Just say cheese

When I spent my summers as a young lad in New Jersey with my mother's family, I was introduced to a few foods that we didn't have in Canada (at least - at the time). Things that stand out include Twinkies; pork roll (fried up yummy); Steak 'Ums (essentially frozen processed steak in strips meant to be fried and made into a Philly steak 'n cheese sandwich); and American Cheese.

It never really occurred to me that American cheese is only available in America. You'd think that a cheese proud enough to have the national label put on it would be exported around the world. But you'd be wrong. Because American cheese isn't real cheese - it's processed cheese. It isn't even specific enough to be the same colour around the US. In New Jersey (or at least - Trenton NJ), the cheese was white, but it also comes in every other colour of the cheese spectrum. My grandmom would buy it in a stack that was pre-sliced and each slice is separated by a piece of waxed paper.

I often wonder what the nearest equivalent of Canadian processed cheese would be like American cheese.