A Brief History of America’s Appetite for Macaroni and Cheese | Hacker News Reader

A Brief History of America’s Appetite for Macaroni and Cheese

smithsonianmag.com

62 pointsVigier44 comments

"To understand the evolution of macaroni and cheese is to realize that pursuit of the “cheapest protein possible” has been a longstanding quest of the American food system."

UK: The need for the cheapest and quickest calories post War resulted in the Chorleywood Process for making bread [1]. It served its purpose, but we are still recovering.

Africa: groundnut / peanut soup again filling bellies and adding some protein to a thin broth if meat was short [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_soup

What is the UK recovering from with the Chorleywood process? I saw nothing about issues with it on the Wikipedia page

People think widespread availability of cheap low quailty white bread contributes to obesity and some other health problems.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/03/obesity-food...

It would probably be good if people ate bread with more fibre.

I think the author of the comment just has a subjective preference against the taste and texture.

To be fair, it is possible to use the Chorleywood process to make loaves that look pretty rustic and taste OK, but your basic white sliced loaf tastes of nothing much.

A quick search reveals no known evaluation of the Chorleywood process by any authoritative agency in the UK (e.g. Food Standards Agency). Andrew Whitley has expressed concern over the use of directly injected enzymes that do not appear on packaging. There was some stuff in the press about linking Chorleywood process to 'bloating' but that was debunked fairly quickly (around 2012 I recollect)

Ah, I thought it might mean health problems

I take his comment to mean that Chorleywood bread is common in the UK and not very pleasant.

I highly recommend buying some Sodium Citrate (available on Amazon) and making some Perfectly Melting Mac n Cheese.

http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/silky-smooth-macaroni-an...

First result on Amazon for Sodium Citrate: Non-GMO. Unbelievable.

"cheapest protein possible"

Okay. I always figured that ambition went sloping downward along the lines of "Hormel SPAM to Armour Treet Original Luncheon Loaf to Tender Vittles to Libby's Potted Meat Food Product." You can always find something cheaper in the categories of "Material formerly regulated as cheese" or "Material formerly regulated as meat". It doesn't have to contain a particular noodle.

It has to just be talking about the historical context of it. The modern take (which they also mention) is providing cheese (flavored things) that is shelf stable.

I say this because nowadays peanut butter is a cheaper source of protein pretty much universally. I've known people to buy peanut butter for exactly that reason, protein at the cheapest cost (and with a reasonable breakdown of other macronutrients to boot); I've never known anyone to buy cheese (flavored things) for that reason.

When I was younger, poorer and lifted iron I used to live off skim milk powder. It would have to be the cheapest protein gram for gram that I know [0].

0. Don't do this if you are lactose intolerant.

Yeah, that's probably true. I don't know how thoroughly the people I knew had done their research; I just know that from my own it's cheaper than anything 'cheese flavored' that I've seen, for a given amount of protein (and I wouldn't even think to have checked skim milk powder, because dehydrated milk of all forms I find disgusting when reconstituted).

I don’t mind the taste when it is made up into a thick paste (that is the way I used to eat it), but I agree that normal rehydrated milk tastes terrible.

> skim milk powder.

Isn't that basically what they do for most of those pre-made protein shakes? Pack it full of dairy protein, which is essentially skim milk powder.

Of course they add a nice markup as well.

It depends. A lot of companies use soy protein in their drinks. The newer, more expensive shakes like Muscle Milk use whey isolate so it's basically a whey shake with some soluble fiber in it.

...and the whey comes from: ____

Yes and no. Full of dairy protein, but not essentially skim milk powder.

Skim milk powder is mostly casein, a protein that is comparatively slow to absorb (and which, along with the high level of lactose, can mess with those sensitive to dairy).

Whey protein concentrate/isolate is the 'other' kind of protein found in milk, doesn't tend to bother people as much, and is absorbed faster. Concentrate/isolate has lactose, too.

Whey protein is from the leftover liquid when you make cheese. It was a n unusable waste product until some genius figured out that you could sell it to bodybuilders.

Absorption of casein is not such an issue, but dumping a 100g of lactose into your digestive system if you are not lactose tolerant will really mess with you. You will find out very quickly if you are lactose tolerant or not.

Yep minus the lactose and 5x price.

Spam is unfairly lambasted. It's actually pretty solid ham shoulder

Furthermore I wouldn't call it cheap. If you want a cheap breakfast meat, sausage meat is significantly cheaper. Spam being shelf-stable often makes it worth the price though; I love it when camping.

I love Spam in general. It's a fantastic breakfast meat. Short of ham steak, there's nothing better.

"Solid" is a poor word to use for something that can be easily cut with a butter knife.

By that logic sodium and lithium metal are not solid either.

It's not the cheese, it's the noodles.

Pasta is nutritious - full of complex carbohydrates and protein, and low in fat (unless you use egg noodles). So it's the opposite of what the health world wants you to eat right now (high carb, low fat), but you could eat far worse things if you're on a budget.

It gets it's bad rep from being combined with rich buttery sauces and fatty meats, easily turning into a calorie bomb.

I remember in college (89 or 90), when the local grocery story sold $0.05 per box of mac & cheese (powered cheese). I bought $5 worth (I was very cash poor). It certainly seemed filling if a little repetitive. Went well with the Ramen Noodles and the group homemade pizza.

A serving portion of Mac and Cheese has roughly 40gr of carbs, 10gr of protein. A portion of beef/chicken is 20-30gr of protein. Looks like a source of carbs (energy) more like a protein source to me. Maybe when you add the price, the equation change.( I mean the price per protein gr.)

If you are shopping on price, the carbs in the macaroni are a feature. Chicken is a good source of protein but doesn't really deliver the calories per dollar. It's something like 250 calories/dollar at Walmart prices vs 1600 calories/dollar for pasta (varies sharply based on price of pasta, but it is $1 a pound regularly enough).

Carbs are always cheaper than protein though. Mac and cheese isn’t really a serious protein source, so you’ll still need to add something to make it work.

> "Chicken is a good source of protein but doesn't really deliver the calories per dollar."

Throw in some breading and ketchup and you'll give yourself diabetes lickety-split.

Breaded macaroni and cheese sounds bad with or without ketchup.

I suspect the diabetes is more related to excess calories and sedentary lifestyles than it is due to macro diet composition. Of course diet composition has an impact on achieving those excess calories, but that's an indirect effect.

I'm referring to the practice of eating breaded chicken ("nuggets" and/or "fingers"/"tenders") with copious amounts of ketchup.

I think a lot of people have a blindspot to the nutrition of condiments, they view it as something neutral like a little bit of black pepper. Or in the specific case of ketchup, they think it counts as a vegetable. But the truth is ketchup is basically just a bunch of sugar. For the same volume it has something like half the calories of maple syrup. You wouldn't scarf down half a cup of maple syrup with your dinner, but I've seen people practically drink the equivalent in ketchup. I doubt it's healthy no matter how active you are.

Satay sauce is still tasty with all or nearly-all the jaggery left out, and mayo, while high in fat (and cheap veggie oil fat, at that), is low carb.

^ For those who are looking for an alternative to a lake of ketchup to go with their tendies

Cacio e pepe. Boil your pasta in salt water, it's particularly good with homemade noodles. Use grated pecorino romano or in a bind use parmesan, olive oil, and lots of cracked pepper. I put in 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta water before putting the strained but still wet and hot pasta - and then stir the crap out of all of it. The cheese oil and water emulsify into a sauce. But only if it's all hot and wet - otherwise you won't get a sauce. It helps if the bowl you're mixing it in is preheated. Seriously you stir the crap out of the pasta, as fast as you can, it seems like you'd tear your noodles especially if they're homemade. Do it anyway. It should come together in less than a minute.

I grew up on Kraft Mac & Cheese. If I ever get a craving for that, I buy Annie's shells and real aged cheddar. I make it with olive oil, diced tomatos, cottage cheese and pepper. Sometimes I'll put in 505 green chiles instead of tomatoes.

Macaroni and Cheese is referred to in Canada Kraft Dinner I used to eat it at least twice per week. It's changed so much it's the Theseus of pasta since the only two ingredients, the noodles and cheese powder, were changed but it's still called Kraft Dinner.

The macaroni used to be hard durum wheat now it's somehow formed, not pressed, you can even see the seam on the edge of each noodle. I used to boil it on a rolling boil for seven minutes to get it just barely soft but after Kraft switched the wheat type the noodles turn to mush in a little over a minute.

The cheese has changed too I think it was due to EU regulations or pressure by consumers for it to be less artificial. Whatever was done has changed the cheese so much I don't bother eating it anymore.

It's easier to just buy durum wheat macaroni and some real cheddar cheese to make a better version.

If you want good mac 'n cheese, get Annies. It costs more, and the cheese mix doesn't dissolve as well, but damn it's tasty. 12-packs at Costco are my lifeline.

Thanks but there's no Costco where I live.

> Macaroni and Cheese is referred to in Canada Kraft Dinner

Perhaps a little patriotic of me but it’s shocking you talk about Canadian Kraft Dinner without calling it KD.

"Kraft Dinners: the national dish of Canada, and the salvation of that country's poor." --from David Boswell's Reid Fleming: World's Toughest Milkman

Anyone I know has always called it Kraft Dinner it seems people in the US refer to it as Mac and Cheese.

Fun fact: Jefferson had macaroni and cheese (or something akin to it) served at a state dinner he hosted in 1802: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_and_cheese#American_h...

Eh, the writing is not that good.

Not a lot of history either.

Reads like a column in your local paper.

Yeah, the unnecessary inclusion of his cheese road trip and awkward crashing at a friend's place in the middle of a divorce was pretty odd. Save the human angle and focus on this history. It's far more interesting to the reader.

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