Macaroni and cheese on the menu

[JAZ]

Until about three years ago, I lived my entire life in the Western US. Growing up, we ate macaroni and cheese fairly often, and always as a main course. My friends' mothers served it as a main course. When I went to college, the dining hall served macaroni and cheese as a main course (for lunch, not dinner -- but still as a main course).

Imagine my surprise when I moved to Atlanta, where macaroni and cheese is treated as a side dish.

On the one hand, I guess I can understand that -- it's a starch; there's no meat in it; you could look at it as a pasta version of cheesy mashed potatoes. On the other hand, it's impossible for me to forget my past. I still think of it as a main course.

I suppose I'm more inclined to accept a stovetop version as a side dish, but once you put it into a gratin dish and bake it, I go back to my original view.

Is this a geographical difference? Cultural? Is it only a Southern thing? Is there a difference between "main course" and "side dish" macaroni and cheese?

[HungryC]

Here in the deep south, it's almost always a side dish.

[Anna N]

I was very happy to discover quite recently that it could be a side dish. Hubby would never allow that it could be a meal but happily accepts a side of mac n cheese - usually a gussied up version cooked and served in a small gratin dish.

[Toliver]

I spent my formative years in San Diego, a part of Southern California, and it's always been considered a side dish by my family.

Adding meat to it would raise it to the level of a main dish. Then, of course, it wouldn't just be a main dish but would be considered a casserole and most casseroles are considered mains.

[Chris Amirault]

A main for sure, at home growing up and now and also at area restaurants. There are, in fact, at least two famous mac & cheese mains in RI restaurant lore, the fancypants one at Al Forno and the low-rent one at Red Fez.

[Holly Moore]

A side and almost always for me, when available, complimented by a side of greens. Both sides embellishing something barbecued or deep fat fried.

[Meanderer]

During my formative years in Illinois, it was always a main course in my family and that is the case here as well(south central Pennsylvania), typically served with a side of stewed tomatoes.

[maggiethecat]

Growing up, it was always a main, but served only at lunch. I'll take it any way I can get it now, married as I am to a man who hates it.

[Special K]

It was always a main dish for us (from Atlanta and Nashville), but then we didn't have a lot of money and often skipped meat (we were vegetarians before vegetarianism was cool). We never had it for company, who would definitely have been looking around for the "something barbequed or deep fat fried."

I still consider it a main dish, but I usually do add a bit of meat (so I no longer associate it with being poor).

[PopsicleToze]

It's typically a side dish in SE Louisiana, but I have it as a main dish, too. For me it just depends on the weather, mood and amount of comfort needed.

[crinoidgirl]

Main dish in our (poor) household in Central NY.

[JAZ]

Something that just occurred to me is that we used to have this on Fridays, back in the days when Catholics were supposed to abstain from meat on that day. We kids weren't big fish fans back then, so it was probably a good alternative for my Mom.

[Dianabanana]

I have always thought of macaroni and cheese as an inexpensive main course, probably because it is always suggested as such in so many of the old housewifery manuals I've read.

[bergerka]

Always a main dish in our house (Phoenix, AZ, one parent from NJ and one from SoCal). And a delicious one at that. MMMMMM.

[Katie Meadow]

I don't believe I ever ate macaroni and cheese until I was over 40--not the instant stuff or home-made. My mother never made it, and until I had my daughter at 40, it never occurred to me to learn how. Then I discovered how yummy it can be. A lot of people resort to Kraft if they have kids, and in a way I can sort of see the appeal of that intense artificial cheesiness. Kind of like Cheetos. It's its own weird thing. My SIL used to buy Annie's for her kids under the impression that it was "more natural" than Kraft. They are both horrid, and Annies has even more salt, if that's possible. Luckily my daughter was willing eat my homemade version. Some kids are not so flexible.

Since I came to it so late and have no traditions, it surprises me that it could ever be considered either a main or a side, but not commonly both. Also not very flexible! The night I make it we typically eat it as a main, with a salad or a veg on the side. Made with grown-up cheese and served with a fresh tomato soup for a starter it makes a dynamite veg meal.

There are always leftovers for the next night, and that's when mac 'n' cheese becomes a side dish chez moi.

[TAPrice]

Here in the deep south, it's almost always a side dish.

←

Yet around here pork chops are sometimes considered a side item. That I will never get used to.

[Busboy]

A side and almost always for me, when available, complimented by a side of greens.  Both sides embellishing something barbecued or deep fat fried.

←

Awfully Southern sounding for a Philadelphia boy...

Mom was from Alabama, but we always ate it as a main -- possibly because she came from a relatively poor background.

Edited May 20, 2009 by Busboy (log)

[Kim Shook]

Growing up in VA and NC, I've always had macaroni and cheese as a side dish. Just to show how ingrained this is, when I used to inspect day care homes and vet menus for the USDA, no matter how many times I reminded them, every month someone would have a meal disqualified because they counted mac n cheese as a 'vegetable'!

[Zeemanb]

Definitely a side here in the midwest, unless you're in college and feeling too rich for Ramen and add some sliced hot dogs to your box of Kraft. OR if it's about 2am and you happen to remember you have a bunch of your tried and true homemade baked mac n' cheese left in the fridge.....then it's not only a main dish, it's a twelve course Chef's Tour!

[Lady T]

If I make it at home, with my own choice of three cheeses and my own white sauce and herbs and nicely cooked penne rigate, the first serving is as a main, with a cooked green and/or a green salad. The leftovers go into a fridge-to-oven baking dish with a chunk or two or three of good baked ham and a splash of white wine, and extra shredded cheese and herbs go on top. That will be a main dish in a day or two or three.

Baked apples make a wonderful dessert, with cinnamon/sugar and raisins inside. These are winter meals all the way, though, and I'm not thinking in these directions with the lilacs in bloom now...

[pyrguy]

YES!!!

We eat it as both here. Just depends on how we are feeling here that day.

Wife's family is from Virginia and I am Cajun from South Louisiana.

[RobertCollins]

Growing up in the 50's Mom made it as both but Dad put the stops to the Main Dish game when Mom discovered the boxed stuff. My folks were raised in the coal fields of Ky and Tenn.

I, as an adult, have treated it as a main dish.

I add, We consider it as fine comfort food. Add a green salad and feast.

[emilyr]

In my family (in farm-country Missouri) we eat it as a main dish only for lunch and on Fridays in Lent. My brothers will eat it any time they get a chance, but as a family for meals, it's generally a side dish and mixed with some vegetable (broccoli, red peppers, etc).

[birder53]

Back when we were in highschool, we used to make the Kraft version as a snack. Mom only served it as a side, even when she made her own from scratch. There is a restaurant in Santa Fe, Celebrations, that serves it with shrimp as a main course. I love it and would eat it as a side or main anyday!

[nikkib]

In england it would always be considered a main, pasta would never be seen as a side dish here but i in the carribean they have macaroni pie which is essentially the same thing as mac n cheese and i seem to remember that being served as a side