Agreed. The “it’s not really food” idea came from labeling requirements that to be labeled cheese, it needs a certain percentage of its ingredients to be cheese. Once upon a time, American cheese slices were made from the offcuts of cheddar, but the popularity of American cheese means that there literally aren’t enough offcuts to be economical… you’d have to make cheddar just to turn it into American cheese.

But guess what cheddar is made from? Milk. Turns out, when making American cheese, it’s possible to skip the aging and culturing process and simply go straight from milk into the cheese slice we know, with less than the mandated amount of aged cheddar added. That means they had to write something like cheese product instead of calling it cheese directly.

But it is still food! In fact, it’s still American cheese… skipping a step in the recipe to get a very similar if not identical result doesn’t change what it is! It uses the same raw ingredients, for crying out loud! It’s still the same stuff!

You’re absolutely right about this. It’s super easy to take a block of high-quality cheddar cheese and melt it with some sodium citrate to make the creamiest cheese dip you’ve ever eaten. And you can make your own sodium citrate with just lemon juice and baking soda

And deli style American cheeses, with lower milk content and thus a firmer, more cheese-like consistency, make the perfect cheese for a good burger. Melty but not stringy.