ronnie wax

Sometimes called "gub'ment cheese", ronnie wax was a waxy-textured, low fat, low quality cheese product given away in large blocks at food pantries and soup kitchens during the later years of the Reagan administration - hence the name "ronnie wax". Ronnie wax was the result of removing all the valuable nutritional contents (butterfat, milk proteins) from whole milk, then making a yellow, plastic-like cheese from the remaining whey. Ronnie wax was the creation of a mean-spirited, anti-social-welfare Republican government which was hobbled by the Northeast Dairy Compact and forced to support dairy prices by buying large quantities of milk. Deadheads on tour used to drop by the local food pantry and pick up 10 or 15 pounds of ronnie wax and several loaves of cheap white bread. They'd use these to make piles of grilled cheese sandwiches and sell the sandwiches for a dollar each in the parking lot after the concert. The result was enough gas money to get them to the next show.