No no, no disrespect intended by that. It just sounds like a knockoff. Fool's gold, mocktail, texmex, etc.

To anyone unfamiliar, texmex is not some sort of "what if we combined X and Y?" Michelin star fusion. It's the natural evolution of cuisine trade between northern Mexicans and Texans (tejanos). A lot of things people think of as Mexican are actually texmex. Like fajitas. I think queso or nachos?

I dunno I've visited a lot of places and seen a lot of people and it's not like Americans are unique in how much food we eat?

I'd point to the fact that sugary/bad for you stuff tends to be cheap first and foremost. It's really easy to fill up on empty calories if you're stuffing your face with candy and fast food.

Secondarily I would point how hard it is to avoid ultra-processed garbage. It's really everywhere and everything here, even things that are "healthy" are pretty terrible usually. Unless you're eating/making everything fresh it's not easy to avoid some of this garbage and it's basically all empty calories.

I also think, far more important than gluttony, there's very little actual food education in the US. Unless you're kinda into fitness and watching what you eat, you don't really know what macros and stuff do and why things are important.

There's also food deserts, the fact that American cities are meant to be driven and basically cannot be walked/biked, and just generally sedentary lifestyles across all of America.

Genuinely I don't think that the fat countries around the world are "extra gluttons" compared to the rest of the world. It's anecdotal of course, but I often hear of Europeans visiting and gaining weight. I doubt they're suddenly becoming gluttons the moment they land in America. I think that's like maybe the 10th most important reason at best. We're all humans and while culture is different and could lead to different eating habits, I don't think that matters that much. I think Canada for example, is quite culturally similar to the US but they have an obesity rate of only 27.1% compared to America's 41.8%

I think one place where portion size might actually be a factor in retrospect is with soda. Our larges are huge and people will down those things like crazy.

Most American cheese sold through the deli will be good. LoL is good brand, Boars Head is good. The "deluxe" versions in the lunchmeat aisle are alright but a bit lower-end.

It's all about the cheese they use since American cheese is cheese with sodium citrate, that's all.

Kraft singles are not cheese........... but even they're fine on a burger or whatever application yu don't really care and just want some sort of melty semi-cheesy thing. :)

American cheese is a combination of Jack and cheddar cheeses that is specifically designed to melt, Kraft singles are basically Velveeta which is just sort of like cheese whiz but harder, that is to say processed cheese like food.

You can usually get American cheese at your deli counter.

No they’re not. They pasteurized processed cheese product.

American cheese is actual cheese. Kraft has a real American cheese. It’s the deli deluxe stuff.

Well, no.

The problem is tht Kraft singles are not cheese. They are cheese "product". This is cheese-adjacent. Frankly, it's more like a slice of cheese-type sauce, if you will. Good for some things, don't get me wrong, I'm not a snob.

And yes, you are right, they are American cheese, but........ they are not cheese. But yes, they are also American cheese (while technically not being cheese).

Basically, Flanders used to sell "burger patties' for VERY cheap. I made the mistake of buying some. After I threw the ones I cooked way, I found that they had beef, but also mechanically separated beef, some other sort of 'reclaimed' beef, as well as beef hearts, liver, and maybe other stuff. All technically food and technically beef, but they were REALLY shitty.........

Kraft singles are MUCH better than that, but still...... it's not good in all applicatins. heh.

The fact they're called Kraft Singles because they're not allowed to be called cheese

To add to this, a lot of the jokes about it not being able to be called "cheese" also just come down to a misunderstanding of how the US Code of Federal Regulations works. There are American-style cheeses that have a milkfat percentage high enough to be labeled a cheese, but also ones that have to be labeled pasteurized prepared cheese product. This is pretty much the equivalent of saying that American ice cream can't be called ice cream because some of what's available in grocery stores is actually frozen dairy dessert. I'm personally grateful for our slightly burdensome regulatory scheme that allows me to identify certain qualitative differences between similar looking products with similar ingredient lists.

The chemicals are to make it mixable in water or some milk derivate. It can be up to 5% not cheese and still be called cheese, while "pasteurized processed cheese food" can be as low as 51% cheese.

Kraft singles are neither of these. It contains milk protein concentrate, which the FDA doesn't allow in "cheese food", so they call it "pasteurized prepared cheese product".

https://www.mashed.com/263200/kraft-singles-arent-actually-cheese-heres-why/

I think I'll continue to take my chances with "regular cheese"