#Saved you a google search

[cyarsk52-20]

You’re Loud and wrong

Love Mac and Cheese? You Can Thank the Slave of a Founding Father for It

Claire Barrett11/1/2022

You can thank Thomas Hemings, once enslaved to Thomas Jefferson, for bringing the dish to America.

If you’re an American who has ever indulged in a hot, delectable, creamy, comforting side of macaroni and cheese, you can thank the slave of a Founding Father for bringing the dish to America.

While historians cite the 13th century Italian cookbook “Liber de Coquina” as the first written and recognized macaroni and cheese recipe — a dish called de lasanis — the classic American side item arrived by way of France — courtesy of James Hemings.

Born in 1765, Hemings was the sixth child born to Elizabeth Hemings, an enslaved woman, and owner John Wayles. Wayles, the father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, fathered six of Hemings’ children — making them half brothers and sisters of Jefferson’s wife, Martha, according toMonticello Magazine.

Upon Jefferson’s marriage to Martha, Hemings and his siblings —including Sally Hemings — became property of the Founding Father to be.

Not only could Hemings read and write — a rarity for the times — he was also an accomplished chef.

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So, when Jefferson was appointed Minister to France from 1784 to 1789, the notorious Francophile and “foodie” brought along the 19-year-old Hemings with the intention of having him train among the Parisian elite.

According to the White House Historical Association, “French chefs were very expensive to employ, and Jefferson’s costs regularly outpaced his income. While Jefferson may have been short on cash, he did have an abundant supply of readily available enslaved labor, bound to serve him for life. To save money, Jefferson employed French chefs to train several enslaved members of the Monticello community in the delicate art of French cookery.”

This included, of course, what we now consider mac and cheese.

From Italy to the rest of Western Europe, the widespread culinary exchange happening in courts throughout Europe at the time morphed the Italian dish into an altered version that made its way to England, called macrows, and France. It’s disputed whether Jefferson first discovered the creamy pasta dish in Italy or France, but what isn’t under dispute is his love for it.

In 1807, Jefferson purchased 80 pounds of parmesan cheese and 60 pounds of Naples-based macaroni. His last grocery order, placed five months before his death in 1826, included “Maccaroni 112 ¾ lb,” according to EatingWell. (Despite such large quantities of simple carbohydrates and dairy, Jefferson did not, in fact, die of a heart attack. He did, however, contract a nasty infection on his buttocks which most likely developed into septicemia, causing his death.)

As Jefferson’s primary chef, Hemings is certain to have mastered the perfect balance of butter, cheese and macaroni.

During his time in France, Hemings apprenticed with a caterer, a pastry chef and even as a chef for the prince de Conde.

“For an American to go and learn that … was pretty incredible,” food historian Paula Marcoux — who has recreated classic French dishes of the era at Monticello, using the same types of cooking tools Hemings would have used — told NPR.

In 1787, Hemings was appointed chef de cuisine at Jefferson’s home in Paris, supervising white servants in the kitchen among other duties. And, in 1789, despite finding out that under French law, he was a free man, Hemings elected to return to Virginia with Jefferson, enslaved.

“Family,” historian Annette Gordon-Reed told NPR. “There was a real dilemma for many enslaved people: Do you take your freedom and separate yourself from your family?”

Hemings continued in his position as an enslaved chef under Jefferson, moving to New York and Philadelphia with the latter as he served as the secretary of state under President George Washington.

In 1793, however, Hemings successfully bargained for his freedom — with a caveat.

“Hemings would return to Monticello to train another enslaved person in French cooking to serve as a replacement chef. Once the replacement chef was properly trained, Jefferson agreed that Hemings ‘shall be thereupon made free, and I will thereupon execute all proper instruments to make him free,’” according to the White House Historical Association.

Hemings began training his brother, Peter Hemings, but it would be three long years until Jefferson assented to James’ freedom.

In the 1796 deed of manumission, Jefferson wrote, “I Thomas Jefferson of Monticello aforesaid do emancipate, manumit and make free James Hemings, son of Betty Hemings, which said James is now of the age of thirty years so that in the future he shall be free and of free condition, and discharged of all duties and claims of servitude whatsoever, and shall have all the rights and privileges of a freedman.”

Of the 607 men and women Jefferson owned during his lifetime, according to Susan Stein, senior curator at Monticello, only two had ever negotiated for their freedom. James Hemings was one of them.

Only several years after finding his freedom, Hemings tragically died by suicide in 1801.

While he left no memoirs, he did leave his recipes. And America — although not our cholesterol levels — is better for them.

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[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

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EDIT: Original artist is @ivynajspyder !!!!

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For the serious version of this poll, go here.

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I’m the biggest Ryan and Taylor warrior and defender. No one can tell me shit about them. They are my favorite pairing on The OC, and objectively Ryan’s healthiest relationship. Aside from the “Marissa or bust” and “Anyone but Taylor” crowds who would never get on board with them anyway, the biggest critique I see about Ryan and Taylor that I can concede to is that they were rushed. Given season 4 only had 16 episodes to move storylines forward and wrap things up, one has to choose to buy into it or not. I chose to buy in. But I do wish we had had more time with them, so I thought about ways this could’ve easily been done that might’ve appeased Ryan and Taylor skeptics. 

I have two storyline fix-its for season 4 that I would’ve preferred to see in regards to Ryan and Taylor. Before I get into those, I want to acknowledge that these likely would’ve never happened because TPTB wanted to maintain a lighter, more humorous tone for season 4, and my ideas could veer into a more serious place. That said, here we go…

Cut the Frank and Julie romance 

Perhaps my least favorite storyline in season 4 is the romance subplot with Frank and Julie (and Frank’s whole redemption arc). It was so unnecessary and I’ll never comprehend why that was the creative choice they decided to make. In my opinion, it was inevitable that the show would officially bring Frank into the fold. And I would’ve had the story focus on Ryan’s relationship with Frank. They needed to give Ryan a storyline after he made peace with Marissa’s death that could stand alone, separate from his romance with Taylor. It could’ve been Ryan coming to terms with Frank coming back in his life, whether it’s finding closure, acceptance, forgiveness, or something else. 

Cut the Henri-Michel storyline

I don’t hate this storyline and the actor was fun. It does help push Ryan to be more expressive, but I’m not convinced this subplot develops Taylor’s character in any significant way. Honestly, I can argue that it regresses her a bit. Instead, we could’ve used those two episodes spent on Henri-Michel to have Taylor deal with her neurosis due to her mom’s emotional abuse, and have her reckon with her relationship with Veronica. We get a little bit of this in the season, but I would’ve happily watched this play out in a more in-depth way. 

These two things give Ryan and Taylor separate and interesting storylines that run parallel to one another. This would’ve been the perfect way to have them connect even more and emphasize where they do share common ground. Anyway, it’s been 21 years and I still think about this a lot, so I had to purge it from my brain and put it somewhere else. Some fanfic writer, go use this as a prompt or something.

[tariah23]

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[your-fave-is-being-blended]

The Dark Curse from Miitopia please? (Though he looks blended already lol)

The Dark Curse from Miitopia is being blended!!

You cannot save him.

[dreamsy990]

okay i know theo will say "you are a kingdom hearts fan" to this but i literally am not i dont know kingdom hearts i dont gain joy from it ive never played any kh game past the first hour or two. i literally just like the first hour of kh2. roxas is all im here for guys. he and axel are very sweet. i like the kh2 manga also have you SEEN how cute roxas is--

closeups

[ambonexus]

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Like. I know some people might find the mandatory watermark annoying, but I genuinely love getting to search up a person's Picrew using their watermark and playing with their paperdoll myself. Have some confidence!! Smack that impossible to remove watermark straight on that paperdoll!! Let me cherish your Picrew by scrolling through every single customization option like God intended!!

[qulizalfos]

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[stealingyourbones]

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2) siren pups are called houndeyes! Headcrabs are probably p obvious, but also, the squid face dogs are bullsquids, and the three-armed aliens are vortigaunts!

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Ok im sorry that's all I'm done I'm just passionate about these games I hope u enjoy them ok bye <3

!!! Oh bro you’re so good!! I absolutely LOVE people talking about things they’re passionate about and have a bunch of facts to share!!!!

I KNOW THE NAME OF THE HOUNDEYES NOW!!! Today is a good day :)

I shall play Blue Shift then fuck yeah!!! Was just about to start Half Life 2 so I’m glad I found that out beforehand and play everything in series! I’m absolutely gonna check out that fanmade game that sounds so cool!

As a kid I was pretty much fully isolated from video games as a whole and honestly it’s been a BLAST playing games that are spoiled or well known for many but completely unknown for me! I finished playing the Portal series a few weeks ago and MAN I now know why it is on such a high pedestal!! The games are wonderful and the characters are absolutely iconic. Currently going through well known earlyish PC games, the Doom games, Portal, Half-Life, and slowly chugging my way through chronologically so I can see how video gaming as a whole progressed and evolved! It’s so neat! It’s really hard trying to play a few games though, lots of games expect you to know a lot of stuff so I have to watch lots of videos to make sure I’m not forgetting a Super Important button that does a Super Important Game Mechanic. It’s so cool tho!!!! I’m having such a great time!!!!!!! Thanks for the ask my guy!! :D

[crossbackpoke-check]

about to be sooo nosy so. my apologies. but. morgan frost? girlfriend? do share (or don’t! again this is so nosy i’m sorry)

for legal purposes i can neither confirm nor deny anything about morgan and his girlfriend but afaik i think he’s single right now? at one point (within the past four years 😭) he did for sure have a girlfriend and that is the extent of my wag knowledge