Here's Why Cheez-Its Aren't Actually Square-Shaped

The sky is blue, grass is green, and Cheez-Its are square. Right? Wrong. Cheez-Its are technically not square. We know, this is a bombshell, and we understand if you need to take a moment.

According to the product's website, Cheez-Its have been around for a whole century. They're a supremely popular, comfortingly familiar go-to from school lunches to, well, work lunches. We know what we're getting when we reach for that red box or a snack-sized red bag: cheesy, salty, crunchy, toasty goodness. When the Green & Green company introduced Cheez-Its, as their website explains, the crackers were precisely 1" x 1." It was, at the time, hip to be square. 

In its 100 years of life so far, the Cheez-It has gone through many tweaks in appearance, new flavors, and even being made by four different companies. Cheez-Its finally landed at Kellogg's, and in 2015, their box got a makeover. The snack itself must have gotten a slight makeover somewhere along the way, because while they started as 1" by 1" squares, Thrillist reveals that Cheez-Its currently measure up at 26 by 24 millimeters. That's 1.02 x 0.94 inches. That means that Cheez-Its are actually rectangular.

If you stare at your next handful of Cheez-Its long enough, you may be able to notice the slightest difference in the length. Or, maybe you even want to get out your ruler. Otherwise, the discrepancy of 0.08 inches that takes these crackers from square to rectangle is probably going to be undetectable, especially as you rush to get that deliciousness into your mouth.

Kellogg's is honest about the stuff that matters, so we're willing to let the whole "square" identity of Cheez-Its remain intact despite the subtle rectangular-ness of it all. In 2010, AdWeek reported that the brand created a whole campaign to let people know that the cheese used in Cheez-Its is 100% real. We also know that the original Cheez-It variety's bright orange hue comes not from that real cheese, but from a natural food dye: paprika and paprika extract color. So far, still so good. With cheesy crunch coming from identifiable sources listed on the Kellogg's website, who cares if these rectangles are masquerading as squares?

Besides, the shapes and sizes get even more loosely interpreted in the form of Cheez-Its' other iterations. Cheez-Its come in "Extra Big" size, they come in wavy shapes in the form of Snap'd flavors, they come with grooves, and they even come as popcorn, which is decidedly not square. All in all, learning the truth about Cheez-Its is one tasty geometry lesson.