From college students and children to the Founding Fathers and media moguls, macaroni and cheese remains a favorite. Its history dates back centuries and has been part of America since America was a thing. Keep reading to learn everything you never thought to ask about one of the world’s most enduring treats, including Kraft's outsized role in the dish's popularity.
The dish is so popular that it has its own holiday. It's unclear exactly who created it or when, but July 14 is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. The good news is, unlike a holiday ham or a Thanksgiving turkey, you don't have to wait for a certain calendar date to whip some up in less than 10 minutes, assuming you’re using the kind that comes in a box.
Medieval chefs were hip to the mac and cheese trend before it was a trend. In the 1420s, King Richard II's master chefs compiled a manuscript called the Forme of Cury ("Method of Cookery"). The text featured a recipe for a dish called "makerouns," which is incredibly similar to the mac and cheese we know today — it might just be the earliest recipe for the dish ever published.
According to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and America's third president loved mac and cheese — though Jefferson referred to all pasta as "macaroni." He had a pasta machine brought to his estate and ordered pasta from Europe. Jefferson apparently loved pasta of all kinds, but mac and cheese was a favorite.
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Smithsonian Magazine goes a step further in saying that Jefferson is widely credited for popularizing macaroni and cheese in the United States, but that's a somewhat whitewashed version of history. His enslaved chef, James Hemmings, learned to make the dish and was, of course, the one who labored to prepare it and cook it. In fact, mac and cheese was a celebration food for blacks in the South before Jefferson ever caught wind of it, and it remains a weekend party staple in many African-American communities to this day.
The English word for the venerable pasta we know as "macaroni" comes from the Italian "maccheroni" — but it didn't start there. The Italians borrowed from the Greek word "makaria," which translates to "food made with barley."
Like chili and sangria, everyone seems to have a recipe for macaroni and cheese, and everyone seems certain that theirs is the undisputed best. For some context on just how popular the dish has become, a Google search for "macaroni and cheese recipes" returns over 73 million results.
If you're one of those people who are certain your recipe is the best, there is no shortage of contests and competitions to test your mettle. St. Louis, for example, hosts an annual Mac & Cheese Throwdown. New Orleans' NOLA Mac and Cheese Fest in October includes a contest of its own. The list goes on and on.
Perhaps you're not the competitive kind and you'd rather just taste everybody else's favorite recipes. No sweat. The traveling Mac and Cheese Festival hits cities such as Philadelphia; Arlington, Texas; Louisville, Kentucky; and Norfolk, Virginia. In fact, festivals dedicated to the dish take place all the time all over the country.
Related: We Tried 10 Kinds of Store-Brand Mac and Cheese and the Winner Is…
According to Entertainment Weekly, mac and cheese is a favorite go-to comfort food for the most famous woman on the planet. When Oprah Winfrey's 1998 movie "Beloved" flopped in theaters — even "Bride of Chucky" beat it out by three spots — the daytime talk goddess went into a fit of depression. She copped to going on a binge for the ages by diving into an estimated 30 pounds of mac and cheese and not letting up until it was finished.
Given that it's most closely associated with children and college students, mac and cheese doesn’t exactly conjure up images of good wine and foofy cocktails — but the beloved dish has many different levels of quality. If you're eating a homemade baked mac made with top-shelf ingredients, award-winning food and wine writer Fiona Beckett offers the following pairing suggestions: chardonnay, dry riesling, St. Emilion, dry cider, classic English ale, Champagne, or Sancerre. Write that down, kids and dorm dwellers.
On July 29, 2022, Schreiber Foods in Logan, Utah, set a Guinness World Record for the world's largest macaroni and cheese dish when they made 4,742 pounds of the stuff to celebrate their 50th year in business. The previous record was set in 2010 by American chef John Folse, along with the Cabot Creamery Co-operative, after making 2,469 pounds of mac and cheese.
In 1903, a guy named James L. Kraft made money selling cheese out of a wagon on the streets of Chicago. He did so well that he was able to form a company called Kraft Foods. In 1914, a game-changing event occurred when the company started making its own cheese — but the best was yet to come. It would soon introduce the first packaged product ever to come with powdered cheese.
In 1937, America was still clawing its way out of the Great Depression — food insecurity and frugality were the themes of the day. That year, Kraft Foods introduced its now-famous boxed Macaroni & Cheese with the promise that buyers could feed a family of four for 19 cents. Quick, easy, and affordable, Americans bought 8 million boxes that first year alone.
During World War II, Kraft Foods once again made the best of a bad situation. Wartime rationing made staples such as dairy and fresh meat hard to come by. Like they did during the Depression, Americans turned to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in droves — the company sold 50 million boxes in 1943 alone.
For years, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese has been instantly recognizable by its trademark blue box — but it wasn't always that way. Unlike Coca-Cola, for example, whose logo and appearance has remained virtually unchanged since its inception, the world's favorite mac and cheese brand gave itself a major makeover. It came in a yellow box for nearly 20 years until yellow was replaced with blue in 1954.
Through the Great Depression and World War II all the way to today, the world's love affair with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese has never gone out of vogue. Today, the company sells roughly 1 million boxes of the stuff every day.
America loves its Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, but our obsession can't hold a candle to that of our northern neighbors. The little blue box is more popular in Canada than anywhere in the world. In fact, it’s the unofficial national dish. They call it "Kraft Dinner," or "KD" for short. It's the most popular item of any kind bought in grocery stores there and the average Canadian consumes 3.2 boxes every year. That's about 10 annual servings — 55% more than the average American gobbles up.
Kraft, the undisputed king of the global macaroni and cheese game, now offers 42 of its Macaroni & Cheese products. There are 16 products in the Blue Box line — that’s the traditional kind you boil in water. There are also 16 different kinds of microwaveable cups and 10 Deluxe offerings.
Velveeta Shells and Cheese debuted in 1984 and gave Kraft Macaroni & Cheese lovers an option for an upgrade. Instead of elbows, you got shells. The classic powdered cheese in a paper pouch improved to a thick, creamy cheese sauce in a foil pouch — no butter or milk required. This heartier, more grown-up mac and cheese experience could have given Kraft a run for its money — if Velveeta weren’t also owned by Kraft Heinz.
Crayon king Crayola apparently has an affinity for the dish just like everybody else. In 1993, the company introduced a color called, you guessed it, Macaroni and Cheese. It falls into the orange hue family, not yellow.
Traditional mac and cheese contains dairy, but that doesn't mean vegans have to abstain. They just have to adjust — and adjust they have. A Google search for "vegan mac and cheese" returns over 80 million results. Many use cashews and/or potatoes as the base for surprisingly authentic cheese-like sauces.
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