History of Kraft Dinner

It's inexpensive, bright yellow, and everybody loves to hate it.

Kraft Dinner is officially called KD by the company itself.

I don't think it's that bad. It does the job for a quick and easy snack. And at $1.65 a box, what do you expect?

Surely, you don't expect gourmet pasta served by an Italian chef.

For the sake of nostalgia, KD is like chocolate pudding. It's a part of everybody's childhood. There's nothing really wrong with it other than the snob factor.

It was introduced in 1937. The idea actually came to a salesman. He attached grated cheese to boxes of pasta.

Since then, Canadians have been eating it year in and year out. It's said that Canadians purchase 1.7 million boxes of the seven million that are produced globally.

They eat an average of 3.2 boxes per year, which is 55 percent more than the Americans.

KD is actually known as the de facto national dish of Canada (which is funny). Even new immigrants cite it in polls as Canadian food.

KD has to keep up with the times so the company has stopped using artificial colour and has eliminated preservatives. There's KD in a creamier version and KD Spicy.

One prepared cup packs 260 calories and 11 grams of protein, which is really not that bad compared to a burger or a slice of pizza.

KD is high in sodium, but then almost all fast food is.

I wonder 10 years from now if Kraft Dinner will still be part of our culinary landscape.

For home cooks looking for inventive ways to make KD, visit the company website for recipes.