This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2009)

Regular Kraft Dinner preparation: boiling water with pasta-noodles inside the pot, cheese powder package and colander to the right

Kraft Easy Mac

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner, also known as Kraft Dinner or KD in Canada, as well as several other names, is a pasta dish of macaroni and cheese that is produced by the company Kraft Foods.

[edit] History

In 1937, Kraft introduced the product in the U.S. and Canada. The timing of the product's launch had much to do with its success. During World War II, rationing of milk and dairy products, and an increased reliance on meatless entrees, created a nearly captive market for the product, which was considered a hearty meal for families.

The following decades introduced improvements in flavor and shelf life. New product lines, using different flavors and noodle shapes were introduced over the decades.

[edit] Formulations

The product now comes in three primary compositions:

• The traditional form of dry macaroni pasta and powdered processed cheese. To prepare the dish, one boils and drains the pasta, then adds milk, butter (or margarine) and the cheese powder.
• The Deluxe form, with the powdered processed cheese replaced with a prepared cheddar cheese spread 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.
• Kraft Easy Mac, which makes single servings portions. The macaroni and a mixture of processed cheese and milk powder are already mixed in, and the consumer needs to add only water. Additionally, this formulation is the only one originally intended for preparation in a microwave oven.

[edit] Marketing

The product was originally marketed as Kraft Dinner, but is now known in the United States and other countries as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (Dinner). In the United Kingdom, it is marketed as simply Macaroni and Cheese, while due to its popularity and nostalgic quality in Canada, it has retained its original name of Kraft Dinner (and the nickname KD). The product is also heavily promoted toward children in the United States on television with the promotional name Kraft Cheese & Macaroni. When advertising to younger children, the television advertisement encourages the children to ask for "The Blue Box."

There are regular promotional tie-in versions of the Kraft Dinner. Packages have come with noodles in the shapes of various characters popular with children, such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, and The Flintstones. In Canada and the United States, Kraft Dinner is offered as an option at Burger King restaurants.^[1][2]

Kraft Foods has also released many products that have been called "Kraft Dinner". These include other versions of macaroni and cheese with different shaped noodles and different flavors, but it has also included completely different dishes, such as spaghetti in several different flavors.

[edit] Ingredients

Original ingredients for Kraft Dinner: Macaroni Modified Milk Ingredients, Cheese (milk, bacterial culture, cream, salt, microbial enzymes, lipase, calcium chloride, colour), salt, sodium phosphates, citric acid, flavour, colour (contains tartrazine) sorbic acid.

Net Wt 225g

New ingredients for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner: Macaroni whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, calcium carbonate, sodium tripolyphosphate, contains less than 2% of citric acid, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, milk, yellow 5, yellow 6, enzymes, (cheese culture)

Net Wt 206g

[edit] In popular culture

Singer Kurt Cobain, who suffered from a stomach disorder, stipulated in Nirvana's tour rider that his diet consisted only of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.^[3]

[edit] See also

• Cheez Whiz
• Hamburger Helper

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• KraftCanada Kraft Dinner

[edit] Multimedia

• CBC Television Archives Talking about Kraft Dinner (Canadian context) 1997