What was chef boyardees real name

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. While in this job, he took on the immense responsibility of catering the wedding reception of President Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt. So impressed with Boiardi's cooking, Wilson chose him to supervise the homecoming meal of 2, returning World War I soldiers in late 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

Not only that, patrons were asking to take home his sauce to use at their own family dinners. So, using milk bottles, he packaged up the sauce and sent them off. 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 advertised a dinner for three that could be made in under 15 minutes This affordable business model allowed the company great success in the midst of the Depression, and it afforded struggling American families a delicious meal at a price they could afford.

As it turns out, innovation and dedication would continue to fuel the Boy-ar-dee brand, which was spelled phonetically to help Americans nail down the pronunciation of Ettore Boiardi's family name. The aforementioned article states that Carl Colombi arranged a contract with the U. When he wasn't overseeing operations at his factory, Ettore was participating in parades and encouraging support for troops.

He made sure his employees understood the important role their factory fulfilled in providing meals to soldiers, and he fostered camaraderie. By the time the war ended, Ettore was awarded The Gold Star , the highest honor granted to civilians.

Chef Boyardee Website. Today, that dedication to quality continues. Just as his factory prospered amidst tomato fields and utilized mushrooms grown on-site, the brand today maintains a proud standard. Made with no preservatives or artificial flavors, it is easy to imagine how his now-gone Cleveland restaurant must have seemed to patrons. Do you remember seeing this smiling face in advertisements?

Ettore himself appeared in ads for the brand until , allowing him visibility as the brand continued to serve up smiles. Today, his legacy continues in the form of his iconic brand, and his picture smiles at passersby as they stroll past cans of ravioli and more in the grocery store.

But his face—like his name, or at least the phonetic spelling of it—endures on the label of every can. Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto. You know what he looks like, but you probably don't know his actual last name. Mike Mozart His face is familiar to anyone who has ever eaten canned ravioli, but you might not know his story. Post a Comment. He changed his name to Chef Boyardee because he wanted to insure that Americans could pronouce his name properly..

Apparently, the investment paid off very well, making the already wealthy Boiardi even richer. He is buried in Chardon, Ohio. Hector Boiardi died a very wealthy man at the age of 87 in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio, on June 21, Tagged: aunt jemima , betty crocker , boyardee , chef boyardee , food , foodimentary , fun , history , life , mrs.