According to more than one urban legend, macaroni and cheese was invented by Thomas Jefferson, who, in the variant told by Alton Brown of Good Eats, upon failing to receive an Italian pasta-making machine, designed his own machine, made the macaroni, and had the cook put liberal quantities of York cheddar and bake it as a casserole.

Macaroni was a highly fashionable food in late eighteenth-century Paris, and Jefferson not only enjoyed the dish but also commissioned William Short to purchase a machine for making it. The machine was later shipped to America. Jefferson also investigated the manufacture of macaroni during his trip to northern Italy and drew a sketch with detailed notes on the extrusion process. When Short was in Italy, he sampled the local product and concluded that the cooks of Paris made better pasta than he could get at Naples. Apparently, the macaroni machine that Short bought was either not durable or unsatisfactory, for in later years Jefferson imported macaroni and Parmesan cheese from Marseilles for his use at Monticello. While in France, he also copied a recipe for making macaroni ("Nouilly a maccaroni") without a machine. This recipe makes clear that what was eaten as macaroni was what Americans today would term spaghetti — the dough was rolled thin and cut into strips, and each strip was then rolled with the hands into a noodle shape.

The first written recipe [for macaroni and cheese] seems to be from The Experienced English Housekeeper, by a Mrs. Elizabeth Raffald. Published in 1769, it appears to be the forerunner of our own American classic: bechamel sauce with Cheddar, mixed with macaroni, sprinkled with Parmesan, then baked until bubbly and golden. Another recipe, macaroni a la reine ("Macaroni in the style of the queen"), made from a similar mixture of pasta, cream, and melty cheese (often Gruyere), appeared frequently in British cookery books until relatively recent times.

Macaroni and cheese was invented in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. It so impressed Queen Isabella of Spain that she convinced King Ferdinand to bankroll Colombus' Westward expeditions. When Colombus failed to establish a macaroni and cheese route to the far East, the royal couple was down-hearted, dazed and despondent, and was forced to eat pork rinds instead. Admiral Colombus, however, eschewed pork rinds for onion rings, which were in fact, invented by Thomas Jefferson some 300 years later. True story

Mararoni and cheese was invented by Margaret The Maid of Norway so that when she took the throne of Scotland she could use the dish to calm the Highlanders down. Unfortunately when she died the dish was taken by a monk fleeing Edward I (Longshanks) during his tyrany and takne to Rome where the Pope, Benedict XI, required all Italians to make it on a regular basis. Marco Polo took the dish to China but found that the Chinese Emperor had already gotten it from traders from Norway.

I have never been a big fan of mac n cheese. I mean, I LOVE melted cheese. I really enjoy pasta. You'd think I'd naturally like the two of them together. I don't mind the velveeta shells & cheese mix. That cheese tends to stay gooey for a while. But if I am going to cheese my pasta...I usually do it in the form of an alfredo sauce.

I love velveeta shells and cheese! I haven't had it in a while though. :\

Macaroni and cheese, like fish sticks, are actually a product of the near distant future that were brought back by time travelers to 17th century Europe. In the historic document, Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure, this startling puzzle piece was omitted. No wonder the film was taken as a piece of fiction, with such inacuracy and bad music. Fortunately, the second film had much better music, but it was indeed a work of fiction.