# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/21 "2015-01-06T17:07:18Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > 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. Yes, but I should have thought that the real import of the question was not so much, “Why do Canadians call it Kraft Dinner?,” but rather “Why does Kraft market it under the name Kraft Dinner in Canada?” Admittedly, there may be no readily available answer to this (short of unearthing some long-forgotten memo from a Kraft marketing executive), but I think it’s a reasonable question to ask. Many products are marketed under different names in different countries, but you can often see why the change might have been made. In the case of “Kraft Dinner,” however, the phrase is so blandly generic and non-descriptive that one wonders how they came up with it. Since Kraft has no problem using the name [Macaroni & Cheese](https://www.google.com/search?q=kraft+macaroni+and+cheese&biw=1680&bih=953&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pBSsVIbyN4eryQTz94GgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ#imgdii=_) in the U.S., surely it’s understandable to wonder why they don’t do so in Canada as well? ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/22 "2015-01-06T17:10:58Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Nothing to add, but I have never, ever heard mac n’ cheese called “kraft dinner”. Mac n’ cheese is not called Kraft Dinner. Only Kraft Dinner is called Kraft Dinner (or more commonly K.D.) If someone says they had K.D. then you know that it was the stuff out of the blue box. If someone says they had mac n’ cheese then it was probably home made. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > Since Kraft has no problem using the name [Macaroni & Cheese](https://www.google.com/search?q=kraft+macaroni+and+cheese&biw=1680&bih=953&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pBSsVIbyN4eryQTz94GgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ#imgdii=_) in the U.S., surely it’s understandable to wonder why they don’t do so in Canada as well? As it was apparently originally marketed as Kraft Dinner in the States as well (as mentioned above) I would assume that Canada had a more developed brand recognition for the name than the US did at the time (I know that the K.D. recognition seems ubiquitous in Canada now) ---
**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, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/23 "2015-01-06T17:20:35Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Since Kraft has no problem using the name [Macaroni & Cheese](https://www.google.com/search?q=kraft+macaroni+and+cheese&biw=1680&bih=953&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pBSsVIbyN4eryQTz94GgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ#imgdii=_) in the U.S., surely it’s understandable to wonder why they don’t do so in Canada as well? No, not really, since Kraft Dinner is, and always has been, the name of the product. What’s reasonable to wonder is why Kraft US decided to change the name. ---
**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, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/24 "2015-01-06T17:51:25Z")
It’s like I’m invisible. Perhaps there were not enough lines in my second post in this thread. If I spread the information out over more lines. Kraft Dinner was the original name for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in both the US and in Canada. I remember when it was called Kraft Dinner here waaaay back in the dim mists of time. It is not our Canadian continental neighbors who need to explain themselves but we here in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/25 "2015-01-06T18:05:53Z")
I seem to recall reading once that Kraft Dinner was rebranded in the US because of poor sales, but I can’t find a cite for that. ---
**Author:** ![susanlinda823](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@susanlinda823](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susanlinda823)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/26 "2015-01-06T18:13:29Z")
Its Kraft Dinner, always was, always will be. If you cant figure out what it is. Than you shouldent even be allowed in a kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/27 "2015-01-06T18:18:17Z")
> [@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. [14th century](http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec6.htm) 😃 **ORIGINAL RECEIPT:** **95. Makerouns. Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerue it on pieces, and cast hym on boiling water & seeþ it wele. Take chese and grate it, and butter imelte, cast bynethen and abouven as losyns; and serue forth.** **- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. _Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury)._ New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.** ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/28 "2015-01-06T20:38:51Z")
it’s likely nutritious so there’s no reason to call it a crap dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/29 "2015-01-06T20:42:30Z")
At the grocery store in which I work, we always call it “blue box”. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/30 "2015-01-06T20:48:32Z")
I call it mac and cheese, but if you refer to Kraft Dinner I’ll know what you mean. Not KD though. That’s the name of a friend of mine. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/31 "2015-01-06T20:56:30Z")
Kraft Dinner was the original name for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in both the US and in Canada. I remember when it was called Kraft Dinner here waaaay back in the dim mists of time. It is not our Canadian continental neighbors who need to explain themselves but we here in the US. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/32 "2015-01-06T21:05:35Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Canadians are smart enough not to be confused by the name when the product is both shown and described on the box. 😛 From the picture on the box, it could be tripe in cheese sauce. ---
**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, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/33 "2015-01-06T23:15:56Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Kraft Dinner was the original name for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in both the US and in Canada. I remember when it was called Kraft Dinner here waaaay back in the dim mists of time. It is not our Canadian continental neighbors who need to explain themselves but we here in the US. This has got to be one of the most beautiful, insightful, trenchant and lyrical post I have ever read in this forum. Surely the gods themselves are shitting their cosmic togas in orgasmic disbelief and awe. BRAVO! **Bup** ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/34 "2015-01-07T00:00:38Z")
Here’s an article that tells you more than you ever wanted to know about KD! > **[Kraft Dinner is Canada’s True National Dish | The Walrus](https://thewalrus.ca/manufacturing-taste/)** > > In a single year, the company manufactured 120 million boxes of powdered cheese and noodles ---
**Author:** ![LouLou7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LouLou7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouLou7)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/35 "2015-01-07T00:37:45Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > This has got to be one of the most beautiful, insightful, trenchant and lyrical post I have ever read in this forum. Surely the gods themselves are shitting their cosmic togas in orgasmic disbelief and awe. BRAVO! **Bup** I agree, Biggirl. Bup has managed to provide information and provoke thought in just these two amazing lines. We owe him our gratitude for fighting ignorance in this thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/36 "2015-01-07T02:18:10Z")
Y’know - it still says “Dinner” on the box here in the US. [http://www.mycouponmeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Kraft-Macaroni-and-Cheese.jpg](http://www.mycouponmeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Kraft-Macaroni-and-Cheese.jpg) For whatever reason Kraft stresses the MACARONI and CHEESE aspects rather than the Dinner aspect. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/37 "2015-01-07T02:44:09Z")
In Canada in the 1970s the really cool kids called it Orange Death. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/38 "2015-01-07T02:44:54Z")
Cause it is. Next question! ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/39 "2015-01-07T04:20:53Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > 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. But Kraft IS a brand, and it has enough brand recognition that (enough) consumers know what it is. I don’t know if a Kleenex box says “tissues” or not, but it really doesn’t need to, either. When I see Charmin wipes, I assume they are for wiping bottoms and not windows. ---
**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 7, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111/40 "2015-01-07T04:26:46Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Did you know you can buy the powder all by [itself](http://www.amazon.com/Kraft-Macaroni-Cheese-Topping-12CT/dp/B000I60JUW)? Hmm, I could totally over cheese my next box with that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-why-is-it-kraft-dinner-in-canada/709111.md?page=3)