Few people are aware that Chef Boyardee, the iconic mustached man on the can of ravioli, was a real person with an amazing story. From Chef to "King of the Spaghetti Dinner", How to Know if Your 'Italian' Ingredients Are Actually Italian. Everyone is proud of his family name but sacrifices were necessary for progress, Boiardi said, according to History.com. 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. Real. Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn about Chef Boyardee - a real person who helped greatly during WWII.Gena is a genealogist and author of the book "From the Family Kitchen." There are a number of food spokespeople that are familiar to most Americans. After immigrating to America at the age of 16, he got a job at New Yorks Plaza Hotel, according to NPRs All Things Considered. Chef Hector Boyardee was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, not surprisingly with a very Italian name: Ettore Boiardi. And that picture on the product labels, of course. Chef Boyardee Was a Real Person - Today I Found Out Bummer. Fairly quickly, it became clear that the young Boiardi he was a prodigy. [17], In 2005, Chef Boyardee was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX, which depicts advertising mascots having dinner together. Your Privacy Rights However, there was one tiny detail to figure out. By clicking submit you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The company, which is today known for its canned meals, especially its ravioli, has changed hands a number of times since. (Boiardi Family) Who Was General Tso (And Why Does He Have His Own Chicken)? As a kid, I had so many questions. That inspired Boiardi to start assembling homemade meal kits for customers, which featured dried pasta and milk bottles filled with marinara alongside a set of instructions. DUNCAN HINES CAKE MIXES. The company specialized in three flavors of sauces: traditional, mushroom, and spicy Naples-style. Early life [ edit] Boiardi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. They spell the name phonetically to keep American tongues from twisting on the Italian pronunciation. Behind The Man On The Can: An interview with Chef Boyardee's Grandniece 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). And during those years, Boiardi also directed the catering for Woodrow Wilsons second wedding, to Edith Galt in 1915. He even got a Gold Star for it. [4] The idea for Chef Boiardi came about when restaurant customers began asking Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce, which he began to distribute in milk bottles. Real. The rechristened companys first factory was located in Milton, Pennsylvania, writes NPR. And, despite rumors to the contrary, Chef "Boy-Ar-Dee" was more Colonel than Betty - although that wasn't the correct spelling of his name. It doesn't take the accomplished Chef Hector long to find work, and by the age of 17, he leads the kitchen at New Yorks tony Plaza Hotel. | READ MORE. 14 Discontinued Canned Foods You'll Never See Again Based on that strength, Consolidated Foods adopted the name Sara Lee for the whole corporation. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hoorayfor Beefaroni!" 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Yes, Chef Boyardee was an actual person, and for more information about him, look below for a detailed answer on his past. 1. Chef Boyardee is still on store shelves, but the Smurfs version is a thing of the past. Real. Wallace Amos was a entertainment talent agent who worked at the William Morris Agency. very interesting. But despite all that cynicism, there's at least one food brand out there whose namesake was not only real, he was a pioneering figure who helped change how America understood Italian food. Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an 11-year-old apprentice to the iconic figure he is today. The Man, The Can: Recipes Of The Real Chef Boyardee : NPR Mario Boiardi was a sharpshooter Army Ranger in WWII and later in the Korean War. Thanks. A History of Chef Boyardee - Foodimentary 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. He named the business after his mother, claiming that no one would want to buy from a place called Dons Pies.. There, he started selling bottles of his pasta sauce, and soon expanded the operation with a factory in Pennsylvania. It then expanded when the production was moved to Milton, Pennsylvania, and there, the Chef Boyardee empire was born. Husted picked the first name Betty because it sounded warm and friendly, and combined it with Crocker as a tribute to retired Washburn Crosby executive William Crocker. The Unhealthiest Canned Foods on the Planet | Eat This Not That Chef Boyardee. The company he sold to was American Home Products (today called International Home Foods). As a result of the request, the name was changed to "Beef-a-reeno". 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. He was born Ettore Boiardi (or Hector as he was called in English) in Piacenza Italy in 1897. In 1914, Hector Boiardi made the trip to America on the French ship La Lorraine, landing at Ellis Island. 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. When I see cans of Chef Boyardee Lasagna, I think of ads using Weird Al Yankovics Lasagna as background music. 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. Its first product: spaghetti dinner, including a canister of grated parmesan, a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Chef Boyardee products are available in cans or single-use microwavable cups. 33 Grocery Store Staples Named After Real People People stand outside for hours, waiting for a taste. In short, Chef Boyardee was a real person. He later immigrating to America at the age of 16 and took the name Hector Boiardi as he passed through Ellis Island. Chef Boyardee Juan Valdez Colonel Sanders Duncan Hines. 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. So how did Ettore Boiardi become Chef Boyardee? 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. The Gruesome Tale of the Laughing Death Epidemic, The Greatest Air Race of All Time Which Helped Give Us the Global Airline Industry, An Ode to Glorious Chips (And Who Invented Nachos), What Those Nasty White Chunks That Sometimes Come From Your Throat Are, The Difference Between a Fact and a Factoid, Marilyn Monroe was Not Even Close to a Size 12-16, A Japanese Soldier Who Continued Fighting WWII 29 Years After the Japanese Surrendered, Because He Didnt Know. So we salute you with a tip of the cap and a chef's kiss, Chef Ettore "Hector" Boiardi/Boyardee. Who Was the Real Chef Boyardee? - YouTube Born Ettore (Hector) Boiardi, Chef Boyardee was a real man and a real chef (unlike Mrs. Butterworth or Betty Crocker). He was invented by the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency in 1959, to appear in advertisements for the . His name? Whats more: Hector Boiardi was a respected chef who even helped cater Woodrow Wilsons second wedding. Today I found out Chef Boyardee was a real person. He's become a household name, but few people actually know the chef behind the brand. Who is Chef Boyardee? A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world-renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. However, demand for his sauce became too great and soon Boiardi realized that perhaps it was this "take-home" industry that was his future. They came in agreement to sell the company and factory to American Home Foods for nearly $6 million. they serve chef at the olive garden so dont tell me its not real italian food. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928. Anne Boiardi would later say that her great-uncle was "proud of his own family name but sacrifices were necessary for progress. He also held a degree in business and co-owned a steel mill with his father. 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. 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. 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. The take-out business got big enough that the family started thinking about selling their sauce on a larger scale. With his brothers Mario and Paul, Chef Hector starts the Chef Boyardee Company. This is a young man on the move. Joined by Paul and his other brother Mario from Italy, Hector launched the Chef Boiardi Food Company in 1928. Is Pizza Getting Too Gourmet for Its Own Good? Once he arrived, he landed a job at the famous Plaza Hotel. [9][10] His last appearance in a television commercial promoting the brand aired in 1979. He later changed the name of the business to Kitchens of Sara Lee, and when it was later acquired by the Consolidated Foods Corporation, it became one of the companys leading brands. Boiardi's product was soon being stocked in markets nationwide the company had to open a factory in 1928 to meet the demands of national distribution. Today I found out Chef Boyardee was a real person. Lets try!. 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? 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 dubbed the canned and bottled products Chef Boy-Ar-Dee to help consumers pronounce his name. Ettore Hector Boiardi, born in 1897 in Italy, where he was working as an apprentice chef by age 11. Ettore Boiardi as shown in a 1953 television commercial, 1953 television commercial with Ettore Boiardi, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Chef Boyardee Was a Real Person Who Brought Italian Food to America", "Hector Boiardi: A Chef's Resume | Chef Boyardee", "Carl Colombi served up Chef Boy-Ar-Dee idea", "The Man, The Can: Recipes Of The Real Chef Boyardee", "Hector Boiardi Is Dead: Began Chef Boy-ar-dee", "Hector Boiardi of 'Chef Boy-Ar-Dee' Foods Dies", "Chef Boyardee's grand-niece Anna Boiardi reveals family recipes with new cookbook", The Man, The Can: Recipes Of The Real Chef Boyardee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ettore_Boiardi&oldid=1144495541, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from May 2022, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 14 March 2023, at 01:48. Chef Boyardee was a real man, but he spelled his last name a little different from what you see on the cans of his pasta in sauce. Cookie Settings. Whether you loved his lasagna or his spaghetti dinners, the man's history is fascinating. Lets talk about it. The Weiners helped the Boiardi brothers develop a process for canning the food at scale. Which of these company figureheads was a real person? - Getvoice.org Unlike Chef Boyardee, the following brands feature fictitious people: Betty Crocker, Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, and Ronald McDonald. The Real Chef Boyardee - GenealogyBank Blog He stayed on as a consultant there until 1978. When stirring sauce, you should always stir with the spoons rounded side down, rather than stir sideways like pretty much everyone does. That was the town where its tomatoes were grown, and the company even grew mushrooms insidethe factory. The Fake People Behind Your Favorite Foods | HuffPost Life Soon, he moved up to the ranks of matre d', becoming one of the most well-known hosts in the city. Real. He supervised the preparation of the homecoming meal served by Woodrow Wilson at the White House for 2,000 returning World War I soldiers. Betty Crocker, Uncle Ben, Orville Redenbacher, and Dr. Pepper are a few that come to mind. 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. I love the part about the guy keeping his familys wealth secret until he was sure. But after rising to the rank of head chef at the Plaza,he started to put food from his birth country on the menu. So why would a brand name itself after someone completely fictitious? He and his wife would hand them out using old milk bottles. 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. Boiardi used to grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms in the basement of the factory where his product line was produced. Does Absinthe Actually Make You Hallucinate? He became a food prodigy by age 11 in his native Italy, but later emigrated to New York City in 1915, where. Turns out Chef Boyardee wasnt just a mascot for canned raviolihe was a real boy(ardee)! 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. Chef Boyardee History: The Real Man Behind the Famous Canned Empire and "Hilltop" for Coca-Cola. Was Chef Boyardee a real person? - Answers Then, a lucky break came in the way of a local grocer helping Boiardi start canning his sauce. Dorann Weber / Contributor / Getty Images. The plant runs 24/7, and after the war hes awarded the Gold Star, one of the highest military honors a civilian can receive. At one point, the company ranked among the biggest importers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese from Italy. Smashing 20,000 tons of tomatoes a season, the Milton factory produced upwards of 250,000 cans of sauce a day. From Italian immigrant to selling his company for millions, Boiardi's story is the very embodiment of the American dream. ", By 1936, the company had outgrown the Cleveland plant and moved to a large swath of land in Milton, Pennsylvania where they could grow their own tomatoes. Did Trader Joe's Just Release a Cheaper Momofuku Instant Noodle Dupe? Take a Break from Tuna with the Best Canned Salmon, All of the Tapatio Products You May Not Have Known Exist, The 5 Best Bread and Butter Pickles Are Sweet, Sour, and Sensational, Sporkeds Guide to the Best Nachos Fixins, 3 Best Frozen Chicken Patties for DIY Fast Food. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. Real. When World War II erupted in Europe, the food company was put to work making Army rations. In 1928, the Chef Boyardee Company was born. Chef Boyardee was a real person. TV Acres. 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. So, using milk bottles, he packaged up the sauce and sent them off. By the time the war ended, the company employed five thousand people and production far exceeded what they were doing in the 1930s. Even though its now a household name, the people of still have very sentimental memories of Chef Boyardee. The History of the Hydrox, the Cookie the Oreo Once Aspired to Be, The Only Ranch Dressing I've Ever Needed Comes from a Steak House I've Never Eaten At, 6 Ways to Make Jarred Pasta Sauce Taste Homemade, What Happens If You Don't Pop Microwave Popcorn With 'This Side Up', The Surprising (and Speculative) History of Chili, Stanley Tucci Launched His First Recipe Kit for You to Make His Holiday Pasta, Real Or Not? According to his New York Times obituary, Boiardi handled the catering at the reception for Woodrow Wilson's second marriage in 1915, still the most recent example of a presidential wedding. Soon after, he was offered a job he couldn't turn down - to be head of the kitchen at Cleveland's famed and very popular Hotel Winton. With his brothers Mario and Paul, Chef Hector starts the Chef Boyardee Company. Chef Boyardee Was A Real Person - Smithsonian Magazine 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. Before Tim and Nina Zagat, there was Duncan Hines, a traveling . In some cases, the name simply sounds good. Boiardi had been an 11 year old apprentice at a restaurant in Italy before coming to New York. Look at Chef Boyardee, for example. He later started a successful flooring and tile company. As of 2021, the following products are no longer in production. 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. It quickly became a family business, when his brothers moved to Ohio to help him with his canning business. Required fields are marked *. What a dude. Cookie Policy He sold the company to American Home Foods in 1946 for nearly $6 million, and remained as a spokesman and consultant for the brand until 1978. They changed the spelling of their name on the label, making it phonetic Chef Boy-Ar-Dee so people could pronounce it more easily. Paul Boiardi had moved to America when Hector was a small boy and had quickly found a job waiting tables in New York's Parisian Room at the famous Plaza Hotel. 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. Question: Which of these company figureheads is not a real person? Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. From the Chef Boyardee website: . Fictional. 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. The 17 Real People Behind Your Favorite Food Brand Names Slideshow Betty. Did You Know Chef Boyardee Was a Real Person? | Kitchn Who Was Chef Boyardee? For its founder, see, "The Man, The Can: Recipes Of The Real Chef Boyardee", "Your favorite food icons: Fact or fiction? When it comes to food brands and their human "mascots," you really can't believe everything you see. [1], Boiardi followed his brother Paolo to the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, working his way up to head chef. To capitalize on their hometown popularity, they started branding their products with Oscars name when they expanded their business. And Uncle Ben's rice is still very cagey on whether Uncle Ben actually ever existed. 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. In 1927, Boiardi met Maurice and Eva Weiner who were patrons of his restaurant and owners of a local self-service grocery store chain. Boiardi was an immigrant who went on to live the American Dream when he created a whole Italian food empire. He later came to the states through Ellis Island and became a well-known celebrity chef, working at various fancy hotels (and even catering Woodrow Wilsons wedding) before opening his own Italian restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1924. And in 1928, the Chef Boyardee food company was born.. What other brands are on the list? Pharmacist Charles Alderton developed the formula for Dr Pepper while working at W.B. [18], In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was brought against the Chef Boyardee company. Afterward, Bioardi ended up moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened up his very own restaurant. Believe it or not, Chef Boyardee was a real live chef, and Chef Boyardee's history is pretty amazing. He died on June 21, 1985, and today the company is owned by ConAgra, the conglomerate behind faves like Slims Jim, Reddi-wip, Vlasic pickles, PAM, Orville Redenbachers popcorn, and, like, a bajillion and three more food brands. Italian food wasnt on the radar. We stan Ettore. At this point in history, fine dining was synonymous with French food, according to NPR. 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. Ettore Boiardi (October 22, 1897 - June 21, 1985), also known by the Anglicized name Hector Boyardee, was an Italian-American chef, famous for his eponymous brand of food products, named Chef Boyardee . I was at a friends house and his father was an actual good friend of the Chef. Which of these company figureheads is not a real person? chef boyardee 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. In a world of fake food mascots, Ettore Boiardi was the real deal. Chef Boyardee: 12 Things To Know About The Popular Chef - Mashed.com Clevelander Chef Boyardee (born Ettore Boiardi and known as Hector Boyardee after moving to the United States) found his rhythm right here in Ohio, a state he was not native to but that he effortlessly adopted the culture of. These names are probably all over your kitchenbut did they belong to real people? It was also around the time that Boiardi sold to the conglomerate American Home Products. He is buried at All Souls Cemetery in Chardon Township, Ohio. 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. 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. Debbi Fields and her then-husband Randall opened their first bakery in 1977. Does Chef Boyardee Still Make Chili Mac? | Greengos Cantina Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. Their product labels stated that they contained no preservatives, yet they contained citric acid. 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. [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. What Chef Boyardee real? I wish they would bring back the older version of macaroni and cheese with the long noodles and white cheese sauce. He did have to sell the company soon after the war, though, in order to make sure that all the extra hands hired for the war efforts could keep their jobs. 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. The businessmen who developed an early ready-made pancake mix reportedly saw one such character in a black-face minstrel show in the late 1800s and appropriated the image to brand their new product. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese. 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. Boiardi quickly rose through the ranks, earning a spot as the Plaza's head chef just a year later. 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.

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