Barriers to entry are lower than ever and brands can advertise on social media.
We’re in the midst of a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) revolution. It can’t have a bunch of mess-ups in the name of being the new, cool kids of mac.The result of this cheapness is that (at least) one wrong decision is often made in the name of price. This means it probably gets made for a raw materials cost of $0.44 (grocery markups are usually 100% up and down the supply chain). Remember that for a box of mac to sell at your grocer for $1.75, it has to wholesale at around $0.88. It can’t have a bunch of mess-ups in the name of cost.That’s the goal, to hit the salivary glands like a proper sharp cheddar. Good mac and cheese can have a similar effect - it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Those “flavor crystals” ignite your salivary glands in a way that few foods can. Aged, sharp cheddar should have pieces of calcium lactate in it. Cheese that hits you in the sharp cheddar pleasure centers.And they occasionally opt for slightly-cheaper-but-trash.
I have no idea how much money a brand can save by ditching cheap-but-good noodles for slightly-cheaper-but-trash noodles but I guarantee that the purchasing agents at some of these brands know. Sometimes that means that the noodles are terrible. Because I have some serious thoughts about what makes a good boxed mac & cheese: I’ll be relying on myself as a resource and you should be damned glad to have me. Who the hell else would do that? What a dork! But I stand by my dorky brag.Īnyway, don’t expect any expert quotes here. I care enough about the dish to brag about my authority on it.So when I talk about this dish, I’m able to reflect on it both globally and on the massive food spectrum from “mass-produced slop” to “haute cuisine” - I will now wedgie myself for typing all of that. I get to taste some incredibly elevated dishes as a food writer and have traveled to 50+ countries as a travel writer. I can place it in a very broad context.
And I generally like it more than the fancier versions at restaurants where the chef has a butchery chart tattooed on his forearm. I’ve had boxed mac meals that I’ll remember longer than certain middling pasta dishes in Italy. Not like that’s some incredible thing to brag about, but still… I’m the guy. I am not afraid to call myself the foremost global expert on boxed mac & cheese.
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