# Okay, why is it "Kraft Dinner" in Canada? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111 "2015-01-06T09:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/1 "2015-01-06T09:53:47Z")
I mean, the name tells you absolutely NOTHING about what kind of food it is. Something called “Dinner” could be roast turkey, toro sashimi, curry chow mein, dumpling soup… Literally ANYTHING. I can’t think of a single other product like this. Even the most generic of generic store brands actually tells you what you’re buying; it’s not like it’s Safeway Breakfast or Albertson’s Lunch. Is there some sort of legal thing involved here? Why not just TELL the consumer what the hell they’re buying? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/2 "2015-01-06T11:46:48Z")
[Because that’s what it says on the box.](http://4e2c4a75b45f91d165b8-f1343ecef75bfbb5129598191530262e.r38.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KraftDinner.png) I also remember the large box with Kraft Dinner on it in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/3 "2015-01-06T11:51:07Z")
P.S., it was originally called Kraft Dinner in the US and UK and then changed to Macaroni and Cheese in the US and Cheesy Pasta in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/4 "2015-01-06T12:14:20Z")
Yep, my dad referred to them as “Kraft Dinners” all my life, and he didn’t venture into Canada until after retirement. It’s still the only mac n’ cheese I actually like. MMMMMM, salty cheese powder. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/5 "2015-01-06T12:31:29Z")
Canadians are smart enough not to be confused by the name when the product is both shown and described on the box. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/6 "2015-01-06T13:29:55Z")
Yeah, “Kraft Dinner” bugs me too because of it’s bizarre corporate-esque vagueness. Bachelor Chow is just as descriptive. It helps that U.S. commercials consistently branded it “Kraft Macaroni and Cheese” for at least [three decades](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUQ1VOoCNsY). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/7 "2015-01-06T13:43:08Z")
That’s what we called it growing up in California. I also think that, if you’re going to call it “Macaroni & Cheese”, it should have cheese in it, not a cheese whey mix, but maybe that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/8 "2015-01-06T14:24:22Z")
FWIW, my 85 year old grandmother who has always lived in Indiana calls it Kraft Dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/9 "2015-01-06T14:30:53Z")
Known as Hellman’s east of the Rockies. 🙂 (That was one of the weirder minutiae of moving east… Going from Best Foods land to Hellman’s world…) ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/10 "2015-01-06T14:34:56Z")
Nothing to add, but I have never, ever heard mac n’ cheese called “kraft dinner”. Does this mean that Kraft invented macaroni and cheese? My family and my wife’s family (extended back for generations) have always made homemade mac n’ cheese, and I would have assumed that it existed before Kraft figured out how to convenientize it in a box. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/11 "2015-01-06T14:35:28Z")
I never heard the phrase until I was grown up, and even then only as a Canadianism. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/12 "2015-01-06T15:23:29Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Nothing to add, but I have never, ever heard mac n’ cheese called “kraft dinner”. Not even by Barenaked Ladies? ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/13 "2015-01-06T15:41:18Z")
> [@Lemmytheseal2](#): > > Not even by Barenaked Ladies? Not that I’m aware of. I probably heard it but it didn’t register. Oh… looked it up. The words are too fast for me in that song (If I Had $1,000,000), so I guessed I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/14 "2015-01-06T15:45:18Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > That’s what we called it growing up in California. > > I also think that, if you’re going to call it “Macaroni & Cheese”, it should have cheese in it, not a cheese whey mix, but maybe that’s just me. Maybe that’s it- some kind of Canuck regulatory thing, where they can’t really call it macaroni and CHEESE, so they call it “Kraft Dinner” instead. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/15 "2015-01-06T15:53:58Z")
None of the cool kids call it Kraft Dinner. It’s K.D. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/16 "2015-01-06T16:03:15Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Maybe that’s it- some kind of Canuck regulatory thing, where they can’t really call it macaroni and CHEESE, so they call it “Kraft Dinner” instead. Look again at the picture of a box that Biggirl posted. Notice how the phrase ‘macaroni and cheese’ appears, and the word ‘cheese’ shows up in a big box? Yeah, they’re not breaking the law by doing that. The reason Kraft Dinner is called Kraft Dinner is… Kraft Dinner is the brand name that Kraft markets it under. Simple. Nobody is any more confused by it than by Twinkies not being called Hostess Cream Filled Sponge Cake Logs. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/17 "2015-01-06T16:04:22Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Not that I’m aware of. I probably heard it but it didn’t register. > > Oh… looked it up. The words are too fast for me in that song (If I Had $1,000,000), so I guessed I missed it. “We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner. But we would. Of course we would. We’d just eat more.” ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/18 "2015-01-06T16:06:46Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > “We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner. > But we would. > Of course we would. We’d just eat more.” I’m sure I’ve heard it dozens of times, but it never registered. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/19 "2015-01-06T16:52:26Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Nothing to add, but I have never, ever heard mac n’ cheese called “kraft dinner”. > > Does this mean that Kraft invented macaroni and cheese? My family and my wife’s family (extended back for generations) have always made homemade mac n’ cheese, and I would have assumed that it existed before Kraft figured out how to **convenientize it in a box.** (bolding mine) You misspelled “have it ordained by god to be fit for human consumption”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/20 "2015-01-06T16:54:08Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > It’s still the only mac n’ cheese I actually like. MMMMMM, salty cheese powder. Did you know you can buy the powder all by [itself](http://www.amazon.com/Kraft-Macaroni-Cheese-Topping-12CT/dp/B000I60JUW)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111.md?page=2)