Ettore and his wife Helen opened up Il Giardino d'Italia in 1924, quickly attracting attention for the quality of their traditional cooking at a time when Italian cuisine was much less common than it is today. From there, he worked at a variety of high end restaurants in New York as a cook, eventually working his way up to Chef. Real. With the help of his brothers, Ettore launched what was initially known as the Chef Boiardi Food Company in 1928, whose first product was those prepackaged spaghetti dinners. Ettore Boiardi was an Italian immigrant who worked as a chef in New York and West Virginia hotels (where he supposedly catered Woodrow Wilsons second wedding) before opening his own restaurant in Cleveland. With all that said, it's pretty clear that Chef Boyardee was the real deal. So, who was Chef Boyardee? Lines wrapped around the block and customers begged to know the secrets of his signature dish - cooked-to-order spaghetti with homemade sauce and cheese. Great story. Real. When World War II erupted in Europe, the food company was put to work making Army rations. Thank You! Today, Chef Boyardee sells a variety of classic pasta dishes in both cans and those little microwavable cupsSpaghetti & Meatballs, Beefaroni, Lasagna, and, of course, both meat and cheese ravioli. DUNCAN HINES CAKE MIXES. Chef Boyardee Was a Real Person Who Brought Italian Food to America By Matt Blitz Published on June 22, 2017 Photo: Dorann Weber / Getty Images Colonel Sanders was real. However, there was one tiny detail to figure out. Boiardi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. By 11, according to his great-niece Ann Boiardi's 2011 book, he was already a chef's apprentice at a restaurant called "La Croce Bianca," where he mostly peeled potatoes and took out the garbage. He worked in a variety of top restaurants in New York as a chef, eventually working until he reached Chef. Once he arrived, he landed a job at the famous Plaza Hotel. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Ettore Hector Boiardi, born in 1897 in Italy, where he was working as an apprentice chef by age 11. When inventor Chris L. Rutt wanted to sell his pancake flour, he went for the stereotypical "mammy" archetype and took the name "Aunt Jemima" from a popular minstrel song. Again, I was 10 and you could have put me on the phone with the president of the US and I would care less (same goes for today). With Boiardi serving food from his northern Italian home of Piacenza to a population that wasn't already inundated with Italian food, his restaurant was perhaps the one of the most unique (and popular) in the city. When I see cans of Chef Boyardee Lasagna, I think of ads using Weird Al Yankovics Lasagna as background music. The wedding, which took place after a brief courtship, was held at Galts Washington, D.C. home. It was confusing to some people and that was beginning to affect sales, staff, and customers so that is when the brothers decided it was best to anglicize their name to make it easier for others to recognize. From the Chef Boyardee website: . Afterward, Bioardi ended up moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened up his very own restaurant. A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world-renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. Chef Hector retires from his consultant position. After the war, the Boiardi family sold the companyaccording to a Boiardi descendant who spoke to NPR, selling to a larger company was the only way to keep all the the factory workers employed. Ettore's journey from immigrant to figurehead of a burgeoning canned pasta empire is enough to store even a cynic's wavering faith in the American dream. In short, Chef Boyardee was a real person. As a Change.org petition advocating for a Boiardi statue in Cleveland notes, the company also churned out cans to feed America's troops during World War II, earning Boiardi a gold star from the U.S. government. At the persuasion of a couple of restaurant regulars, including a couple who owned a local grocery store chain, Boiardi built a small canning and processing plant in Cleveland. Fictional. Is Pizza Getting Too Gourmet for Its Own Good? Gotta watch out for gold diggers (especially today) but I also think he was his own man and wanted to be known for himself and not the family business. Below is a 1953 commercial featuring Chef Boyardee: And below the commercial from the 50s, is the whole history behind the Boyardee name: What do you think of the history behind the Chef Boyardee name? By 1938, Chef Boyardee expanded again, relocating its headquarters to Milton, Pennsylvania in order to more easily cultivate a specific type of tomato for use in the sauce. In 1938, production was moved to Milton, Pennsylvania, where they could grow enough tomatoes to serve the factory's needs,[5] which reached 20,000 tons of tomatoes per season at peak production; they also began growing their own mushrooms on location in the plant. They also procured distribution across the United States through their grocery's wholesale partners. When it comes to food brands and their human "mascots," you really can't believe everything you see. Born in 1897 in Northern Italy, Boiardi was 11 when he landed a job apprenticing for a chef at a hotel in his hometown of Piacenza, per the Chef Boyardee website. From Duncan Hines to Chef Boyardee, here are 33 grocery store items named after real people. Real. With his brothers Mario and Paul, Chef Hector starts the Chef Boyardee Company. Thanks. In 1917, NPR writes, he moved to Cleveland, where in 1924 he opened a restaurant with his wife Helen Boiardi. Whether you loved his lasagna or his spaghetti dinners, the man's history is fascinating. So he changed his last name's spelling to make it easier to pronounce, slapped it on a can, and boom, Chef Boyardee was born. So the next time you're in the supermarket and see a brand that you think might be named after someone, don't automatically assume it is. Before launching the Chef Boyardee line of products, Chef Boiardi, in 1915 at the age of 17 years old, supervised the catering for President Woodrow Wilsons wedding reception. From there, he worked his way up the ranks and became the head chef. Boiardi originally grew his trademark mustache to try to make himself look older as he was generally the youngest cook in the often top notch restaurants where he was a cook at, starting around 16 when he moved to America. Advertising Notice document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); Jessica Block is a freelance contributor to Sporked, a comedian, a baker, a food writer, and a firm believer that Trader Joe's may just be the happiest place on earth. Real. [19] The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.[20]. We stan Ettore. Later on, the company got sold to American Home Products in 1946, and then later it was turned over to the International Home Foods division in 1996. While Boiardi's culinary resume was already quite impressive by the time he relocated to Cleveland, that's where his transformation from Ettore Boiardi to Chef Boyardee began in earnest. In 2013, the town erected a statue honoring him at the entrance to the factory. After working in New York's Plaza Hotel, he opened his own restaurant. Chef Boyardee Juan Valdez Colonel Sanders Duncan Hines. His food was very popular, and his customers were always asking to take home samples of his sauce. Fairly quickly, it became clear that the young Boiardi he was a prodigy. ", SLEEPYTIME TEA AND THE LITTLE-KNOWN RELIGION BEHIND IT, THE NOT-SO-AMERICAN HISTORY OF CHEEZ WHIZ. It was also around the time that Boiardi sold to the conglomerate American Home Products. They later sold the company, and Dean stayed involved in management and as a spokesperson until management phased him out. Ettore "Hector" Boiardi (that's. In several cases it's not clear whether the namesake ever actually lived, and in many cases the person the brand is named after never existed at all. The restaurant was called Il Giardino dItalia, which means The Garden of Italy. Joined by Paul and his other brother Mario from Italy, Hector launched the Chef Boiardi Food Company in 1928. [5], The U.S. military commissioned the company during World War II for the production of army rations, requiring the factory to run 24 hours a day. Weird History Food said, Chefs significant contributions to Milton, Pennsylvania were never forgotten. (Clearly, the spelling change was to help consumers know how to pronounce his name.) He worked as a cook at his first restaurant at the tender age of 10 years old in Italy. TV Acres. German immigrant brothers Oscar, Gottfried, and Max Mayer ran a butcher shop in Chicago in the early 20th century, which was one of the first companies to get on board with the USDAs new meat inspection grades. The dish was so popular that patrons wanted to make it for themselves at home, so Boiardi began to assemble take-out meal kits that included dried pasta, cheese and cleaned milk bottles filled with marinara sauce along with instructions on how to cook, heat and assemble the meal. But what about the chef behind the raviolis. From Chef to "King of the Spaghetti Dinner", How to Know if Your 'Italian' Ingredients Are Actually Italian. Italian food wasnt on the radar. I love the part about the guy keeping his familys wealth secret until he was sure. When he began selling jars and cans of his tomato sauce, he chose to do so under a name that Americans could pronounce more easily: "Chef Boy-Ar-Dee" (later changed to Chef Boyardee). And, perhaps most importantly, who is Chef Boyardee? Boiardi was survived by his wife Helen Wroblewski Boiardi, who eventually died in 1995, and his son Mario Boiardi, who in turn died in 2007. After struggling with cash flow, compounded by internal family struggles over the ownership and direction of the company in managing rapid internal growth, he sold his brand to American Home Foods, later International Home Foods. The drink was named by Aldertons boss, Wade Morrison. Italy's postwar government went one step further, not only awarding him a cross of honor, but also bestowing the title "king of the spaghetti dinner." By the age of 22, Hector Boiardi was one of America's most famous chefs - essentially Bobby Flay meets James Beard if they had barely finished going through puberty when they became big names. Not only that, patrons were asking to take home his sauce to use at their own family dinners. Few people are aware that Chef Boyardee, the iconic mustached man on the can of ravioli, was a real person with an amazing story. JUSTICE LEAGUE and all related characters and elements & DC Comics. At the age of 11, he was working as an apprentice chef at local restaurant "La Croce Bianca", although his duties were confined to non-cooking odd jobs such as potato peeling and dealing with the trash. But he remains one the most recognized faces of TV, thanks to his legacy of advertisement. Weird History Food took a look at this impressive career, explaining, Chef Hector Boyardee was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, not surprisingly with a very Italian name: Ettore Boiardi. Hector Boiardi was born in Piacenza, in northern Italy. Morrison & Co. Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas in 1885. Ettore (Hector) Boiardi came from Piacenza, Italy to New York with his brothers, where he became the head chef of the famous Plaza Hotel at the age of 17. The Milton factory started operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 1942, according to the company website. Today, Chef Boyardee sells a variety of classic pasta dishes in both cans and those little microwavable cupsSpaghetti & Meatballs, Beefaroni, Lasagna, and, of course, both meat and cheese ravioli. As of 2021, the following products are no longer in production. That was the town where its tomatoes were grown, and the company even grew mushrooms insidethe factory. There are plenty of brands out there that are named after real people, who once lived real lives and, in many cases, actually invented the product that's named after them. She loves spicy snacks, Oreos, baking bread, teeny tiny avocados, and trying new foods whenever she can. Ettore Boiardi was an Italian Italian immigrant who came to the United States at the age of 16 and took the name "Hector Boiardi" while passing through Ellis Island. Lets talk about it. Does Absinthe Actually Make You Hallucinate? In other cases, they were created by advertising agencies to give a friendly face to a faceless company. Weve all had at least one meal from Chef Boyardee. After a stint in prison for continuing to harass and pillage the Spanish after a peace treaty was signed, he was knighted and appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. Did you know this already? [5] Boiardi sold his products under the brand name "Chef Boy-Ar-Dee" because non-Italians could not manage the pronunciation,[6][7] including his own salesforce. He later started a successful flooring and tile company. [1] [2] History The Chef Boyardee factory in Milton, Pennsylvania, as seen from across the West Branch Susquehanna River at Central Oak Heights He dated his future wife, whom he stayed married to until his death, for two years before telling her his real name. The 17 Real People Behind Your Favorite Food Brand Names Slideshow. Its first product: spaghetti dinner, including a canister of grated parmesan, a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. He even got a Gold Star for it. I didnt say much and handed the phone back to my friends dad who was shocked I wasnt impressed. Hector teamed up with his brothers Mario and Paul to found the Chef Boyardee company, using a phonetic spelling of the family's last name to make it easier to pronounce. According to the company, Uncle Ben was a real rice grower known for high-quality product in founder Gordon Harwells native Texas, and the brand was named for him as an homage. Another 6 years later and he came up with the now famous brand name Chef Boyardee, changing the spelling of his name to be phonetically correct, as he was tired of explaining to people how to pronounce his name and thought if he was going to be selling nationally, he should make it easy for Americans to pronounce. Anthony!") At the time the statue went up, Chef Boyardee had provided jobs for more than 10,000 workers in the Milton area.. Did all the can move on their own? I actually talked with Chef Boyardee on the phone when I was 10 years old. Just remember one thing, lets part friends. He looked at me and said, What the hell are you talking about? He put his hand into my trolley cart, pulled out a can and said, this is my father. We both cried.. [11], Boiardi died of natural causes on June 21, 1985, at age 87 in a nursing home in Parma, Ohio, survived by his wife Helen J. Boiardi, who died in 1995, and son Mario, who died in 2007. The best. Again, what a dude! My friends dad put me on the phone to speak with him and I still remember his accent. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese. If you are a Chef Boyardee person who loved the stuff as a kid and happen to give it another go, let us know if it lives up to your memories. The company, which is today known for its canned meals, especially its ravioli, has changed hands a number of times since. Dean was already a well-known country singer, actor, and TV personality when he and his brother Don founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company in 1969. [15], In 2018, Barbara Lippert of Advertising Age compared the 1966 Young & Rubicam ad for Beefaroni to The 400 Blows and running of the bulls. Sara Lee didnt follow her father into the baking business, but instead has worked to encourage and support women working in science. Boiardi used to grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms in the basement of the factory where his product line was produced. Juan Valdez of these company figureheads is not a real person.Thus, option B is correct.. What is a company? He soon found his way into the kitchen of New York's famous Plaza Hotel, with help from older brother Paul, who worked there as a matre d'. "There are people that are working, and their kids have to come home and make something for themselves," Boiardi told NPR, "even when I was growing up and my mom is a fabulous cook she would open up a can of Chef Boyardee for us on certain nights when there just wasn't enough time. Behind the label is a whole impressive history, beginning with the origins of Ettore Boiardi, who became Hector Boyardee the chef we all know and love. But Chef Boyardee was not, as commonly believed, a fictional creation whose name was formed from the given names (Boyd, Art, and Dennis) of the men who created him. Boiardi was an immigrant who went on to live the American Dream when he created a whole Italian food empire. So basically, Chef Boyardee cans are just normal cans. That's thanks to Chef Boyardee adding high fructose corn syrup to their sauce. Had Chef Boyardee created the worlds first perpetual motion machine? And during those years, Boiardi also directed the catering for Woodrow Wilsons second wedding, to Edith Galt in 1915. Betty Crocker, Uncle Ben, Orville Redenbacher, and Dr. Pepper are a few that come to mind. We've all had at least one meal from Chef Boyardee. What is Chef Boyardee? So, using milk bottles, he packaged up the sauce and sent them off. Cooking up recipes from his hometown, he so impressed customers that he was hired away to be the head chef at Barbetta on 46th Street (where it is still located to this day). Bummer. There are now more than 650 Mrs. Fields stores in the U.S. Real. Dorann Weber / Contributor / Getty Images. Lippert believed the ad influenced other famous commercials such as Prince Spaghetti (known for "Anthony! [4] After sauce, their next product was closer to a complete pasta meal, including a canister of grated Parmesan cheese, a box of spaghetti, and a jar of pasta sauce, held together in cellophane plastic wrap. He and his wife would hand them out using old milk bottles. By the time the war ended, the company employed five thousand people and production far exceeded what they were doing in the 1930s. Betty. While we may think of him as the man on the can, Ettore "Hector" Boiardi was, in fact, one of the top culinary talents in America who even cooked for a president. Chef Boyardee: Chef Boyardee The famous canned pasta is named after its founder, Hector. Also, if you give her a bag of Takis she will be your best friend. biggest importers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese from Italy. Who is Chef Boyardee? Chef Boyardee pasta products contain no artificial ingredients, no artificial colors, and no preservativesjust the time-tested taste your family loves. I asked a friend of mine who used to work on the Chef Boyardee line if the cans propelled themselves and just rolled like in the commercial so that the line didnt have to do anything and she just looked at me real weird and started explaining how canning lines work. Whether theres been a change of recipe, a decline in quality, or this is a case of misplaced nostalgia, we concede that Chef Boyardee products probably arent for everyone. And that picture on the product labels, of course. He also garnered a summer job cooking at the historic and ritzy Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (for 30 years, it was also the site of an underground bunker for Congress in the case of nuclear war). Boiardi had been an 11 year old apprentice at a restaurant in Italy before coming to New York. You love his raviolis. Using brother Peter's Plaza Hotel connections, Chef "Boy-Ar-Dee" meals ended up on the shelves of A & P grocery stores across the country, by far the largest food retailer in America at the time. Aunt Jemima-esque mammy characters have been used as racial caricatures for ages. In terms of famous people from Ohio, Chef Boyardee might just top them all! Unlike the friendly but fictional food faces of Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, Chef Boyardee that jovial, mustachioed Italian chef is real. Hector Boiardi, born in 1897, was born in Italy, where he began working at a hotel in his hometown when he was 11 (child labor meant something a little different in the early 1900s.) Boiardi sold his company for six million dollars in 1946 primarily due to the fact that he was having trouble managing the incredible rapid growth of the company (at this time annually grossing 20 million dollars worth of sales a year, which makes that 6 million dollar sale price a crazy good deal). He was still a teenager. I usually avoid commenting on all the grammar mistakes, but this one is really bad: in the first paragraph, He later immigrating to America at the age of 16 should be He later immigrated to America at the age of 16. Boiardi appeared in many print advertisements and television commercials for his brand in the 1940s through the 1960s. Chef Hector plays a major role on the home front by making food for the troops. What Chef Boyardee real? The classic ready-made pastas are iconic and well known. At the time of his death in 1985, at the age of 87 years old, the Chef Boyardee line of food products was grossing over half a billion dollars per year. He's become a household name, but few people actually know the chef behind the brand. Not much else is known about the real Ben, and its not even his picture on the box. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hoorayfor Beefaroni!" As Anna Boiardi writes in her book, "I think it is fair to say that those three men (the Boiardi brothers), with no formal education and very little money, can be credited with bringing Italian food to America.". Ettore "Hector" Boiardi was born in Italy and immigrated to Cleveland in 1914. Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli: A Delicious And Convenient Meal. Meet The Real Chef Behind The Chef Boyardee Brand. Anne Boiardi would later say that her great-uncle was "proud of his own family name but sacrifices were necessary for progress. American Home Foods was eventually acquired by the conglomerate ConAgra Foods, which still owns the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee brand today. So impressed with Boiardi's cooking, Wilson chose him to supervise the homecoming meal of 2,000 returning World War I soldiers in late 1918. His brother Paul worked there as maitre dhotel. Real. Though no longer the owner, he remained the face of the company, appearing in a variety of print and TV ads for the brand until the late 70s, touting an ever-expanding array of canned Italian eats. Let us know! Your email address will not be published. [13], In June 2000, ConAgra Foods acquired International Home Foods. Chef Boyardee products are available in cans or single-use microwavable cups. He later immigrating to America at the age of 16 and took the name Hector Boiardi as he passed through Ellis Island. When Hector opened his Italian restaurant in the 1920s, Italian food was foreign to Americans. Yes, Chef Boyardee was an actual person, and for more information about him, look below for a detailed answer on his past. The Facts Behind These Familiar Food Ads. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by ConAgra Foods, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.[7]. You know his raviolis. The classic ready-made pastas are iconic and well known. As a kid, I had so many questions. A real persona and a real legend. As a result of the request, the name was changed to "Beef-a-reeno". Hector Boiardi ran a popular Italian restaurant in Cleveland in the 1920s, and his recipes were so popular that people convinced him to mass-market them. Did you know that Chef Boyardee was a real person? In the 1970s, friends suggested that Amos make cookies his full-time business. Born in 1897 near Piacenza, Italy, Boiardi took to cooking from an early age, supposedly finding work as an apprentice chef at a hotel at the ripe age of 11.When he was 16, Ettore left home, arriving at Ellis Island just months before the outbreak of World War I. Turns out Chef Boyardee wasnt just a mascot for canned raviolihe was a real boy(ardee)! May your love of pasta continue to inspire cooks for generations to come even if they're just using a microwave. Hector Boiardi ran a popular Italian restaurant in Cleveland in the 1920s, and his recipes were so popular that people convinced him to mass-market them. It started out when he was an apprentice at a restaurant in Italy when he was just 11 years old, prior to his departure for New York. He is the great uncle of American author Anna Boiardi, who wrote Delicious Memories: Recipes and Stories from the Chef Boyardee Family. He worked as a cook at his first restaurant at the tender age of 10 years old in Italy. He became a food prodigy by age 11 in his native Italy, but later emigrated to New York City in 1915, where. Debbi Fields and her then-husband Randall opened their first bakery in 1977. The company specialized in three flavors of sauces: traditional, mushroom, and spicy Naples-style. [2] He decided to anglicize the name of his product to "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. The rechristened companys first factory was located in Milton, Pennsylvania, writes NPR. Chef Boyardee was a very real, very successful chef. Early life [ edit] Boiardi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. The short answer is probably not, unfortunately. As he developed a strong customer base, he found himself in the enviable position of having customers clamber after his food so much, they wanted to take it home with them so they could have it any time. Writes History.com: Il Giardino dItalia, The Garden of Italy in English, soon became one of Clevelands top eateries with customers regularly lining up to wait for tables and dine on Boiardis signature cooked-to-order spaghetti with its savoury sauce and tangy cheese. Chef Boyardee is still on store shelves, but the Smurfs version is a thing of the past. In the episode "The Rye", Kramer is allowed to operate a Hansom cab for a week, and feeds the horse excess cans of Beefaroni, which causes frequent and foul smelling flatulence. In an iconic TV ad from the early 00s, a can of Chef Boyardee beef ravioli goes on an epic journey, rolling of its own volition from the grocery store all the way to a familys home to be reunited with a small, ravioli-loving child.
