L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 13 L'Italo-Americano The Chef behind the brand: the true face and life of Ettore Boiardi M os t of you probably know him better as "Chef Boyardee," the name and face behind a popular brand of Italian style canned foods. Established in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, by brothers Ettore, Mario and Paul, "Chef Boyardee" (spelled phonetically to help Americans with the pro- nunciation of the Italian sur- name) came to be after cus - tomers of Ettore's restaurants started asking him for portions of his delicious tomato sauce to bring home. Chef Boyardee's canned foods fed US troops throughout the Second World War, its plant running 24/7 to produce enough food to keep soldiers' stomachs full: after the end of the conflict, Ettore received the highest mili- tary honor to be conferred to civilians, the Gold Star, for his effort. If his company – and his face, which graces still today all the brand's products – is familiar to many, only a minority is proba- bly aware of the real life and story of Ettore, a real person and, most of all, a real chef, who had travelled all the way from Piacenza to New York to make his very own American dream come true. Ettore Boiardi: a life dedicated to good food Legend says that Ettore, class 1897, had his first culi- nary experiences as a toddler, when he would use a wire whisk as a rattle. True or not, by the time he decided to s ail to America in 1914, he had already worked for 5 years as a chef apprentice at a local hotel in his hometown of Piacenza. He reached Ellis Island on the French ship La Lorraine and soon joined his older broth- er Paul at the prestigious Plaza Hotel of New York city, where he was maitre d'. Within a year, Ettore became the hotel's head chef. It was at this time he had his first brush with stardom, as he directed the catering for president FRANCESCA BEZZONE Woodrow Wilson and his sec- ond wife's Edith wedding recep- tion : it was December 1915. Boiardi kept on working for the President, who sought his help when large parties needed to be catered at the White House; at the end of World War I, Boiardi was even put in charge to orga- nize and prepare a w elcome back meal for more than 2000 soldiers. Far from being content with his N ew Y ork popularity, Boiardi decided to take over the mid-west and headed for Ohio in 1917. After a bunch of years w orking as head chef at the Winton Hotel in Cleveland, he decided to go solo and opened his own restaurant, "Il Giardino d'Italia:" it was 1924 and Ettore had just married his wife Helen. Boiardi's eatery became quickly one of the best renowned in the city, w ith cus tomers lining up the street to try his i r r e s i s t i b l e pastas dressed in fresh tomato homemade sauce and cheese. P eople loved the dish so much, they began as king how to make it at home. It was the beginning of a new adventure for Chef Boiardi. Boiardi? Boyardee! The popularity of "Il Giardino d'Italia" pastas gave Ettore an idea: meal kits with portions of dried pasta, cheese and bottles filled w ith his very own tomato sauce, along with the instructions to make the per- fect plate of pasta, Italian style. Immediately, his take out kits became a hit among patrons, so much so he decided to take the idea to the next level. One of his most faithful customers, Maurice Weiner, owned along with his wife Eva a chain of self service grocery stores, where Boiardi began selling his pasta meal kits: the success was immediate, but people had problem with the too- Italian spelling of the chef's sur- name, which thus became, at least on products' packaging "Boy-ar-dee" to make pronunci- ation simpler to Anglophones. In 1928, as we said already, Ettore and his two brothers founded "Chef Boyardee," a food compa- ny specialized in the production and commercialization of Italian style ready-to-eat meals. In 1938, the company moved to Pennsylvania where it is still today. Ettore Boiardi worked as chef and consultant for "Chef Boyardee" for 50 years, retiring only in 1978. He died in 1985, at the age of 87. Th e man w h o mad e spaghetti a household dish In spite of the high number of Italian immigrants, Italian food was not particularly known in the US outside native Italians communities in the early decades of the 20 th century. This is why the figure and the work of Ettore Boiardi is so essential to the dif- fusion of Italian cuisine in the US, as well as to the very cre- ation of the amazing flavors of its Italian-A merican cous in. Boiardi had the huge merit to bring traditional Italian food fare into American homes, making it popular and even teaching his earliest customers how to pre- pare it properly. Even if today "Chef Boyardee'"s canned food may not represent what culinary experts would define "traditional Italian food," it remains a brand truly associated with the idea of Italian cuisine, history a beauti- ful reminder of how the American Dream turned into reality for many Italian Americans. LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS From left: Brothers and Boyardee co-founders Paul, Hector and Mario Boiardi, pictured with company secretary Carl Columbi at Boyardee headquarters in Milton, Pa.

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