Kraft Dinner is a staple in many Canadian homes. It’s a quick, filling, comforting meal that costs less than 2$ a box. For these reasons it has taken Canada by storm and is considered, by some, to be a national dish.

History of Kraft Dinner (aka KD)

1930 – During the Great Depression, Grant Leslie, a Missouri salesman from Scotland, began selling macaroni pasta in cardboard boxes with baggies of grated cheese attached with a rubber band.

  • The cheese Leslie had attached was grated Kraft cheese.
  • Kraft cheese was already stabilized with emulsifying salts and was thus processed cheese (giving it a longer shelf life).

1937 – Kraft introduced the product in the U.S. and Canada marketed as Kraft Dinner.

  • Each box was sold for 19 cents (U.S.) and was marketed to feed a family of four.

1939 – Canadian sales of KD had already reached $8 million.

  • During World War II, 50 million boxes of KD were sold. During the war, milk and dairy were rationed and meat was scarce. Demand for non-refrigerated, meatless, cheap, and easy meals was high. KD offered a great solution:
    • The shelf life of KD is 10 months, no need to refrigerate
    • Preparation is quick (~7 minutes)and requires very little effort
    • Two boxes could be bought with one food ration stamp

1945 – At the end of WWII, KD sales had reached 14 million.

1971 – Kraft controlled 50% of cheese production in Canada.

  • After the depression and the war, dairies weren’t fairing very well. Large American companies bound local dairies into tight contracts that ensured that all production was sold to them.

1973 – Kraft Canada became the biggest advertiser in Canadian Magazine and TV.

Today – KD’s sauce is most likely more whey than cheese. A potential < 29% of the sauce is cheese.

  • Early versions of KD sauces would most likely have been mostly cheese and some emulsifying salts.

KD: The National Dish of Canada?

  • Canadians purchase approximately 1.7 million boxes a year (approx 24% of what the company produces globally)
  • KD is the most popular grocery item in Canada.
  • KD is packaged in Quebec and made with Canadian wheat and Milk.
  • Canadians eat ~ 50% more KD than Americans.

 “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.” – Rex Murphy

“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, 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”. – Douglas Coupland

Even the American show South Park recognizes Canadians’ love for KD

KD Fun Facts

  • The original box was yellow but changed to blue in 1954
  • Many people add additional ingredients to their KD. Here are some examples:
    • Ketchup, Hot Sauce, Tuna, Hot Dogs, Bacon bits, Bread Crumbs, Pepper, Ranch Dressing, Garlic Powder, Peas, Broccoli, More Cheese!
  • “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Canadian band, Bare Naked Ladies includes a stanza about Kraft Dinner:

If I had a million dollars we wouldn’t have to eat Kraft dinner
(But we would eat Kraft dinner)
(Of course we would, we’d just eat more)
(And buy really expensive ketchups with it)
(That’s right, all the fanciest dijon ketchups, hmm)

 

Think you know how to make KD without instructions? Test your knowledge here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewziegler/do-you-remember-how-to-make-a-box-of-original-kraft?bfsource=bfocompareon

 

http://www.dchp.ca/dchp2/Entries/view/Kraft2520Dinner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_Dinner#In_Canadian_culture https://www.straight.com/blogra/504736/history-kraft-dinner https://thewalrus.ca/manufacturing-taste/ https://globalnews.ca/news/2044985/deconstructing-a-canadian-classic-tracking-the-origins-of-kraft-dinner/ http://www.kraftcanada.com/about-kraft-canada https://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/02/21/why-do-canadians-eat-so-much-kraft-mac-n-cheese/ https://tiphero.com/7-ways-to-dress-up-boxed-mac-cheese https://www.lyricfind.com/