I had one for the first time a week ago. Not because of that commercial (even though I think the girl is adorable) but because someone handed me a creamy swiss wedge and told me to eat it. I found it quite good. So now I’m eating a wedge of Laughing Cow light garlic and herb.
Like squeeze cheese (which I also love), these are far too easy to eat to be real cheese. Even though the package calls them “spreadable cheese wedges”, it’s gotta be processed cheez-fud.
What about Baby Bells? Where do they fall in the cheese hierarchy?
And, while we’re at it, is it the ingredients or the process that differentiates processed cheese food from real cheese?
You can go through the products listed on that page for ingredient information. Which is milk, salt, and enzymes for the hard cheeses, and added whey and cream for the spreadable cheeses.
If it says “cheese” on the label, it has to meet certain FTC standards. Laughing Cow is billed as cheese, so it means it uses dairy products and meets their definition for that type of cheese they are using.
Google is not my friend. Google pretends to be my friend and then laughs at me when my back is turned. Google is telling me exactly what the package is telling me and I know packages fudge the truth.
If it’s swiss cheese on the package, then how come it doesn’t have holes? Kraft macaroni says it’s the cheesiest but there ain’t no damn cheese in a Kraft dinner. And the FDA site tells me nothing about why something is cheese while something else is processed cheese food.
I know it marks me as a dairy philistine, but I actually like Laughing Cow cheese. At least, it’ll do until I can get some true Venezuelan Beaver Cheese.
I frequently find myself wishing I liked Laughing Cow, since it’s the only cheese that’s socially acceptable to just chomp a big lump of as an adult, but I’ve just never liked it. Not that it’s awful, just not quite my thing.
Yes, Kraft says it’s the cheesiest. Notice they don’t use the word cheese. The label can’t lie if there are FDA regulations of how you can use a word
As for the difference: processed cheese involves taking already made cheese and grinding it up, mixing it with additives, and making another cheese-like product. Real cheese is made from milk and fermenting ingredients. The Wikipedia articles on processed cheese and just plain cheese are rather good.
As for what Laughing Cow cheese is: It’s unaged cheese. There’s not enough time for the bubbles to form in the Swiss.
Laughing Cow’s cow is laughing because people are uninformed enough to buy the product. It’s cheese, but it’s poorly made and full of air; probably the worse fromage blanc you can buy. Make your own and find out what it’s supposed to taste like.
I gotta say, I am really not interested in developing my palate (or whatever the terminology is) to the point that I have to make my own cheese in order to truly be satisfied with my cheese flavor nuances. Seriously, I have a lot of crap to get done on a regular basis and cheese-making is just never going to be a priority for me.
Also, if this wasn’t enough ammunition for you to judge me as some kind of culinary philistine, I will add that I feel the same way about coffee. If I ever develop a taste for el primo coffee and stop liking Folgers, my grocery budget will go up by some intolerable amount. So I shall continue to like Folgers just fine.
On-topic: I am actually quite surprised to find out that Laughing Cow is real cheese. I had assumed it was some sort of Kraft Singles-like “cheese product.” I am intrigued now.
Thank you for explaining this as if I were an idiot. I am not being sarcastic. I am an idiot and needed this.
I taste the Cow that Laughs and I spit sptwee!. I cannot eat such swill! If it has not passed through the enema’d intestines of an unborn calf, it cannot call itself cheese!
O.K., that was sarcastic. Like I said, I like squeeze cheese (cheese in a can) on a cracker occasionally. Kraft individual slices look, feel and taste like plastic to me. Taste. It’s all in our mouths.