Tasty Propaganda: War, French Toast, and American Cheese

After reading and discussing the New York Times article about the renaming of French fries and toast, I decided to look up whether those dishes were even from France to begin with. While neither of them were indeed French, the name of French toast was tied to politics long before Congress's announcement in 2002. Prior to World War I, "French toast" as we know it today may have actually been called "German toast" in the US. As anti-German sentiments built, it is said that Americans adopted the name of their ally France for the breakfast dish, thus attaching patriotic attitudes to the foods they ate and talked about.

The historical and current meanings of American cheese take a similarly political connotation, although they remains truer to geographical origins. When America was first establishing itself independently (1790ish), its inhabitants made and exported some cheese, usually a mix of Colby and cheddar cheeses. It was known as American cheese in Europe because, well, it came from here. In America too, the term was readily adopted, in order to distinguish the local cheese from European cheese, patriotically encouraging Americans to support their nation in the marketplace. Many years later, the use of the term was again encouraged, this time during World War II. In 1942, a ban was set against buying any cheese that was not "American." This title was used as support for the war effort from the home front, bolstering local morale and commerce. However, at the time, "American cheese" was still actual cheese; by 1950, the use of that term had changed, to mean the packaged, orange processed food cheese we are more familiar with today. Now, the term "American cheese" does not popularly have to relate to a product that was actually made in America, although that is the legal definition. Instead, all such processed (fake) cheese is termed as American, especially abroad,  perhaps because the processed nature of it seems characteristic of American food culture.