The Laughing Cow

The Laughing Cow is a brand of processed cheese products made by Fromageries Bel since 1921. The name refers in particular to the brand's most popular product, the spreadable wedge.
Description
The cheese is a blend of cream, milk, and fresh and aged cheeses, particularly comté, which are pasteurized to stop the ripening process. Versatile and portable because of its pasteurization process, Laughing Cow can remain unrefrigerated for a limited length of time. The archetypal Laughing Cow cheese comes wrapped in the individual serving-sized foiled wedges and they are packaged in a round, flat box. Consumers have to pull a little red thread around the box to open it and the foil packaging also features a red tab for opening. The company was founded in 1921. The Laughing Cow is available in these formats in different worldwide markets:
Triangles, squares, or rectangles in various flavors.
Spreadable tubs and jars
The Laughing Cow Dip & Crunch (or Pik & Croq in mainland Europe), previously named Cheez Dippers, which are snacks consisting of bread sticks and cheese spread, and these come in four varieties; original, light, hazelnut and pizza
Slicing blocks of The Laughing Cow with a harder consistency like that of butter
, pods of cheese spread to be eaten out of the pod with a spoon, especially for younger children
Toastinette processed cheese slices, similar to Kraft Singles
Bite-sized cubes, in various flavours and designed to be served as aperitifs at cocktail parties - which are called Cheez & Fun in many European countries, and also Snack Bites in the UK, in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, PartyCubes in Canada, Mini Cubes in Australia and New Zealand, and Belcube in Japan and South Korea. They are produced in 24- or 48-cube boxes of one flavour, e.g. blue, ham, salmon, chili pepper and olive, or they are produced in 24- or 48-cube boxes of a particular theme, e.g., 'Cocktails du Monde', 'Petites Recettes', 'Tex-Mex' and 'Indian'.
Discontinued formats of The Laughing Cow include:
Giggles/Blop processed cheese pods for younger children
Squeeze bottles
Big Cheez Dipper (a larger version of Cheez Dippers)
Cheez Double Dippers (which contained crispy bacon flavour bits in addition to bread sticks and cheese spread).
The Laughing Cow USA introduced a TV commercial in 2009 where the company introduced a new slogan, "Have you laughed today?". In 2010 they updated the brand's website to include cheese recipes.
Laughing Cow cheese is available in its original flavour, a light version with 7% fat, and an ultra-light version with 3% fat. In addition, flavoured versions of the cheese (such as ham, gruyère, garlic, paprika, mushroom, chèvre, bleu, hazelnut, pizza, jalapeño and onion) are also available in various markets worldwide.
Evolution of the brand
The Laughing Cow is a red and white cow depicted as being jovial, and almost always wearing ear tags that look like the round boxes the cheese comes in. On April 16, 1921, Léon Bel trademarked his brand, as , in France. Bel had made the original drawing himself, after seeing a travelling meat wagon during World War I called , a play on the word for Valkyrie. The cow in the original drawing was not red and did not wear ear tags. In 1924, illustrator Benjamin Rabier edited the drawing into something more like the image that prevails today. The blue and white stripes around the box date from 1955. Since 1976 both ear-tag boxes have been shown with the top side visible. Before then, one tag showed the top and the other showed the bottom side. The current logo uses the Droste effect, with the laughing cow appearing inside the ear tags.
Kiri (pronounced in the same way as ) is a separate brand that Bel established in 1966.
Worldwide popularity
The cheese has long been popular in the United Kingdom and Canada as a children's snack. The cheese has also been a constant, but hardly popular, product in the United States for a number of years.
Localized names include:
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The Laughing Cow in English-speaking countries, the rest of Canada, and
in German-speaking countries except for Switzerland
in Spanish-speaking countries
in Portuguese-speaking countries
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Other associations
The product name and indicia were adopted by the crew of World War II German submarine U-69, whose sinking of the was significant to US entry into World War II.
is the name of an EP by late 1980s Washington, D.C., punk band Rain with connection to Dischord Records.
is the name of a 1982 EP by UK Anarchist Punk band Zounds.
is the name of a finishing move in the 1994 video game Primal Rage. The character Vertigo will move up to an opponent and transform them into a cow, which makes a disconcerted moo as it runs away.
('The reading cow') is the children's book prize of the city of Zürich, and a children's book program in the Auvergne region of France.
The Laughing Cow's mascot appears on the cover of the 2002 album Human by UK electronic musician Freeform.
See also
Emmi AG - manufacturer of Swiss Knight brand of spreadable cheese wedges
Dairylea (cheese) - Similar popular spreadable cheese in UK/Ireland
Babybel - another internationally distributed snack-sized cheese product produced by Fromageries Bel
References
External links
The Laughing Cow at The Bel Group's web site
The Laughing Cow Brand site features cheese recipes and snack cheese information
La Vache qui rit official site
La Maison de La Vache qui rit – A museum operated by Fromageries Bel. (:fr:La Maison de La Vache qui rit)
French cheeses
Fictional cattle
Cattle mascots
Processed cheese
Food advertising characters
Female characters in advertising
Mascots introduced in 1921
Brand name dairy products
Products introduced in 1921
Food and drink introduced in 1921