Happy National Picnic Week 2018

There's a national (and sometimes international) day or week for just about any interest you can think of nowadays. Poodles have their day on October 6th, Stamp collecting gets the whole month of October, Strawberries get February 27th, and picnics get June 15th - 24th. What's the deal with a week that doesn't begin on Monday anyway? Was it a ploy to give people time to plan a picnic for the weekend that sits in the middle of picnic week? Something doesn't smell right and I don't think it's the Limburger. Speaking of cheese, why not have a picnic ad?

I have to say this is one of those odd occurrences where I've got a little experience with the products that show up in this 1937 ad from Life Magazine. In my case it's probably expected I'd know Velveeta, Kraft is still manufacturing this fine petroleum-based cheese food product to this very day. And, I guess everyone knows Kraft singles, those plastic slices of salty something that topped the bologna sandwiches of my youth. But, today I'm speaking of the little jars of cheese spread at the left of the ad. My grandparents used to get the Pimento Spread and Old English and I remember them being a feature at many a holiday gathering. Now, I don't really remember them being eaten. I definitely only tried them once. Still seeing them is enough to bring back memories.

Anyway, if you're out to celebrate picnic week, maybe throw some bulletproof cheese products into your basket. If nothing else you can use them to build a signal fire, or you can throw them at bears.

Thanksgiving Dinner - The Borden's Cheese Board

I have to say if an anthropomorphic Elsie offered me a selection from her cheese tray, I'd have to think twice. Borden's was splitting the difference between holidays with this ad that aired in November of 1950. They mention "feast" while showing pine boughs and ornaments.

I also noticed the tray down in the lower right corner features Liederkranz cheese. For those of you who don't know, this is the American version of Limburger cheese. It was created in 1891 by by Emil Frey who would go on to create Velveeta, that staple of American cuisine and hardener of arteries all around the world.

Happy National Grilled Cheese Day

Happy National Grilled Cheese Day, a day that's practically the definition of a festival of cheese! This 1955 ad for the American Dairy Association from Life Magazine presents the post-war wasp with the staples of banal mid-century American life: processed loaf cheddar, cheddar slices, and cottage cheese. The photos are pure fifties food-tastrophe, over-ripe looking plastic with ominous side dishes and awkward staging.  In the "Slice It" frame, what exactly is the moldy-looking log in bondage? In the "Melt It" frame, notice the eye-of-Sauron on liver pate appetizers and the Frodo's missing finger fondue? And in the "Glamorize It" frame, check out the phlegm and Pepto-Bismol aspic with toast points. Okay, so maybe this wasn't the ad for grilled cheese day.

Unlike many ads of the era, the copy actually explains what the mystery dishes in the photos are supposed to be. Interesting difference between '55 and now, cream cheese apparently was a dish until itself. Hardly anyone would just eat cream cheese now, but then they'd cube it and put it on a tray. Still, I'm not sure how they got chili sauce and mayo to turn cheese dip pink...