Did Thomas Jefferson invent Chicken and Waffles?

We all know Jefferson as a scholar, as a politician, and chiefly, if you’ll pardon the pun, as a president, but he was also responsible for many of what we now consider to be some of America’s culinary classics.

From mac and cheese, to ice cream, to chicken and waffles, many of America’s longstanding culinary delights were actually completely unheard of in Jefferson’s time. He was really the US’s first prominent foodie. Recipes were around at the time, but they were mostly focused on practicality; how to make inexpensive food more palatable, how to stretch food stores, and how to make use of all possible ingredients. Of course there were recipes for cakes, puddings, and desserts, but for the most part, the standard cookbooks of the time were neither complicated, nor updated. Thomas Jefferson, however, demanded the edge of culinary creativity.

Although Jefferson had an uncommonly discerning palette, he was no chef, and the lion’s share of the credit really goes to Jefferson’s chef, a former slave named James Hemmings. But the story of parmesan cheese and french fries starts long before those dishes were recreated in Jefferson’s Monticello kitchen.

Jefferson served for five years the American Minister to France. In that time he experienced a world of culinary delight that was all but unheard of back home. And by the time he had returned home, he was not only an experienced foodie, but ready to dive into the challenge of bringing the American kitchen up to date with the rest of the culinary world. Among other contraptions, he arrived home with ice cream molds, a waffle iron, and a pasta machine. It was then that he offered Hemmings his freedom if he was able to learn the secrets of French Cuisine and teach it to the other Monticello chefs.

Jefferson didn’t invent ice cream, but his recipe is the first ever recorded by an American. And his administration saw its national popularization. Likewise, we have Thomas Jefferson and James Hemmings to thank for all sorts of scrumptious delights, from french fries, to mac and cheese, and, to no one’s surprise, creme brulee.  Some even argue that with the boost in popularity that Jefferson gave to waffles, he should also be credited with the invention of chicken and waffles, but as for whether or not he truly invented them, we can’t really say. What is sure, however, is that many of the US’s favorite dishes, were actually translations of French food, and were brought over, invented, or popularized by none other than Thomas Jefferson.