Macaroni and cheese is a staple southern food, right alongside green beans, cornbread, and fried chicken. It’s also cheap and easy to make, as long as you have access to boiling water. Now, I personally like my macaroni and cheese as is. No funny business. No questions asked. However, that isn’t always the case.

“I make mac n cheese with Cajun seasoning, turmeric, and bacon”, says Logan Reiss, a student at Mercer University.

Some parents even us mac and cheese as a means of feeding their children something a little healthier.

“For me, growing up especially, I think my parents were like “Oh, mac n cheese is so easy to make, but we also feel guilty about feeding our kids mac n cheese. So what they would do was that they would just get frozen garden peas and mix them in with the mac n cheese, and they were like “ok, that’s kind of healthy.” but it as actually really good”, says Elizabeth Tammi, a student at Mercer University. “I don’t know if that’s just the fact that I grew up not really knowing what just mac n cheese was like. Maybe it was just ingrained in me, but I kinda like it. I haven’t made it in a while, but I should do that again. I should give it a try.”

I also know some people put broccoli on their macaroni. Maybe next time you need to eat something green, you can give it a try! The point is, even though macaroni and cheese is a simple dish at its core, that doesn’t’ mean people can’t find a way to let their personalities shine through.