Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, held a dinner at the White House in 1802. On the menu? A dish he’d discovered while in France—macaroni and cheese! The earliest mac ’n’ cheese recipes in the U.S. used expensive cheeses and pastas from Europe. Over time, the dish evolved into an affordable food—and a nationwide obsession.
In the 1930s, the U.S. economy crumbled during the Great Depression. Many people lost their jobs. They needed inexpensive food to eat.
Grant Leslie, a pasta salesman in St. Louis, Missouri, hatched an idea. To help sell boxes of noodles, Leslie began bundling them with packets of grated processed cheese made by the Kraft cheese company.