Mac and Cheese Mania

Humans had been pairing pasta with rich, gooey cheese since long before Jefferson discovered this delectable dish. The first pasta-and-cheese recipes were written in Italy in the 1300s. From there, the creamy treat began to make its way across Europe.

For centuries, however, only the very rich could afford it. Kings and queens spooned the melty cheese and noodles out of golden dishes, while ordinary people could only dream of savoring such a delicacy.

In the late 1700s, affluent travelers like Jefferson started bringing mac and cheese to the United States. Wealthy Americans were dazzled by this luxurious food from Europe. But macaroni and cheese hadn’t had its big breakthrough yet. 

By the 1930s, mac and cheese had come a long way from its posh European beginnings. Cooks in the U.S. had started preparing it with cheap American cheddar and noodles instead of pricey Parmesan and pasta imported from Italy. Once a royal treat, mac and cheese had now become a meal almost anyone could afford. (Europe’s kings and queens would have been horrified.)

And Americans were desperate for affordable meals. The country was in the middle of a dark time called the Great Depression. Millions of people didn’t have jobs. Many were struggling to buy enough food to feed their families. Cheap and filling, mac and cheese was the perfect meal for hard times. But in many parts of the country, mac and cheese was still unknown.

A pasta salesman in St. Louis, Missouri, helped change that. Frustrated that no one was buying his boxes of macaroni noodles, he began rubber-banding them to packets of processed cheese made by Kraft Cheese Company. Soon customers were snapping up these “meal kits” faster than the salesman could put them together.

When executives at Kraft heard about the salesman’s idea, they knew they had a hit on their hands. They hired the salesman and turned his creation into a new product: “Kraft Dinner,” a box of noodles with an envelope of cheese tucked inside.

To struggling families, Kraft Dinner seemed like a small miracle: a dinner for four people that you could whip up in nine minutes—and for just 19 cents! In the first year alone, Americans bought more than eight million boxes. 

Today, Kraft sells nearly one million boxes of mac and cheese each day. Stacked end to end, those boxes would tower 20 times higher than Mount Everest.

Macaroni and cheese is as beloved as ever. You can buy a box at a corner store for $1, make it from scratch, or order it at a fancy restaurant, topped with gourmet ingredients like lobster or pulled pork. There’s even an official Macaroni and Cheese Day. (It’s July 14.)

And it all goes back to President Thomas Jefferson, who helped turn a little-known European dish into an all-American classic.