DCHP-2

Kraft Dinner KD DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — proprietary, Food

  a packaged macaroni and cheese mix (see Image 1).

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — Kraft Dinner was introduced in 1937 in Canada and the US (see the second 2012 quotation). The product was marketed as a new convenience food, taking "only 7 minutes" to cook and serving four people at a cost of less than five cents (see the 1952 quotation). Though Kraft Dinner is an American invention, Canadian consumers quickly embraced the product and its original name (in the US the product is called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, see also the first 2012 quotation and Chart 1).
  Food rationing during World War II further increased the popularity of Kraft Dinner and as women entered the work force its ease of preparation was welcomed.
  Kraft Dinner is still a very cheap product and often considered a quintessential food item for university students (see the 2002 and 2006 quotations). However, the term evokes in some the notion of privation because of its prevalence at food banks (see Rock, McIntyre and Rondeau (2009) and see also The Walrus reference and the 1973, 2007 and second 2012 quotations).
  The term is not listed in COD-2, Gage-5 or ITP Nelson.

  • Kraft Dinner is also commonly referred to as KD (see Chart 2), an initialism that was reportedly coined by Canadian consumers and appropriated by Kraft Canada (see the third 2012 quotation). In 2015 (see quotation), KD became the official name of the product in Canada. In the US the product is called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Kraft Mac and Cheese. In Canada, however, Kraft Dinner has become a generic term for any instant macaroni and cheese (see the fifth 2012 quotation).