Thomas Jefferson was undoubtedly a busy fellow — in addition to penning the Declaration of Independence, serving as our third president, and founding the University of Virginia, he also found time to invent or improve a number of gadgets. He is also one of America's Founding Foodies and, as such, helped to establish the American wine industry in his vineyards at Monticello. One thing he's sometimes credited with, however, is either inventing macaroni and cheese or introducing it to this country.
The former idea is patently untrue, as pasta with cheese has been around since ancient Rome (if not longer). As for the latter — well, Jefferson may have helped to popularize the dish, as any recipe gets some shine when it's associated with somebody famous. Even so, the fact that at some point he wrote out a (cheese-free) macaroni recipe, which has been preserved in the collection at Monticello, doesn't mean he was in the kitchen cooking the stuff.
No, the actual macaroni-making was no doubt done by one of his enslaved kitchen staff, possibly James Hemings, who, despite being considered Jefferson's property, was also a relative of sorts. While Jefferson probably didn't consider him to be a family member, James was the brother of Sally Hemings, who had six children with the former president. James also trained as a chef during the 1780s while Jefferson was serving as the ambassador to France and brought back recipes for pommes frites (aka french fries), meringues, and ice cream in .