Unlike this article. You could stand to lighten up a touch on the sarcasm. It's macaroni and cheese, already.

Its marginally interesting topic aside, this piece reads like the final assignment for an undergraduate journalism class.

Let me guess, A.M.deS...you're a 30-something, stay-at-home mom whose children are now old enough to take care of themselves for the most part, and, having met a Salon editor at a party, you convinced yourself that your college newspaper experience would surely be adequate to launch your re-entry into the world at large.

Um.

Wrong.

Smartfood channeled Reagan era zeitgeist? Popcorn can do such a thing? And here I thought it was just a slightly better version of the margarine-y cheddar popcorn sold by manufacturers who sought only the lowest cost of goods - quality be damned. And somehow, using 11 fewer ingredients and donating some profits to worthy causes makes Anne Withey and team the same as Kraft Foods, who owns cigarette companies. This writer needs to find a bigger problem. I'm sorry she feels betrayed by her own naivety but there's no need to share it with everyone else by getting it published on Salon.com. Annie's is decent food at a decent price sold by people who don't sell cigarettes. Go find a real asshole to write about in the food industry and leave your self righteous bunny droppings elsewhere.

Whoa, sorry you didn't like the article. Sure it was a tad snarky, but assholic? Maybe it feels that way because it exposes how shamelessly people with good intentions can be manipulated into buying junk by implying with the feel-good targetted box. Yes, Virginia, people do get rich by exploiting our weaknesses.

The red that may be creeping into your cheeks probably isn't anger... maybe it's embarrassment? But it's OK-- it's just an article, and maybe it'll get people to read labels instead of buying the oh-so-granola packaging and window dressing at inflated prices.

Wait, are you pissed off because it's popular? Reading this article was like listening to that kid in your dorm who always liked the most obscure bands, but then they made it a little big, and he hated them. He went through more bands in a semester than he did undershirts. He was always the coolest kid, because he only liked the obscure and he derided that which was obscure but was later less obscure.

This article followed the insufferable hipster model to a tee, it's good and pure as long as I'm the only upper middle class twit with trendy named kids who serves it, but as soon as it gets big, I hate it. I hope this wasn't a revelation for the author. I was always aware that not all boxes said organic, therefore not all boxes contained organic products, the sauce was made of powder and there were lots of calories.

As her byline says, she's trying to be the bad girl of a American food writing, who cares? Why does she have to be the bad girl, anyway? Does her ego need a dose of smug every so often, or is it a mask for someone who can't write? It's lazy writing to knock someone or something down a few pegs. It's much easier than actually saying something constructive about food. That's why I don't call myself a professional or even a good writer. I guess that's what it takes to be the bad girl of American Food writing, smugness and intellectual laziness.

First things first. Yeah, we make the boxed stuff every now and then. I actually prefer the Kraft to Annie's. What can I say? It's a convenience food, not the foundation of my family's food tree.

Real Macaroni and Cheese is, contrast, a sublime food. Properly prepared, it is a delicious treat. I make it about once a month during cold months. The only reason I don't make it more often is, let's be honest, it's basically fat and starch. Delicious fat and starch, but not the best choice for every other meal.

My experience making it homemade let's me know that if I made the Mac-and-cheese as prescribed in the article (just one extra step), not only would I have more clean-up than with the boxed stuff, but I would have macaroni noodles swimming in a thin milk gruel along with nuggets of cheese curd. You can't just grate cheese over noodles and add butter and milk. You have to make the actual cheese sauce. Heat the milk, add the butter and stir, then add a little flour--without which you get the aforementioned gruel with cheese clumps. For smooth sauce, you need the flour, and you need it cooked separately from the noodles.

Then, for bestest mac-and-cheese, you put it in a caserole dish and bake it for 45 minutes at 350°. I sprinkle a little grated cheese on top for a nice bubbly crust. (I like a 2 parts medium cheddar, 1-part pepper jack cheese mix for my sauce.)

That takes time. And makes a mess. Two pots, the grater at a minimum, plus proper sauce really coats the utensils. It's worth it though.

People pick Annie's or Kraft because they don't want to deal with the mess of real macaroni and cheese. The alternative is not the real thing when time or convenience is of the essence.

It's fucking macaroni and cheese. Of course it isn't healthy.

I used to make homemade mac 'n cheese for my 4-year old daughter (with a white sauce, even!). She refused to eat it. She much prefers Annie's over homemade or Kraft.

I don't feed it to her out of any misguided notion that I'm saving the environment, or supporting a small "hippie" company. I feed it to her because she likes it, and eats it...and I can't say that about very many things these days. Maybe when she gets older her palate will become more discriminating, but for now Annie's gets the job done.

Also, for what it's worth, Annie's has a whole-wheat brand...unless I'm mistaken, that's something the big food companies don't offer.