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A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

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Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#51

Post by kalleboo »

mikorym wrote: post #15
greggman wrote: post #7

This topic brings up the issue of wrapping in Japan. Japan is notorious for having excessive wrapping. Individually wrapped cookies in a box with a plastic tray to hold each cookie. The bottom half of the box is sealed with a plastic tear off cover. The top of the box slides over. Then the entire box is wrapped in paper. If you purchase if they will then put it in a branded paper bag. If it's raining they will then p…

In South Africa, you pay for the plastic bag, unless it's not a perishable product.

In Japan major supermarket chains now give you a discount if you choose to refuse a bag, but it's on the order of 2 yen, and it's an "opt-out" thing rather than an opt-in thing.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#52

Post by Someone »

sithadmin wrote: post #49
jdietrich wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Processed American cheese is still in fact a cheese, and whether you like it or not Not according to EU law. Over here, Kraft Singles could only be described as "processed slices (made using a blend of cheese, vegetable oils and milk proteins)".

Again, this is a type of snobbery, it's just encoded into law. The product tastes like a cheese. It contains the components of a cheese. It is used in applications where a cheese is used. It's not a great cheese, nor a traditional cheese, but it is in every way, functionally, a cheese. As long as consumers are clearly informed about what they are eating (via labeling) and the food is safe for humans to consume, const…

“Constructing a legal definition of products like ‘cheese’” is the way various governments ensure that consumers are clearly informed about what they are eating (via labeling).

If it weren’t forbidden, this product would be sold in a package showing cows and cheese wheels, with “CHEESE” in huge letters on it, and, in a place people wouldn’t look at and in tiny low-contrast letters, a remark that this is processed protein made from diary.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#53

Post by cwkoss »

vinceguidry wrote: post #21

> a small 5# process cheese cooker. Things like this make me wish I had a more rural lifestyle and had the space for stuff like this. Cooking is great and all, you can do an awful lot with just tools you can store in a kitchen. But experimenting with ingredients , and man, tools is a whole 'nother level. YouTube channels like Alex French Guy Cooking where he makes his own mozzarella, worked with other YouTube makers…

The post scarcity economy is going to be so cool.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#54

Post by KozmoNau7 »

YinglingLight wrote: post #43
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it technically a "processed cheese product"? Why eat something so intensely boring, when there is so much great cheese out there?

Take pride in what you create, rather than what you consume.

I make amazing food, using quality ingredients.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#55

Post by KozmoNau7 »

Pfhreak wrote: post #44
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it technically a "processed cheese product"? Why eat something so intensely boring, when there is so much great cheese out there?

I used to agree with you. Then I read this: https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/07/whats-really-in-american... The answer to your second question is: Texture. The way process (not "processed") cheese melts is definitely different than similar cheeses. There's a gooeyness and meltability that's unique for applications like a grilled cheese or burger, and good process cheese is just cheese that's been melted with a few sa…

I know there's a reason people like it, but when you can have cheddar instead, I still don't understand why anyone would prefer American cheese, other than nostalgia.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#56

Post by Broken_Hippo »

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #9

If plastic waste on cheese slices bothers you from environmental perspective, please do not google Japanese candy / sweets as those come individually wrapped, packaged in more plastic, inside a box, wrapped by plastic. When I was first introduced to Japanese sweets I could not wrap, tehee, my head around the reasons for why this is happening.

I'd be likely to buy such things slightly more often, since I could eat a few and not waste the rest. The way it goes now is that i have packaging anyway that gets thrown out, but half a box of cookies is likely to get thrown out as well.

I recycle all of my plastic. I use enough reusable bags that I have to buy trash bags - the current batch is made from corn and is compostable. But through all this, I'm not sure that a responsible plastic being recycled or composted is any worse than throwing out actual food.

Additionally, perhaps it would be easier for folks to control their eating with the packaging just because it takes so much longer to eat. My understanding is that the bubble packaging on pills helps to reduce suicide in a similar vein (it deters folks overdosing on pills, at least).

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#57

Post by rexpop »

chrisseaton wrote: post #17
derefr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some major major concerted national PR effort against it, getting celebrities, politicians, etc all on board pushing for months or years Why do you need PR when the parties responsible for all this wrapping are corporations ? It’s not the dagashi down the street giving you six layers of wrapping. When big corporations are doing something you don’t like, you don’t use PR to fix it. We’ve had plenty of PR about recyc…

> When big corporations are doing something you don’t like, you don’t use PR to fix it. > No, the way to make corporations change their behaviour, is to just make a law about it. But for example society in the UK and US (not sure where else) has basically just decided that plastic straws are not acceptable, and major corporations have made huge changes in a matter of months to remove them. That's much faster than imp…

These are the "huge changes" to which you refer? https://www.facebook.com/mcsuk/posts/10156716876190086

Individually plastic-wrapped paper straws? No, yours is not a good example of corporations respecting human needs.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#58

Post by mikorym »

majewsky wrote: post #38
mikorym wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In South Africa, you pay for the plastic bag, unless it's not a perishable product.

> unless it's not I think there's one negation too many in there. You're saying that you pay for the plastic bag if it is a perishable product, which sounds backwards.

In SA, you pay for any plastic bag that is bought at a supermarket or similar store. If it contains a product which is not perishable (like clothes), then you usually get a different type of paper or plastic bag with it without charge.

I think I said this in a funny way, because this slightly differs from store to store—I am not sure whether the regulations are applied uniformly. (Takeaways, for instance.) But yes, if it is perishable, then usually you pay for the bag.

Re: A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf]

#59

Post by Doxin »

joezydeco wrote: post #41
Doxin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in practice individual slices all go bad at (roughly) the same time. If a block of cheese goes moldy you can just slice off the mold and keep going. Cheese goes bad outside-in, pre-sliced cheese has way more surface area.

Processed cheese dries out very rapidly when exposed to the dry air inside a refrigerator.

So does nonprocessed cheese. You'll want to store it in something nonpermeable like modern cheese paper, or a small plastic bag.
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