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In Pre-Revolutionary America when the song "Yankee Doodle" was first popular, the singer was not referring to the pasta "macaroni" in the line that reads "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni". "Macaroni" was a fancy ("dandy") style of Italian dress widely imitated in England at the time. So by just sticking a feather in his cap and calling himself a "Macaroni" (a "dandy"), Yankee Doodle was proudly proclaiming himself to be a country bumpkin, because that was how the English regarded most colonials at that time.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and
the step
And with the girls be handy.
Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Gooding
And
there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and
the step
And with the girls be handy
There was Captain Washington
Upon a slapping stallion
A-giving
orders to his men
I guess there was a million.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and
the step
And with the girls be handy.