MEMORIES:
eightieslady remembers...I used to really like Chef Boyardee Ravioli.My mom used to buy this stuff for me and my sister to ... More »
Posted on 02/16/08
PHOTOS:
Americans in the 20th Century found that they had much less free time than their predecessors. One had to cut corners in the daily schedule just to fit an ounce of free time in. Unfortunately, one of the corners most often cut was food preparation time. Americans wanted fast and easy meals and food makers were happy to oblige. And while pasta and sauce may not be the most demanding to prepare, they are, in fact, time consuming. What was a pasta lover to do?
Enter Chef Boyardee and the finest canned pasta money could buy. A saucepan, a can opener, maybe a spoonful or three of parmesan cheese, and you were good to go. Chef Boyardee brought old favorites like spaghetti and meatballs and ravioli to the dinner table of the family on the go.
The big question of course is, who was this icon of a man, Chef Boyardee? Was he a real person or merely dreamt up by a marketing team? Most people suspect the latter but they have been misled. The truth is that once upon a time, a man by the name of Hecter Boiardi lived in Cleveland and was widely recognized as an accomplished chef. Ever proud of his Italian heritage, he was happy to serve up his special spaghetti and meatballs to hungry patrons. After many requests for extra portions of his sauce, he decided to market it and the rest is history. American Home Foods eventually bought the brand for about six million dollars. Hector Boiardi finally left this world in 1985, at the ripe age of 87. His image still adorns every can of Chef Boyardee pasta. He also appeared in many of the commercials made for his products in the fifties and sixties.
Chef Boyardee products have been expanded over the years to include a few items that the good chef probably never cooked up in the kitchen, such as Beefaroni, Chili Cheese Dog Twistaroni, and Dinosaurs with mini-meatballs. These items are a testament to the fact that, over the years, Chef Boyardee products became a favorite of kids everywhere. A hot bowl of fresh pasta after school became a staple in American kid’s diets. And now that the product is marketed in microwave containers, millions of people enjoy Chef Boyardee entrees for lunchtime snacks at the job as well. Sure, they will tell you that it is the convenience of having a hot meal in a matter of minutes, but, truth be told, they are savoring one of those guilty pleasures of childhood, Thanks, Chef Boyardee.
