IIRC, “American” is a technical term of art referring to this process, so theoretically one could have American French cheese and so on.

Yeah, I get that it's funny to rag on all things American and all, but American cheese is still cheese, in the same sense that a sausage is still meat. It's been processed, yes, but aside from some additives the stuff that comes out is the same stuff that went in.

That's my secret for cheese sauces that don't break. I make the sauce and throw in the tiniest bit of sodium citrate. I'm talking 1/4 tsp per quart of sauce. If you can't find the pure stuff, a single slice of American cheese produces the same effect.

I've made cheese sauce out of cheese that shouldn't be used for cheese sauce, like romano, and feta, to make absolutely divine sauces that don't break even when refrigerated.

According to wikipedia:

A mix of ingredients that must include at least 51% cheese (such as a traditionally made cheddar or Colby) is ground, combined with emulsifying agents and other ingredients that may total up to 49%

At least it's mostly cheese. Probably. Good old 'Murica never fails to underwhelm.

If anybody wants to watch someone make it: https://youtu.be/0aGNAxN5Z-o

I mean, it's called Kraft cheese. Does that sound American to you? No! Thats the German word for power. What kind of power? Well you won't hear me saying it's nuclear power, but the coincidence is too big.

(Agreed, you shouldn't listen to the denialists)

Kraft durch Käse

I'm not saying God made Nazis so we could have cheeseburgers, but every timeline without Nazis doesn't have cheeseburgers.

You'll never guess which German city the cheeseburger was named after

That's mighty confident!

My understanding is that there are plausible competing theories, one of which is that hamburgers were iniquity made in Hamburg.

See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger or like a book or something

All kinds of cheese can melt onto a burger patty. The difference is that American cheese melts even when the patty is cold.

Humboldt fog is an amazing cheese but the fancy cheese place only gets it in occasionally so it's a rare treat here :<

the outcome of any process is cheese

is that cheese processed? If it's processed I don't want it

Same; but I also hate the taste of American cheese-product with a complete passion. I prefer a pure cheese, in any context.

"American cheese" is more like a product category than a description of any cheese produced in America.

Just like "Canadian bacon" refers to a specific cut/style of bacon, despite most of the bacon I (a Canadian) have eaten is the kind most probably think about when they think "bacon".

I don't think I've ever had French toast from France, or Italian sausage from Italy.

And if someone didn't like Canadian bacon (can't really blame them; don't hate it but don't love it either) and concluded that all bacon produced in Canada was shitty, I can't say that I would care one way or another. Nationalistic pride never made sense to me. I don't make Canadian bacon or other bacon. That's Jim down the road (though don't tell him I don't love Canadian bacon).