I have the orange wrapped slices in my fridge solely because the children (who have terrible taste) beg for them. For myself I buy better cheese, but it's still a pretty far cry from fancy. We're talking cojack, swiss, provalone, and cheddar slices, shredded cheddar and mozzarella, and the occasional block of pepper jack. Usually from Aldi, but they could easily be found at any discount grocer. I feel like this is a pretty common state of affairs in middle America.

It doesn't help that the markup on real cheese at most stores is extreme. Going to a grocery store with a flat percentage markup over wholesale on everything was pretty eye opening - cheese was much, much cheaper, and milk was actually more expensive.

I'd bet it's correlated to socioeconomic class. Younger, college educated, higher income, urban, and coastal are all probably markers of someone who is willing to spend more for better cheese. But there is quite a gap between Kraft/Velveeta and fancy cheese. I wouldn't say Tillamook or Cabot are fancy, just that they're decent cheese brands.

I also wouldn't classify Kraft slices or Velveeta as cheese, and the FDA doesn't either.

Where I live Tillamook is just the normal run of the mill cheese. Definitely nothing special (though I do think Tillamook ice cream is the best brand my grocery store carries). You have to go to a different area of the store to get the upscale cheeses.

>I wouldn't say Tillamook

Can't say I've ever even heard of/seen this brand although their product locator shows them at the grocery I shop at, looks like the only thing sold in my state is their shredded cheddar.

>or Cabot are fancy,

Again I've never seen this but my grocery also allegedly has 3 of their products, all 2lb bricks of cheddar. Looks like a store about 20 minutes away has 20 of their products, all cheddar but weird ones like horseradish, hot habanero, port whine spreadable.

Most of the stores seem to have 0-3 of either brand's products.

You'll see a lot of Sargento's 'snack bites' and packs of 11 slices of a few varieties though but every one I've ever tried was not worth the price and was often extremely dry/waxy.

Other than that, and the fancy case, it's some store brand bricks of a few cheddars, store and kraft brand shredded cheeses, Kraft slices and Velveeta.

I had nostalgia for grilled cheese made with individually wrapped slices of cheese from my childhood. We never buy that stuff, but one year for my birthday I told my wife I wanted to have grilled cheese with those kraft slices again. I quickly discovered that my palate has changed in the intervening decades ;-) The kids didn't like it either, fortunately. We threw out what was left of the package.