# What kind of cheese was the government surplus brick sized blocks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786 "2006-07-09T22:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/21 "2006-07-10T00:55:07Z")
Or we could let the farmers be unable to break even on their crops and products, and when the market changes we won’t have any more of that item because too many people that use to grow/raise it went under and lost their jobs when the market was worse. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/22 "2006-07-10T00:59:53Z")
I always heard it was Velveeta. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/23 "2006-07-10T01:03:38Z")
[QUOTE=hawksgirl] Or we could let the farmers be unable to break even on their crops and products, and when the market changes we won’t have any more of that item because too many people that use to grow/raise it went under and lost their jobs when the market was worse. [/QUOTE] Just like most other non-food commodities. Sounds good to me. It’s pretty much the way the market works, and I see no shortage of DVD players, paper towels, celphones or best-seller novels. The theory that we will all starve if we don’t subsidize farmers went out with the depression. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/24 "2006-07-10T01:08:49Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Which really means that the taxpayers are forced to pay the farmers for products that nobody wants to pay for voluntarily. Wish someone would pay ME to make stuff nobody wants, but I’m not a farmer, so I’ll just have to make an honest living instead. [/QUOTE] Yup. Just go back and read any good history of the Great Depression when farmers were slaughtering livestock and dumping milk because commodity prices had dropped so low that the farmers couldn’t afford to buy feed. The whole rationale for government subsidies is the idea that some industries are so essential that it makes more sense for a government to support them than to let them disappear. [In 1924 (before subsidies) milk sold for $0.138 per quart](http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=418). By 2002 all those subsidies pushed the price up to $1.49 per quart. If you’d like to discuss the concept of taxpayer subsidies further, feel free to in Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/25 "2006-07-10T01:28:14Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] If you’d like to discuss the concept of taxpayer subsidies further, feel free to in Great Debates. [/QUOTE] Feel free to start a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/26 "2006-07-10T01:39:13Z")
Back to the OP – The gub’mint cheese was _authentic_ American cheese which, as mentioned, is a mild cheddar sort of thing with a better texture than the ABOMINATIONS called “Kraft Singles Pasturized Process Cheese Food” and its cousins. Which is why it (usually) tasted better - because it’s real cheese, not imitation. (“Cheese food?” 😕 It’s kibble you feed to your pet cheese???) Ah, memories… at the time I was so poor that when occassionally receiving a brick starting to mold I’d just scrape the mold off and eat the rest… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/27 "2006-07-10T01:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=DaveRaver] I always heard it was Velveeta. [/QUOTE] Absolutly NOT! It was **real cheese** , made from real dairy milk. Not a “cheese food product” like Velveeta. (That was the point of the program – to use up the _surplus_ milk production in our country.) And that’s why people remember it fondly – it tasted _much_ better than the cheap ‘cheese product’ people use today for mac’n’cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches. I certainly remember it tasting better. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/28 "2006-07-10T02:49:51Z")
Back in the day I shared a house with a family that got government cheese. I _loved_ that stuff. I wonder if the government could sell it? I’d buy some. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786/29 "2006-07-10T03:08:50Z")
**sampiro**. I apologize if I’m wrong, but I think the thread has been answered, although you may need to search for the few posts that were directed to your OP. Starting with **Khadaji** , would people _please_ try to not hijack threads? Mmmkay? Closed. **samclem** General Questions moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cheese-was-the-government-surplus-brick-sized-blocks/363786.md?page=1)