A Surprise About Canada’s Mac and Cheese

When I lived in Canada, we didn’t call macaroni and cheese “Mac and Cheese.” Instead, we called it “Kraft Dinner.” In other words, we referred to the particular brand. I had thought it was identical to Americans’ Mac and Cheese produced by Kraft Foods. But I discovered different on Monday evening.

I had brought back from Canada at the end of my summer vacation [oops–I mean “my summer holiday” since I’m talking Canadian here] at my cottage a box of Kraft Dinner. I went to make it Monday evening. It looks the same and the directions for cooking it are the same.

But there are 2 differences–one small and one big. If you look closely, and if you know your American Mac and Cheese, you can see the differences. The small one is that instead of calling for 1/4 of a cup of milk, it calls for 1/3 of a cup of skim milk. The big one: It calls for 1 tablespoon of non-hydrogenated margarine instead of 4 tablespoons of margarine or butter. In other words, Kraft Dinner doesn’t even suggest butter and suggests that you use 1/4 as much as you would use in the United States. I don’t know why. I do think, from what I know, that margarine is less healthy than butter.