American cheese as we know it today exists because of Canadian and Swiss cheesemaking ingenuity. In 1916, James Kraft, a Canadian cheesemaker, patented a process for pasteurizing cheese in a way that allowed it to be shipped and stored for longer periods of time than ever before. It just so happened that the US military was in the market for stable food products that would still taste pretty good after being shipped to troops overseas. After World War I, American soldiers brought home an acquired taste for the stuff, and it became a grocery staple.