The Tao of Kraft Dinner
Created | Updated Nov 18, 2003
I was making some Kraft Dinner yesterday and something occurred to me...
Now, this wasn't your regular everyday KD, it was from Kraft but it was one of those fancy schmancy KDs. It was some kind of special tomato and herb KD to be served as a side dish.
I don't know if you've been following the KD news as closely as I have, but about two years ago, the marketing team decided that since their KD product was so consistently popular, they should try to grab some more business by exploring other avenues. The fallout from that particular initiative was the creation of those fancy KDs (there's Tomato n' Herb and an alfredo sauce one and one other) and then there's that new KD for one (the one with that ad with guy coming home and his girlfriend has left him and taken all his stuff).
I went through all the usual steps that one goes through when making regular KD; the boiling, the cooking, the milk, the margarine, the sauce mix, and I got busy on eating what I was hoping to be a KD a cut above the rest (considering I paid an extra dollar or so for it). I remember saying to myself about 5 bites in "Man, this stuff is NOT that good."
Right after saying that to myself I started laughing. What did I expect? Kraft's trying to market a product that has been consistently popular because it's simple and affordable and they've tried to wrap it up in fancy packaging. I'm willing to believe that their production costs stayed basically the same and they marked up the price just a little bit to give it some kind of authenticity.
The marketing aspect is actually not my concern. All companies do the same thing and it's something capitalists have to learn to accept. What does bother me about it is this:
A fly can't bird
And a bird can't fly.
This is a quick except from the Tao of Pooh. It refers to the Taoist principle of sticking to the things you know. It means that an elevator operator does not work on escalators (maybe he or she does, I don't know) and someone from the Second Cup does not go to work at McDonalds(maybe they do, that wouldn't actually surprise me). It means that a tea master sticks to making tea and stays away from making brooms or baskets. If you want to do something well, do something you know how to do.
This concept makes a lot of sense, especially from the Kraft Dinner standpoint, but it does sort of sound self-defeating as far as human endeavours are concerned. The only thing I can say in the face of Taoist principles is that they were here long before any of us and that preach a more unified approach to living with one's environment. People should always try new things, especially if they're gonna be able to identify with other people who've done things that they never have.
Basically all I'm trying to say is that if it's not broke, don't fix it. KD is a staple in Canada, just like rice is a staple in China. You can fancy rice up all you want, but the fact is that you can get rice anywhere and people just prefer to do that fancying shit on their own. I've got my special KD recipies, and I'm sure you've got a couple too. I know for a fact that Health and Welfare Canada would never let Kraft put the stuff in there that I do.
I guess companies are just trying to find new ways to gouge students...
