American cheese, a type of cheese like cheddar, not just from here, is a processed food product and pretty bad, as are the gloppy processed sauces we ladle over everything. Once again, dig a little deeper and you will find small and large shops hand crafting beautiful cheeses all over the country. They may not be cheap but they are tasty. And I'd you have the right connections you may even find soft, young cheeses made with unpasteurizes milk which are illegal to sell here. No law against giving them away so it pays to know the right people.
Scott