Macaroni on the frontier

[44caliberkid]

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My wife was wondering when macaroni (or a dried noodle) was used on the frontier or by pioneers.  Seems it would be easy to carry and have a long shelf life.   Or was it just too strange for "Americans".

[Delmonico]

Not strange at all, it shows up in grocery list of the time, mac and cheese was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson.  The problem, we lacked the proper wheat to make it.  It was imported from Italy at high cost. 

Thomas Jefferson almost created an internatioal inident when he was Ambasador to France under George Washington.  He had a pasta maker and wheat seed smuggled out of Italy over the Alps.  The wheat did not do well for him and till around 1900 it still remained an import.