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Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

nytimes.com

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Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#141

Post by draw_down »

mbesto wrote: post #138
jedberg wrote: post #129

We did the same thing at reddit when we upgraded the search system. First we put a little survey on every search result that said "Are you satisfied with these results? yes/no". After we collected enough data, we changed the entire search backend out, but told no one. After a few months of collecting data showing the satisfaction go from ~70% to ~90%, we made a blog post explaining what we did. Here's the real kicker…

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

> Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency.

Ad agencies doing marketing? Those bastards!

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#142

Post by ashmud »

ksherlock wrote: post #73
brianmersenne wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sweetener isn't part of the Coca-Cola formula (or more specifically, isn't part of the Coca-Cola concentrate). Coca-Cola provides unsweetened concentrate to independent bottlers, and the bottlers add high fructose corn syrup, sugar, or both during the bottling process. Some US Coca-Cola bottlers still only use sugar for sweetener.

Ahh, that's interesting. I remember Coke (KO) bought out the US distribution/bottling from Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) in 2010 but Wikipedia says 5-10% of US Coke is still bottled by a handful of independent bottlers. Allegedly, Kosher For Passover Coke (which should be available soon if not already) uses sugar.

Also, so called Mexican Coke is made with sugar. Though not necessarily all Coke sold in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Coke

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#143

Post by Arcsech »

douche wrote: post #108
maxerickson wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy an emulsifier and add that directly (sodium citrate). Sodium citrate mac cheese is enough to Google for.

Looks interesting, but way, way too fussy. I really don't understand why people make macaroni and cheese recipes so complicated, with the cream sauces and baking it and all that. It's incredibly easy and delicious if you just boil the pasta, strain it, throw it back in the pot, then chuck in butter, a little bit of milk, and cheese, and simmer until the cheese melts. Literally the Kraft dinner directions, just with r…

Adding sodium citrate to a cheese sauce is the best way I've found of making it less fussy. It's literally like pixie dust - you sprinkle some into some water, melt some cheese in the water, and bam: smooth, creamy cheese sauce with no chance of it separating.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#144

Post by colomon »

oftenwrong wrote: post #57
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #4

This strategy is how I imagine the "least painful" transition from init to systemd in a distro would go: someone would make the change, tell everyone to update, and then ask if anyone noticed.

Linux users tend to be aware of update contents. They read the changelogs, review the list of packages that will be updated, etc. I've been using a mac at my new job, and a dialog box popped up today asking if I wanted to update. The options were something like "Not now" and "Update all". How am I supposed to know if I want to update if I don't even know what's going to be updated?

Click on the text box (not on the buttons) and it will bring up the update software and let you know what it wants to update.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#145

Post by jedberg »

mbesto wrote: post #138
jedberg wrote: post #129

We did the same thing at reddit when we upgraded the search system. First we put a little survey on every search result that said "Are you satisfied with these results? yes/no". After we collected enough data, we changed the entire search backend out, but told no one. After a few months of collecting data showing the satisfaction go from ~70% to ~90%, we made a blog post explaining what we did. Here's the real kicker…

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

> In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!").

That's a fair assessment in regards to the search example, but the move to EC2 example is completely analogous. If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away, but by announcing it after the fact we could point out that no one noticed until we said something (which we did in the comments after they said they noticed something).

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#146

Post by logfromblammo »

Symbiote wrote: post #123
logfromblammo wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are paying more than the equivalent of US$1 per box, no. Kraft Mac & Cheese is the spiritual equivalent of top ramen noodles, artificial cheese flavor. There is no intrinsic American cultural value to it. Many of us do grant it some nostalgia value, because we grew up without a lot of money, and it was, and still is, cheap and filling food for poor people. A suitable protein accompaniment is a can of chunk lig…

It's actually an English recipe. Here is an 1859 version of the recipe, from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management . http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10136/pg10136-images.htm... And here's the original, from 1786 in The Experienced English Housekeeper : http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.rsmcze;view=1up;se...

Kraft Mac & Cheese bears little resemblance to anything you might achieve at home using your pantry staples and a recipe book. That is, unless you have an industrial-sized pasta extruder at home, and standing orders for sodium citrate and annatto coloring by the ton.

It cleverly evokes the idea of better food, so that what you are actually eating seems somehow less disappointing. There are other brands that reproduce more faithfully the concept of the original recipe, but they may cost 2-5 times as much as Kraft's.

Also, a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese can be prepared in one saucepan on one stove burner or hot plate in less than 15 minutes, spent mostly waiting for the water to boil, whereas "real" macaroni and cheese recipes may involve cheese graters, pasta strainers, multiple saucepans, and maybe even a casserole dish and time in the oven. This point may be important if you have to feed your kids quickly after school, before going to your second job, as many heads of household in the U.S. are required to do in order to fund the monthly budget. (The kids might be able to eat both breakfast and lunch at their schools, depending on the relative affluence of the neighborhood.)

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#147

Post by th0ma5 »

mbesto wrote: post #138
jedberg wrote: post #129

We did the same thing at reddit when we upgraded the search system. First we put a little survey on every search result that said "Are you satisfied with these results? yes/no". After we collected enough data, we changed the entire search backend out, but told no one. After a few months of collecting data showing the satisfaction go from ~70% to ~90%, we made a blog post explaining what we did. Here's the real kicker…

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

You mentioned Coke Zero. I've often wanted a no-calorie unsweetened Coke flavored soda. I don't know enough about palate to know if something like that would even work, but I think a lot of the flavors I like about Coke aren't really the sweetness per se. I abhor all of the artificial sweeteners.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#148

Post by jsprogrammer »

jedberg wrote: post #145
mbesto wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddi…

> In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!"). That's a fair assessment in regards to the search example, but the move to EC2 example is completely analogous. If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away, but by announcing it after…

If the change was actually good, why would people claim it was bad?

>If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away,

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#149

Post by mathattack »

duaneb wrote: post #133
mathattack wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've started making our own (just macaroni and melted cheese) with my kids. It tastes better, but the one thing we haven't been able to replicate is the bright orange color.

The bright orange is annatto. On a personal note, I find the color to be nauseous.

Me too - somehow the kids like it though. And anything brown or green gets labeled as Mud.

Re: Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50M Boxes Later

#150

Post by hinkley »

Symbiote wrote: post #97
blakes wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's nothing special on it's own, but if you want to get crazy with it, throw a can of tuna in it as you mix in the cheese. And some onion. And a little bit of pepper. And if you love bacon, some bacon bits. It turns it into a very full inexpensive meal and it is super tasty.

At that point, you may as well make the cheese sauce yourself.

And then bake it in the oven.

Casserole!

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