2018 Has More in Common With 18th Century Than We Thought: Mac 'N' Cheese Recipe From 1784

By Casey Allen February 28, 2018 at 10:57am

When we think about the food human beings ate to survive hundreds of years ago, visions of bread, cheese, salted pork, or bowls of grits may pop into our minds.

The food of the past seems, and often was, far from glamorous.

Fast forward to 2018, we feast on countless delicacies that would surely stop the heart of anyone from the 1700s if they had the chance to try out food from the future.

However, there is one food that was as loved and as celebrated hundreds of years ago as it is today: Macaroni and Cheese.

This dish is among those born in the 18th century that still live on and are celebrated culturally to this day.

Ever heard the song “Yankee Doodle”? Buckle up, let’s take a little trip down memory lane.

Most people know that the song was originally sung by the British to make fun of the Americans.

However, Americans actually took to the song quite nicely.

They sang it themselves frequently during the dark days of the revolutionary war to show the British that ‘sticks and stones’ were all that would break their bones.

The word “doodle” was old English slang for “fool” while “macaroni” was slang for anything that was fashionable.

That’s right — the “macaroni” in the song is not actually the food we know and love, but rather a term used by men in the 1760s to call something stylish or fancy.

The line “stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni” is meant to mock the Americans for, you guessed it, a lack of class and style.

Little did the British know, there was one area of life in America that was about to become “macaroni” rather quickly: the kitchen.

Thanks to a marvelous video from Townsends, a channel dedicated to the 18th Century lifestyle, you can watch how to make macaroni and cheese just like they would’ve done in 1784.