All About Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese has been a popular dish from the moment of its invention. And why not? It's delicious! It's pretty cheap to make, too, at least today. There were a lot of innovations required to make it affordable for the masses. Eventually boxed macaroni and cheese became the go-to filler for family meals when you couldn't afford much meat, the kids wouldn't eat the vegetables anyway, and no one had adequate time to cook after you got home from work.

Today, there's a constant divide between those who insist that proper macaroni and cheese must be made from scratch, with real cheese and béchamel sauce, and those who crave the boxes with processed cheese. Once I served my father macaroni and cheese, and he thought it was really good. Then he asked if I made it from scratch or from a box. I was embarrassed to admit it was neither- I just took it out of the freezer and put it in the oven. But however you make it (or depend on someone else to make it), you'll enjoy the extensive and joke-ridden history of macaroni and cheese.