I believe Velveeta cheese started as a way of using up small shreds and pieces of cheese that could not be sold as blocks.

(I think today they purpose-make it, and small blocks are just sold as shredded cheese.)

Sausage was invented (who knows how long ago) as a way of using up the parts of the animal that were otherwise not edible.

I don't think of these things as "inferior", but rather simply as a way of avoiding waste.