I’ve been thinking about this recently since I’ve been making a lot of pasta and I actually prefer the taste of Kraft parmesan cheese on a lot of things over the “real” parmigiano reggiano especially when it’s used as a topping eg. ceasar salad and pasta. I find that parmigiano reggiano has way too strong of a flavor and it clashes too much when eaten with other things.
I don’t know what this Kraft thingamabob tastes like, but I recently tried this soy-based parmesan-like topping and well, it certainly tastes different from parmigiano reggiano and it doesn’t taste perfect, but I don’t either think that parmigiano reggiano tastes perfect, so I’m kind of undecided, taste-wise.
Parmigiano reggiano just has this pungent rennet taste, which means you can only use it in homeopathic doses…
Half of my plate of pasta is parm or other hard Italian cheese so to each of their own I guess
Yeah, that is the intended use case for many strongly flavored cheeses: a little goes a long way. There’s still dieting info that recommends feta or extra sharp cheddar or Gorgonzola, for exactly this reason. Even though it tends to have higher fat content, you can get the flavor with a small amount and eat lower fat overall