this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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2 North American 4 You
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Dutch guy here. That's not cheese. Don't you dare place that junk in the same category as our holy (pun intended) gold.
I'm sure France, Switzerland and Italy agree with me.
Look, nobody is eating cubes of American cheese and pretending it's gouda. It's for cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. It's uniquely suited for it. It melts better. The flavor is strong and unsubtle, which matches well with a well-seasoned burger or stands on its own in a grilled cheese.
Just because you don't understand a food doesn't mean it's bad.
are we still talking about Kraft Singles, here? because those have zero flavour
maybe I need to get a refresher on the differences between american cheese in Canada and in the US
If you think Kraft Singles have no flavor, then we must not be talking about the same thing. There's much better American cheese than Kraft Singles, but I can't imagine describing them as bland.
Make a cheese burger or grilled cheese sandwich with American plastic and one with proper Dutch cheese and compare. No way in hell the American cheese (like in the picture) wins.
Just because you never had proper cheese means you don't know what you're talking about.
I've had many different cheeses on my burgers. I'm sure I've even had a gouda burger. They can be fine if you're going for like a specialty burger with other non-standard toppings, but a straight-up cheeseburger? That's not what proper Dutch cheese is made for, so why would you use it like that?
Different ingredients are better in different contexts.
Cheese burger with Raclette cheese :p
Dutch girl here. There is absolutely good American cheese. It's a huge place and they have a lot of great cheese makers, just like how europe has some absolute crap. Go to the Jumbo and pick up some "White salad cubes" and tell me they're better than this.
That said, none of this cheese pictured is good, or even mediocre.
Cool. Another Dutch girl here. Hallo!
True, there really are a lot of people making proper cheese in the US. Wisconsin has a large amount of Dutch-style cheese production (stemming from Dutch immigrants). There's plenty of French ("mold cheese" like camemberts) and Italian style fresh (ricotta, mozzarella) cheese producers. Probably proper British cheddar producers as well.
So yes. Tons of proper cheese being made in the US, all [insert country]-style cheeses though.
But what exactly is "American cheese" then? I'd say this can only refer to this plastic crap. The US exported this yellow dyed cheap plastic curdled milk through McDonald's, then the rest of the world started making "American style cheese" because it is cheap to produce and has a long shelf life.
I would genuinely be interested to hear if there's any exceptions? Are there any actual cheese making processes that were invented in the US that are not a derivative of immigrant cheese-making?
Any Native American (buffalo?) cheeses maybe?
American Cheese is made with Sodium Citrate which is totally fine to eat. It's an emulsifying salt commonly used in molecular gastronomy... It's not plastic. American cheese has its uses like someone else said. It's literally just other cheeses like cheddar or Colby, melted in milk and emulsified with the sodium citrate. What is so bad about cheap cheese that has a long shelf life? Not everyone can afford to eat the fancy mountain-cave aged Swiss alp cheese.
Besides... People have been making cheeses for thousands of years, like how many more different ways to make it can we come up with? It's all the same basic ingredients at the end of the day. There are only so many permutations someone can come up with. The rest of the world kinda had a head start.
Also I just thought of another American cheese invention. How about cream cheese? Do you hate that too?
"It's literally just other cheeses molten in milk and emulsified." That's solidified cheese sauce and still made from [insert country]-style cheeses. The "making cheese of milk", the proces that produces actual cheese and flavour already happened.
I don't even hate it, I like it on a burger or in Mac and cheese. My question was, is there an actual American cheese?
The cream cheese is a nice one! I'm genuinely into cheeses and wondering what type of actual American cheeses there are.
Also, I find this a really funny analogy for USA culture in general.
Pretty sure it got popularized by being distributed to the troops in WWI (and then even more in WWII), not with McDonald's.
Interesting!
I only know this type of cheese as cheap cheeseburger cheese.
But I can now find info about this "processed cheese" included in the rations for US soldiers.
Y'all are a tad bit too adventurous with cheese to my Basque Spaniard liking even.
France agrees with you but also looks down on your cheeses and calls all of them "Gouda" even if not from Gouda haha
Ah I don't mind. It's France, they only have Nice people in one city so I get it. And honestly, Dutch cheese is nice on bread but French cheese is a delicacy. Same with the bread. And I don't know if you ever had Dutch wine, but I'm deeply ashamed we even dared to name it wine.
Nice pun.
Thanks I worked hard on it.
I've had some once at a restaurant in Amsterdam that was grown in Brabant, the sommelier said with climate change it was similar conditions to Burgundy in the 70s, but I certainly couldn't taste that hahaha.
Cheese wise, I like them a lot but indeed they feel maybe a bit more utilitarian than a delicacy (like a lot of Dutch food actually), I would say that some of the ones with more age are tough.
I like to say, the Dutch eat to live, the French live to eat ;)
It even goes as far as that we export the highest quality products and keep the shit ones for ourselves because we're too cheap. Export high quality vegitables to France and import mediocre quality from Egypt for example.
Yes! I learned about this recently and to be honest, I was outraged haha. How I wish I could find a nice coeur de boeuf tomato for example...
...and Austria and Germany.
other dutch guy here, france makes moldcheese 🤮 and america makes plastic cheese, we are the only country that knows how cheese is supposed to taste
It's a matter of taste. I love French mold cheese. But also the French, Spanish, Portugese, Swiss and Italians can make really nice yellow cheese. Better tasting than the average Dutch cheese if you ask me, although the Dutch cheese I buy on the market is really good and much better (and cheaper) than supermarket cheeses.