Picture of the Day: Chef Boyardee

Did you know Chef Boyardee was a real person? His name was Ettore Boiardi. Boyardee is his name written out phonetically. He had a popular Italian eatery. And the canned food was based off his menu. This statue is in Omaha, Nebraska which is odd because Boiardi was from Cleveland and didn’t really have a connection with Omaha. The only real reason is ConAgra Foods owns Chef Boyardee products and their world headquarters is located there. 

Biordi was the real deal though. He was born in Piancenza Italy and came to America via Ellis Island. he opened his first restaurant called “Il Giardino D’Italia” ( The garden of Italy) His spaghetti sauce was so popular he began bottling it for take away for his customers. Boyardee is credited for single handily making Spaghetti popular as an american food dish. He sold his likeness and recipes to American Home foods (eventually sold to Con Agra)  but continued to do commercials on television until his death in 1985.