Mac and cheese does not have a single clear “inventor,” but the modern American version is most strongly linked to Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chef James Hemings, who helped develop and popularize it in the United States.

Quick Scoop

  • The earliest known macaroni-and-cheese-style recipes appear in Italian cookbooks from the 13th–14th centuries, where pasta was baked with cheese.
  • Over time, similar dishes spread through Europe under names like “macrows” in England and evolved into baked pasta-and-cheese casseroles.
  • In the late 1700s, Thomas Jefferson encountered macaroni and cheesy pasta dishes in Europe and brought both the pasta and idea back to the US.

James Hemings’ Role

  • Jefferson’s enslaved chef James Hemings trained in French cuisine in Europe and then adapted these macaroni-and-cheese dishes in his own sophisticated style.
  • Hemings’ version, sometimes described as “macaroni pie,” was served at Jefferson’s dinners and state events, helping make macaroni and cheese fashionable among America’s elite.
  • Because of this, many historians credit Hemings as the key figure who popularized what became American mac and cheese, even though he did not “invent” the idea of pasta with cheese from nothing.

So Who “Created” Mac n Cheese?

  • If the question is about the very first pasta-and-cheese dish, that credit goes to anonymous medieval European cooks whose recipes are preserved in early Italian manuscripts.
  • If the question is “who created mac n cheese as Americans know it,” the most accurate answer is that Jefferson imported the concept, but James Hemings, an enslaved Black chef, refined and popularized the dish in the United States.

TL;DR:

  • Medieval Italian cooks created early macaroni-and-cheese recipes.
  • James Hemings, enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, is the person most closely associated with creating and popularizing American-style mac and cheese.

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