've been reading "Salt Sugar Fat" by Michael Moss and he details many of the changes made to our "favorite" foods.

This is what happened to Cheez Whiz in the words of a thirty-eight year (retired) food scientists for Kraft, Dean Southworth, who was one of the scientists who developed it. BTW, Cheez Whiz, from its earliest days, always contained real cheese, so Kraft removed it to cut cost. "...it was with considerable alarm that he (Dean Southworth) turned to his wife one evening in 2001, having just sampled a jar of Cheez Whiz he'd picked up at the local Winn-Dixie supermarket. "I said, 'What the he** did they do?' I called up Kraft, using the 800 number for consumer complaints, and I told them, 'You are putting out god**** axle grease!'"

Before going gluten-free 2-years ago, things that were no longer palatable due to changes in the recipes:
'Nilla Wafers, Graham Crackers (flavor as well as size), saltine crackers....

Another interesting note, Philip Morris (tobacco giant) acquired General Mills and Kraft. Ten cents of every dollar that Americans spent on groceries now belonged to Philip Morris.

Read the book and you'll soon turn to whole foods for your sustenance. It's all a HUGE chemical and psychological race to see what it takes to "hook" us to these so-called "foods". The link below includes quotes from the book.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Goodreads.com

>You won't really have to worry about Cadbury eggs changing in Canada or the US. They never were the same.

True, alas. I loved these when I lived in London and even back when they first appeared in the US they just weren't the same at all.

Luckily for me I can't eat them at all anymore.

Cadbury in the US is made with Hershey's milk chocolate. Back when milk chocolate got popular Mr. Hershey asked all the makers to share the method with him. They turned him down. Rather than resorting to spying and theft, Mr. Hershey just invented his own kind of milk chocolate. Which is fine in a Kiss or Hershey bar, but not in Cadbury. ;)

At least you expect a candy bar to be candy! As in a whole bunch of sugar and fat. Those breakfast cereal quotes are astounding. What's wrong with oatmeal? The real kind that's sweet because it's a grain, and doesn't need any sugar or fat added to be yummy?

Yes, but since Hershey became a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway, their products have changed quite a bit, too.

Oh. I rarely eat that kind of thing. What's different?

In yesterday's L.A. Times business section was an article I can't find online about the snack show (convention). Apparently, they're trying to still hook you but with less sugar, salt and fat.

I have to say that the snack food I've recently enjoyed is by Country House, and is something like a brittle (but not hard) cut into dice, made of flaxseeds and chia, and black sesame seeds and some other stuff. Stuck together with something sugary, but mostly seedy and nutty. But then I figured out I could put pinches of seeds in a cup with a bit of rolled oats, and while it requires a spoon, it doesn't need the sugar. The oats are sweet enough. :)

It is my understanding that "processed cheese food" must contain 51% cheese. So, it's half cheese. Kind of. The rest is a conglomeration of emulsifiers, flavorings, colorings, etc.

I never did like those Cadbury eggs, but Ashley loves the darned things. I doubt that she'll even know that they're different, she scarfs the things down so quickly. She does tell me that the "mini" version tastes different than the original size, maybe more chocolate to middle ratio?

Annie

Definitions of the "cheese" items are laid out quite nicely in Wikipedia. The article points to milk protein concentrate (something that can be boosted with melamine!) as a new way to cheapen the item. I admit a fondness for American cheese, but I'll get the natural foods version (Applegate Farms), or the "deli deluxe". Kenji L-A has a whole article about it. I will prove how old I'm getting by saying that the Deli Deluxe is what the American cheese of my childhood tasted like, not the current plastic-like Singles, and I can aver that it does melt very nicely, thank-you. OTOH, I've never made a Wonderbread grilled cheese in my life, and very few grilled cheese sandwiches of any kind, and I'm not about "goo". Cheese toast, yes. :)

Federal regulators allow terms like cheese food, cheese product, and pasteurized processed American to describe what the industry itself loosely calls "cheese". Processed cheese is the essence of cheese made into a form that is "durable as well as quick and cheap to produce".

Might I suggest trying shredded or thinly-sliced aged cheese from a brick of good-quality cheese to use on a toasted or grilled sandwich, or on cheese toast, as a delightful change from the plastic-wrapped slices. You'll also find you can use less cheese this way since it's not a pre-packaged amount, and the taste is superior.

-Grainlady

I learned after I posted that the change was in the British version, and that the American version is made by Hersey's. It's the little Cadbury egg candies I like the most, actually.

I don't pig out on candy all the time, nor typical snack food of any kind. I do occasionally enjoy some Cadbury eggs at Easter time, or a few pieces of chocolate candy around Halloween, but for the most part, those things are way too sweet for me. I love chocolate, and will eat a little bit of bitter sweet baking chocolate as my evening snack, rather than a candy bar.

I won't go near any processed cheese stuff of any kind if I can help it. Grainlady, the way you recommend making a grilled cheese sandwich is exactly the way I make mine, although I like to let some of the cheese spill over the sides of the bread, so I have what I call "cheese chips" to go with my sandwich. I don't know that I use less cheese though, probably more.

Sally

The whole point of American cheese is that it doesn't separate when heated. I have lots of very high quality cheeses, many of them artisan made, and usually use those. Right now, I have gouda, emmenthaler, havarti, a ripe cheese with black truffles in it, a couple of blocks of imported aged cheddar, feta and some Italian cheeses, any of which could be cheese toast on a given day. Usually there's something more exciting in there, but we're still in an after the holidays simplicity slump. We definitely eat too much cheese. But American cheese is different. I'm not advocating it! I just like it. :) When I go into a major chain grocery, it's usually for paper goods. One of the few edibles I buy is a package of American cheese. :) Not "cheese food" or "cheese product". The kind that's mostly cheese. :) It lasts a good long while in the fridge. :) Heck, if I'm going to consume preservatives, I might as well make use of 'em. :)

Sally, the same thing happened when they changed the Necco Sweethearts conversation hearts. Supposedly they changed to natural flavors and colors, but they also changed the recipe. I know dogged fans who have been bummed ever since.

What these companies should learn is that when they change something that classic, they should keep making the original version as well. Market them as "classic", have a limited distribution, and charge more. That way they'd whip up sales amongst those who have to have it the old way, while saving their pennies and hooking the kids with their new versions. :)

I stopped buying Cadbury eggs a few years ago when I noticed that they were much smaller but the price was higher! It used to be my "must have" each year but I've lost the taste for them now.

When I was at school, the game was for a group of us to each put a whole egg in our mouths and see who could eat it first. A very difficult challenge!!!

I'm glad nobody choked, Islay.

Plllog, I wasn't trying to be insulting about the cheese, I just don't like American cheese or any of the cheese products along those lines. I especially don't want to eat cheese that sits on the non-refrigerated shelves of the grocery store.

Dr. Pepper has done what you suggested in that you can get Dr. Pepper made with sugar and in a glass bottle at specialty stores, at certain times of year. It's very popular.

Sally

Sally, I totally get it! I'm certainly not trying to convert people! :) I was actually responding to Grainlady's suggestion of using good aged cheese as an alternative to American. I don't buy the plastic wrapped singles, but I eat American as a break from the top quality cheeses I usually use, so her suggestion to use them as a break from American doesn't apply. Real American cheese (as opposed to "cheese food" or "product") must be refrigerated. It behaves like real cheese, and does sweat and go hard if abandoned. It's low moisture, so doesn't mold quickly or easily. You'd throw it out first. But it's not anything that can sit on a shelf. I had a roommate when I was young who loved Velveeta, but I draw the line there. :) Actually, since they changed the singles decades ago, so that they have more in common with the plastic wrapper than with actual cheese, I won't go near them either. Apparently, I'm not enough into gooey. :)

Re the Cadbury eggs, I remember being entranced when they first arrived around here. I've never been a big candy eater, but I'd always get one or two of the full sized ones every year, just because the whole yolk thing was so cool. Then they changed the filling so that it was just a yellow area instead of a ball that was kind of separate, and I lost interest. IC, I can imagine that eating them whole game!

Re soda pop, if you ever have a spare no expense hankering for a childhood favorite, made only with real sugar and in real glass bottles, Galco's Old World Grocery has a great many of them. They buy the recipes from the rights holders, including from defunct companies, and bottle their own (usually in standard longneck bottles). From going concerns they sometimes can commission a run of the original recipe. In the past, I heard that they needed a certain number of requests to buy more than a truckload at a time, though, so the maker has to be in a cooperative mood. :) They ship.

The time to get regular sugar sodas, locally, though, like Dr. Pepper, is early Spring. There's enough of a demand for soda pop that is kosher for Passover, that they put it out special. If you can't find it in your regular market, go to a Jewish one. Other times of year, you can also check out the Mexican stores. They use HFCS in Mexico nowadays, but I've read that they still export soda made with cane sugar to the U.S. because there's so much demand.