Enough with all the adulation of Thomas Jefferson as a Founding Father. Don’t people realize he was also the hero brought mac ‘n cheese to the American dinner table?
The safe answer is an emphatic “no.” Yet as this week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind reports, the author of the Declaration of Independence came to love the dish while serving as the fledgling United States’ second ambassador to France, after Ben Franklin, and he was determined to share it with his countrymen.
Jefferson brought the recipe and a machine to make the macaroni back to the States with him. The New World’s first exposure to the comfort staple likely came during dinner parties at our third president’s Monticello estate. And his effort to win a following for the dish didn’t end there.
But see for yourself. This week’s podcast traces how mac ‘n cheese became a quintessential American dish. Press Play to learn how a selection intended for the fanciest of tables became the most democratic of meals on this side of the Atlantic.