Ettore "Hector" Boiardi (that's. Whats more: Hector Boiardi was a respected chef who even helped cater Woodrow Wilsons second wedding. Believe it or not, Chef Boyardee was a real live chef, and Chef Boyardee's history is pretty amazing. Who Was Chef Boyardee? A Real, Italian-American Icon - Allrecipes Later, in 2000, ConAgra bought IHF, and they currently own the Chef Boyardee name. 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. Turns out Chef Boyardee wasnt just a mascot for canned raviolihe was a real boy(ardee)! At one point, the company ranked among the biggest importers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese from Italy. Chef Boyardee History: The Real Man Behind the Famous Canned Empire Hector Boiardi remained on as a consultant and the face of canned pasta until 1978. 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. REAL: An Italian immigrant, Chef Ettore Boiardi had a restaurant in Cleveland. The restaurant was called Il Giardino dItalia, which means The Garden of Italy. So how did Ettore Boiardi become Chef Boyardee? 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. [1], Boiardi followed his brother Paolo to the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, working his way up to head chef. [2] He decided to anglicize the name of his product to "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. In a world of fake food mascots, Ettore Boiardi was the real deal. As a result of the request, the name was changed to "Beef-a-reeno". keep up the great work! From there, he worked his way up the ranks and became the head chef. From Italian immigrant to selling his company for millions, Boiardi's story is the very embodiment of the American dream. Also, if you give her a bag of Takis she will be your best friend. Some other real people behind brands, besides Chef Boyardee, were Uncle Ben; KFCs Harland Sanders; popcorns Orville Redenbacher; and McDonalds Dick and Mac McDonald. The Chef Boyardee brand was created by a real Italian chef, Ettore Boiardi. And in 1928, the Chef Boiardi Food Company was born, launched by Hector, Helen,and Hectors brothers Paul and Mario. Sir Henry Morgan sailed the high seas during the 17th century as a privateer. 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. We've all had at least one meal from Chef Boyardee. He stayed on as a consultant there until 1978. May your love of pasta continue to inspire cooks for generations to come even if they're just using a microwave. But his goal was always to sail across the Atlantic and join his brother Paul in America. The lawsuit alleged false advertisement on the part of Chef Boyardee. Real. It is an excellent and convenient meal that can be consumed quickly and has delighted generations of families. Chef Hector retires from his consultant position. 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. Unlike the friendly but fictional food faces of Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, Chef Boyardee that jovial, mustachioed Italian chef is real. With his brothers Mario and Paul, Chef Hector starts the Chef Boyardee Company. 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. 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. RELATED: 10 Discontinued Restaurant Dishes You Totally Forgot About 12 Trader Joe's Vegetable Chili Shutterstock Trader Joe's has discontinued several of its chili offerings, including the fan-favorite veggie chili. 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. While it might seem like that smiling face on the box must be that of the inventor, don't forget that the concept of idealized domesticity is still very powerful in the marketing world, and there are plenty of products that are still playing it up, albeit in a slightly more politically correct way. He eventually took jobs in Paris and London, learning various restaurant skills to complement his Italian upbringing. 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. Even though its now a household name, the people of still have very sentimental memories of Chef Boyardee. From Chef to "King of the Spaghetti Dinner", How to Know if Your 'Italian' Ingredients Are Actually Italian. 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? Soon, he moved up to the ranks of matre d', becoming one of the most well-known hosts in the city. 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. Probably fictional. His entrepreneurial skill became polished and well known when he opened his first restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia, whose name translates as "The Garden of Italy", at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, in 1924. 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. When he did so, he took her to a grocery store at 1am, this followed: Wife: I thought he was going to tell me it was a no-go and that he thought the relationship was a mistake, so I said, Look, its been great. As of 2021, the following products are no longer in production. [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. Boiardi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. Your Privacy Rights The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese. Chef Boyardee was a very real, very successful chef. By the late 1930s, Hector was headed east to set up his kitchen in Milton, Pennsylvania . When Hector opened his Italian restaurant in the 1920s, Italian food was foreign to Americans. Is Chef Boyardee Actually Three People? | Snopes.com What is Chef Boyardee? 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. 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. In less-racist mascot falsification, Betty Crocker was the product of a Saturday Evening Post contest, and KFC's Colonel Harlan Sanders never actually earned the military rank that many misattribute to him. What other brands are on the list? Hector Boiardi was born in Piacenza, in northern Italy. He made quite the impression amongst diners as Italian food wasnt quite as widespread as it is today. Green made her public debut in character at the1893World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where she charmed the crowds and doled out pancakes from a booth.The Jemima brand soon became so popular that Green secured a lifetime contract, and the business was renamedthe Aunt Jemima Mills Company. 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). Dorann Weber / Contributor / Getty Images. 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. During the Depression, Boiardis company grew by leaps and bounds due to the fact that his product was incredibly cheap compared to most other meals and was very tasty (one assumes more tasty than now back then when Boiardi was directly involved in the production and quality control). He worked as a cook at his first restaurant at the tender age of 10 years old in Italy. 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? They came in agreement to sell the company and factory to American Home Foods for nearly $6 million. very interesting. The classic ready-made pastas are iconic and well known. It then expanded when the production was moved to Milton, Pennsylvania, and there, the Chef Boyardee empire was born. [1], On May 9, 1914, at the age of 16, he arrived at Ellis Island aboard La Lorraine, a ship of French registration. Boiardi used to grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms in the basement of the factory where his product line was produced. A company is a legal body created by a group of people to conduct and manage a multinational corporation, whether it be commercial or economic.. Juan Valdez is a fictional character.In the New York metropolitan area premises of a promotional agency, he established in 1959. Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. The company specialized in three flavors of sauces: traditional, mushroom, and spicy Naples-style. And in 1928, the Chef Boyardee food company was born.. 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.) That was the town where its tomatoes were grown, and the company even grew mushrooms insidethe factory. This is a young man on the move. Great story. You know his raviolis. They later sold the company, and Dean stayed involved in management and as a spokesperson until management phased him out. 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'. 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. 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. Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an. 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 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. The Facts Behind These Familiar Food Ads. Looking to run his own business instead of working for others, his new wife Helen helped Hector open a restaurant in Cleveland, Giardino d' Italia - meaning "The Garden of Italy." And, perhaps most importantly, who is Chef Boyardee?