This sounds suspiciously like my brother-in-law's explanation of how catsup and ketchup are different sauces.

The 'made with' is a dead giveaway. The double smoked aged cheddar I'm munching at the moment is not "made with' real cheese, it IS real cheese. And mighty tasty I might add.

Edit: Some fun facts.

British colonists made cheddar soon upon their arrival in America. By 1790, American cheddars were being exported back to England. The British referred to American cheddar as "American cheese", or "Yankee cheese", and post-Revolution Americans promoted this usage to distinguish their product from European cheese.

Even though the term “American cheese” has a legal definition in the United States as a type of pasteurized processed cheese, products called "American cheese" are by no means identical.

Sort of like a product called Juicy Juice that got into legal trouble years ago. On the packaging it said something like "Made with 100% real fruit juice" or "Contains 100% real fruit juice." People took that to mean that the whole container was entirely full (100%) of real fruit juice. In fact, it was some horribly low percentage of fruit juice in the container. Sure, it was 100% juice that was added, but the total percentage once mixed with other ingredients was less. It also stated "All Natural" and people were upset when it wasn't. Some claims were a combination of both the "All Natural" and "100%" claims plus had large letters stating that it was "GRAPE" and yet the first ingredient was apple juice.

Just because a product *contains* something doesn't mean that it *is* something.

I have had processed American cheese and the real deal. Personally, I like them both, but for different things. They melt differently, have a different texture, and taste different. The real stuff is my preference, and as mentioned before, whenever we buy it, it is already sliced, but not individually wrapped.

I thought the term "American Cheese" referred to Jason Friedberg movies.

All this talk of cheese.

Can't you guys cut it already?

Murph, I had NO clue who Jason Friedberg was, so I looked him up at IMDB. Yeah... Now I see why... He did all of those "stupid movies" that I never, ever, EVER want to be forced to see.

Mark, I think that some cheese has been cut here at work already today. Either that, or some rodent met his maker in the HVAC.

I can find a place for processed cheese on a burger or in a grilled cheese with tomato. It's really all about the texture when melted, taste is pretty much absent in the stuff.

I'll cut the cheese as soon as you let the dogs out.

I agree. That said, There is one type of Laughing Cow processed cheese I like, probably because I ate a lot of it as a kid.

For mild cheese, I much prefer a good Brie.

Yes, but do cows really laugh? Or is it more of a chuckle? And if either, what do they find so funny?