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But if I remember right, when they were handing out government cheese, it was all American cheese. At least the two truckloads of government that my kitchen was sent.
A long time ago, the Feds had so much surplus cheddar, they were handing out 2 lb. bricks of it, in our town. There were no qualifications to receive it, other than the recipients had to have a pulse. If there were 10 people living in your house, they could all go through the line and get their 2 lbs. I had several housemates at the time and they all went through each of the several lines. We got tired of all that cheese, after a week. It was good quality, but mild in flavor.
Reminds me of that "Notyocheese" joke I heard in high school back in the '70's.
I thought it was the "Nacho cheese" joke.
I have tasted USDA cheese in the early 70's and in the 1990's, the earlier stuff had flavor, the newer stuff is just like Velveeta. Blech.
I think the problem with treating milk like a commodity and having the gov't interfere with prices, is that it is NOT like any other commodity. Wheat prices down? Plant soybeans next year. Soybeans down, plant corn. But if you have cows, they need to eat and get milked regardless of what the price is. You can't just trade them in for something else. Either you are in the milk business, or you sell your herd and go to work in a store. We used to live in an area with dairy farms and there were years when the price they got for milk was below the price of production. It may be that way today, I haven't kept up. The big farmer who was milking 150 cows for a co-op dairy that he belonged to, was losing money like crazy. His neighbor across the street, who was milking maybe 20 Guernseys and making specialty cheese that they shipped all over North America, was doing fine.
I generally buy shredded cheddar and mozza for cooking, I regularly get it at around $4-5 a pound. To me that is cheap.
I have tasted USDA cheese in the early 70's and in the 1990's, the earlier stuff had flavor, the newer stuff is just like Velveeta. Blech.
I think the problem with treating milk like a commodity and having the gov't interfere with prices, is that it is NOT like any other commodity. Wheat prices down? Plant soybeans next year. Soybeans down, plant corn. But if you have cows, they need to eat and get milked regardless of what the price is. You can't just trade them in for something else. Either you are in the milk business, or you sell your herd and go to work in a store. We used to live in an area with dairy farms and there were years when the price they got for milk was below the price of production. It may be that way today, I haven't kept up. The big farmer who was milking 150 cows for a co-op dairy that he belonged to, was losing money like crazy. His neighbor across the street, who was milking maybe 20 Guernseys and making specialty cheese that they shipped all over North America, was doing fine.
I generally buy shredded cheddar and mozza for cooking, I regularly get it at around $4-5 a pound. To me that is cheap.
That is what the kid told his mother, but what I wrote was what the guy chasing him was actually saying when yelling at the thief to bring it back.
I graduated HS in mid 60's and I remember them handing out commodities when I was in Jr High. The peanut butter rather hard and dry but we ate it anyway.
My dad liked that commodity peanut butter because it was like the peanut butter when he was younger. All the oil was on top of the peanut butter and you had to stir it up. He loved it that way.
I couldn't bring my self to try to canned pork in the commodities but others said it was pretty good. We couldn't eat all 4 boxes of cheese we got but a couple I worked with paid $5/box for what we didn't want or need.
All I know is I would buy more cheese if it wasnt so expensive.
Back when I consumed dairy, I only bought cheese at the commissary. It was much too expensive for me at other places.
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