I needed that information for ia project I am doing on Chef Boyardee. The 17 Real People Behind Your Favorite Food Brand Names Slideshow. Betty Crocker was not. After immigrating to America at the age of 16, he got a job at New Yorks Plaza Hotel, And during those years, Boiardi also directed the catering for Woodrow Wilsons. Mario Boiardi was a sharpshooter Army Ranger in WWII and later in the Korean War. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hoorayfor Beefaroni!" [2] At its peak, the company employed approximately 5,000 workers and produced 250,000 cans per day. One of the more famous he worked at as a youth was New Yorks famous Plaza and Ritz-Carlton hotel. Before Tim and Nina Zagat, there was Duncan Hines, a traveling . He made quite the impression amongst diners as Italian food wasnt quite as widespread as it is today. 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.. They spell the name phonetically to keep American tongues from twisting on the Italian pronunciation. She loves spicy snacks, Oreos, baking bread, teeny tiny avocados, and trying new foods whenever she can. 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. Aunt Jemima was later brought to life when the businesss new owner hired Nancy Green, a former slave, to portray the character in ads and at events. His name? 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. Unlike Chef Boyardee, the following brands feature fictitious people: Betty Crocker, Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, and Ronald McDonald. The name was created for the Washburn Crosby Company (which would later merge with other businesses to form General Mills) by Marjorie Husted as a way to personalize the companys products and customer relations. 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? Afterward, Bioardi ended up moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened up his very own restaurant. 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. He opened the first Famous Amos store in Los Angeles in 1975 and then began supplying cookies to grocery stores around the country. [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. 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. But his goal was always to sail across the Atlantic and join his brother Paul in America. From Chef to "King of the Spaghetti Dinner", How to Know if Your 'Italian' Ingredients Are Actually Italian. 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. Who is Chef Boyardee? Chef Hector plays a major role on the home front by making food for the troops. In 1917, NPR writes, he moved to Cleveland, where in 1924 he opened a restaurant with his wife Helen Boiardi. 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. A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world-renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. 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. The plant runs 24/7, and after the war hes awarded the Gold Star, one of the highest military honors a civilian can receive. Terms of Use This is a young man on the move. The Chef Boyardee brand was created by a real Italian chef, Ettore Boiardi. The most interesting brand names based on fictitious people, by far, are those that were devised with the express purpose of playing up the concept of "idealized domesticity," which was a big marketing trend around the turn of the 20th century. Then, a lucky break came in the way of a local grocer helping Boiardi start canning his sauce. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. After immigrating to America at the age of 16, he got a job at New Yorks Plaza Hotel, according to NPRs All Things Considered. Behind the label is a whole impressive history, beginning with the origins of Ettore Boiardi, who became Hector Boyardee . 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. 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. Chef Boyardee was a very real, very successful chef. May your love of pasta continue to inspire cooks for generations to come even if they're just using a microwave. Chef Hector Boyardee was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, not surprisingly with a very Italian name: Ettore Boiardi. American Home Foods was eventually acquired by the conglomerate ConAgra Foods, which still owns the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee brand today. 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In Milton, the company exploded. Betty. That image is instead said to be based on the matre d' of the restaurant where Harwell and his business partners sometimes met. [9][10] His last appearance in a television commercial promoting the brand aired in 1979. From there, he worked his way up the ranks and became the head chef. Its first product: spaghetti dinner, including a canister of grated parmesan, a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Thanks. 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. Weve all had at least one meal from Chef Boyardee. 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. 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. 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 . The Weiners helped the Boiardi brothers develop a process for canning the food at scale. Unlike the friendly but fictional food faces of Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, Chef Boyardee that jovial, mustachioed Italian chef is real. Bummer. 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. 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. Kat Eschner 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. But not all brands involving a person's name have origins that are so cut and dry. keep up the great work! Who Was General Tso (And Why Does He Have His Own Chicken)? I actually talked with Chef Boyardee on the phone when I was 10 years old. Based on that strength, Consolidated Foods adopted the name Sara Lee for the whole corporation. In terms of famous people from Ohio, Chef Boyardee might just top them all! Pharmacist Charles Alderton developed the formula for Dr Pepper while working at W.B. Juan Valdez of these company figureheads is not a real person.Thus, option B is correct.. What is a company? The Welsh sailor made his name defending British interests and raiding Spanish ships and towns throughout the Caribbean. 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. Weird History Food said, Chefs significant contributions to Milton, Pennsylvania were never forgotten. In short, Chef Boyardee was a real person. As a kid, I had so many questions. Chef Boyardee Real. [19] The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.[20]. What a dude. Could spaghetti be canned? The future superintendent responded with, You can can almost anything, but I dont know what it would taste like. 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). Let us know! Hes become a household name, but few people actually know the chef behind the brand. He and his wife would hand them out using old milk bottles. He was born Ettore Boiardi (or Hector as he was called in English) in Piacenza Italy in 1897. This will help you not spill any sauce as well as create little whirlpools in the sauce as the curve side down glides through the sauce; this provides optimal mixing. Although the product sold well, the company name was a sticking point. The brand's signature tomato sauce has always been sweet and sort of thin, . I love the part about the guy keeping his familys wealth secret until he was sure. Anastasia Arellano. Even though its now a household name, the people of still have very sentimental memories of Chef Boyardee. 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. At one point, the company ranked among the biggest importers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese from Italy. The short answer is probably not, unfortunately. Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an 11-year-old apprentice to the iconic figure he is today.. Chef Boyardee was a real person. He also held a degree in business and co-owned a steel mill with his father. Boiardi quickly rose through the ranks, earning a spot as the Plaza's head chef just a year later. They changed the spelling of their name on the label, making it phonetic Chef Boy-Ar-Dee so people could pronounce it more easily. At this time, Italian restaurants were just becoming immensely popular on the east and west coasts (thanks in large part to the influx of immigrants to these areas of the country) but it hadn't quite hit middle America yet. And, perhaps most importantly, who is Chef Boyardee? Wallace Amos was a entertainment talent agent who worked at the William Morris Agency. As for the products that Hector Boiardi left as his legacy, Anna Boiardi admits that they may not be the same as when her great-uncle made them but it is an alternative for those who just don't have the time to cook. He even got a Gold Star for it. Real. The lawsuit alleged false advertisement on the part of Chef Boyardee. Converted Rice Inc. supplied rice to the American military during World War II, and the owners wanted a new brand name and image when they started focusing on civilian consumers towards the end of the war. When Hector opened his Italian restaurant in the 1920s, Italian food was foreign to Americans. 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. Well, a lot, actually. The best. Lippert believed the ad influenced other famous commercials such as Prince Spaghetti (known for "Anthony! He later learned more restaurant skills as an immigrant in Paris and London. Hard work, some luck, and being willing to recognized and act on an opportunity = the secret to success. 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. When I see cans of Chef Boyardee Lasagna, I think of ads using Weird Al Yankovics Lasagna as background music. But he remains one the most recognized faces of TV, thanks to his legacy of advertisement. 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. So in order to make the fledgling business more palatable to American eaters, the company became Chef "Boy-Ar-Dee" to phoneticize the spelling. 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. Your email address will not be published. Yes, Chef Boyardee was an actual person, and for more information about him, look below for a detailed answer on his past. Weird History Food then added, Hector took over a food processing plant and began producing and canning the sauce on a larger scale. I was at a friends house and his father was an actual good friend of the Chef. 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. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by ConAgra Foods, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.[7]. Aunt Jemima-esque mammy characters have been used as racial caricatures for ages. [1], Boiardi followed his brother Paolo to the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, working his way up to head chef. With all that in mind, it's natural to be skeptical of the origins and credentials of any food company mascot. He persuaded his brother, Mario, who was in New York working with Paul at the Plaza, to come to Cleveland. By age 11, he was working at a local restaurant. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928. | 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. Their product labels stated that they contained no preservatives, yet they contained citric acid. Chef Boyardee Juan Valdez Colonel Sanders Duncan Hines. Morrison & Co. Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas in 1885. [17], In 2005, Chef Boyardee was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX, which depicts advertising mascots having dinner together. There has even been an internet rumor denying his existence, claiming that "Boyardee" was combination of the names of three food company executives; Boyd, Art and Dennis. The drink was named by Aldertons boss, Wade Morrison. The wedding, which took place after a brief courtship, was held at Galts Washington, D.C. home. Everyone is proud of his family name but sacrifices were necessary for progress, Boiardi said, according to History.com. Sara Lee didnt follow her father into the baking business, but instead has worked to encourage and support women working in science. With all that said, it's pretty clear that Chef Boyardee was the real deal. 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. Their first product beyond simple sauce was prepackaged spaghetti dinners in clear cellophane covered containers that included a canister of grated parmesan cheese, a box of spaghetti and a large jar of spaghetti sauce. [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. As Anna Boiardi told NPR in 2011, they were the largest importers of Parmesan cheese from Italy. Fictional. The company he sold to was American Home Products (today called International Home Foods). He said I run a restaurant in Cleveland and am catering parties by putting my spaghetti in a bucket. 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. Required fields are marked *. Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an. He died at the age of 87 in 1985. Also, if you give her a bag of Takis she will be your best friend. In 1927, Boiardi met Maurice and Eva Weiner who were patrons of his restaurant and owners of a local self-service grocery store chain. 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." For its founder, see, "The Man, The Can: Recipes Of The Real Chef Boyardee", "Your favorite food icons: Fact or fiction? [12] He had five grandchildren. Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. [5] Touting the low cost of spaghetti products as a good choice to serve to the entire family, Boiardi introduced his product to the public in 1929. In a world of fake food mascots, Ettore Boiardi was the real deal. You know his raviolis. So why would a brand name itself after someone completely fictitious? Businessman. He thus began bottling up his sauces in old milk bottles and packaging his special blends of cheeses and spices with dried pasta and selling these meal kits to customers. From the Chef Boyardee website: . 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. The Facts Behind These Familiar Food Ads. [1], On May 9, 1914, at the age of 16, he arrived at Ellis Island aboard La Lorraine, a ship of French registration. The brands signature tomato sauce has always been sweet and sort of thin, but youll notice a lot of people online claiming that the saucy products they remember loving in the 90s and 00s are soupier and less flavorful than they remember. 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." Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an 11-year-old apprentice to the iconic figure he is today. Is Pizza Getting Too Gourmet for Its Own Good? 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. very interesting. 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. Boiardi continued developing new Italian food products for the American market until his death in 1985. Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. Lets talk about it. Born 119 years ago this month (October 22nd, 1897) in the northern Italian city of Piacenza (part of Italy's famous "food valley"), legend has it that cooking was so ingrained in Boiardi that he used a wire whisk as a rattle. I wish they would bring back the older version of macaroni and cheese with the long noodles and white cheese sauce. Ettore Hector Boiardi, born in 1897 in Italy, where he was working as an apprentice chef by age 11. The Chef Boyardee line was later sold, in 2000, to ConAgra Foods. 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. It wasnt long before the sale totals of these products surpassed his restaurant earnings, despite the restaurant itself doing booming business. 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. ", "Natural History of the Kitchen: Chef Boyardee", "Canned & Microwave Spaghetti | Chef Boyardee", "Mastercard Priceless | Experiences make life more meaningful", "Chef Boyardee Maker Hit With False Advertising Class Action", Hector Boiardi (Encyclopedia of Cleveland History), Gallery of classic graphic design featuring Chef Boyardee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chef_Boyardee&oldid=1134715590, Companies based in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Articles lacking reliable references from September 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Spaghetti & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Mini Spaghetti Rings & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Cheese Ravioli In Meat Sauce (microwavable cup), Mini Beef Ravioli & Meatballs (can, microwaveable Cup), Mini Micro Beef Ravioli (microwaveable cup), Pasta With Chicken And Vegetables (microwave cup), Spaghetti In Tomato Sauce (microwave cup), Pasta In Butter Sauce (can, microwaveable cup), Rice With Chicken & Vegetables (microwavable cup), Mini ABC's & 123's With Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Mini ABC's & 123's Without Meatballs (can), Justice League Pasta Shapes with Meatballs, Roller Coaster Pasta Shapes with Mini Meatballs, Sir Chomps-a-lot Bite-Sized Cheese Ravioli, The Smurfs Mini Pasta Shapes with Meatballs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pasta Shapes with Mini Meatballs, This page was last edited on 20 January 2023, at 05:35. This article is about the canned pasta product line. What other brands are on the list? ", SLEEPYTIME TEA AND THE LITTLE-KNOWN RELIGION BEHIND IT, THE NOT-SO-AMERICAN HISTORY OF CHEEZ WHIZ. 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. They also procured distribution across the United States through their grocery's wholesale partners. 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. 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. This was too much for Boiardi and his brothers to handle. 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. His name was Hector Boiardi, and he was born in Italy in 1897. For producing rations supplying Allied troops during World War II, he was awarded a Gold Star order of excellence[clarification needed] from the United States War Department.[8]. And in 1928, the Chef Boyardee food company was born..
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