On Friday, I asked to assist a fellow intern with her research project involving Blue Box Macaroni and Cheese. Her project is classified, but I wanted to share that from 6 am to 2pm, we created 4 batches of cheese packets from scratch!! This is a childhood dream to be working in a lab coat, with lab equipment, to produce and process this famous product from start to finish!! The procedure is pretty complicated, but the taste is the cheesiest.
On a separate but related note, I asked the Kraft colorist about why the ingredients use Yellow No. 5 & 6 (from ingredient statement), instead of a more natural plant-based dye. Her answer was that the appearance of the product (the actual color and the cling to the pasta) is completely different and unappealing to the consumer.
The idea of aesthetics versus principle is not a new concept in the food systems. Another example of this concept is the idea of "pretty fruit" being chosen, while bruised or blemished fruit (with the same nutritional quality) get wasted. If consumers could sacrifice their idea that food must be perfect and trust the food system to produce quality foodstuffs, then there could be a shift in how many of our products come on the market, and decrease the amount of ingredients and processes used to modify color, texture, sauce cling, cooking time, etc. I hope we see some beta-carotene colored Mac 'n Cheese in the future! Just some food for thought. Comment below to start a discussion!
If consumers weren't so picky, we wouldn't have baby carrots! Baby carrots were created in 1985 by a farmer named Mike Yurosek to minimize the amount of ugly carrots he had to throw away! He used a green bean peeler to peel and cut regular-sized, ugly carrots to become the popular and healthy snack!
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