Who Was the Real Chef Boyardee?

Weird History Food is getting nostalgic with every kid's favorite chef - Chef Boyardee. Chef Hector Boyardee was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, not surprisingly with a very Italian name: Ettore Boiardi. Weird History Food will follow Chef from his humble beginnings as an 11-year-old apprentice to the iconic figure he is today. Grab some Beef Ravioli and follow Chef Boyardee's journey.

#chefboyardee #foodhistory #weirdhistoryfood

[weirdhistoryfood]

What is your favorite Chef Boyardee offering? Always loved making the Chef Boyardee pizzas as a kid

[dtdimeflicks]

The fact that he sold his company to make sure that his employees got adequate pay shows what kind of an employer he was; a damn good one.

[bradley]

As a kid, we were not a family of means as well as a single parent household, so my mom home cooked most of our meals with what she could afford. Every once in a while, when we had some extra money, she would bring home Chef Boyardee Ravioli and "make them fancy" for us by putting dried parsley on top, and baking stale hotdog buns in the oven with butter and garlic salt. I always thought to myself: "Man...this must be how rich people eat everyday!". Oh, to be a kid again.

[cxa]

Anyone growing up in Cleveland knew that Chef Boyardee was a real person as Mr Boiardi used to visit elementary schools in the area all the time just to tell his story and discuss American exceptionalism during the Cold War. We also knew that the stuff in the cans wasn’t the real genius of Mr Boiardi, but the recipes he would make on the local morning shows that were much more involved and delicious that truly showed this man knew how to cook.

[tonyboiardi]

My father was the only child of Hector Boiardi, growing up I was able to to eat the most delicious food freshly prepared. It has been a privilege to be part of this well loved family

[ChristAliveForevermore]

Fun fact: Hector Boiardi is my great uncle. My father (who is now 80) grew up knowing him personally. Sometimes the family would get together and make Italian sausage (I recall a picture where the sausages were hanging in a basement and there is my dad in his early 20s alongside his brothers and the Chef himself).

And no, we never got any money. His son Mario blew millions of his inheritance on B.S. real estate scams lol

Another Fun Fact: my great uncle Hector is also the *only* American to have received the Order of Lenin for helping feed the WWII Soviet soldiers (who were allies at the time). Only recently did Russia redact that historical fact from public record, I suppose to rewrite history in any way possible to discount America's role in their nation's history or something, given Ukraine and all.

Anyways, just thought I'd share these related tidbits about my family and the Chef. There's tons more stories my dad has told me over the years that I'm just forgetting at the moment, like how at Christmas time he would always bring the best cheesecake (I think it was cheesecake) and that his son, Mario, would do the same. Straight from Italy sorta cheesecakes. Real fancy stuff, I sometimes wish I had been alive to taste it.

Also, had it not been for his factory, neither my great aunt Helen and he would have met, nor my grandma and grandpa. In other words, Chef Boyardee is the reason I'm alive today 😂 (boy I hope I'm remembering these stories correctly... would really suck to get thousands of upvotes and my dad find out I was wrong!)

[mikehughes]

I'm fairly certain that, without Chef Boyardee, I might have starved to death at some point.

[ryproar]

As a retail worker I can confirm the Chef sells extremely well. We go through cases everyday and the pizza kits? We cannot keep them on the shelves due to selling out so quickly. Plus I buy a can every once and a while for lunch for the nostalgia.

[LoconStratos]

The Chef helped me and my little family get through very difficult and turbulent times. You don’t get sick of anything when it’s all you’ve got to eat. People these days hate it
But the same people who criticize it, were never in a position in where that was their only option. Food is food.

[trashpanda]

coming home for lunch as a kid in the 70's and having beefaroni on the table always made my day.

[KP-vrft]

Much respect. I ate Boyardee as a child, and then came back as an adult, eating these occasionally while working away. I love old Ma and Pa stories like this.

[tookitogo]

Everything said in this video agrees with my own family history: my grandmother, who was born and raised in central Pennsylvania, told me as a kid about how she knew Hector personally, as her farm was one of the ones that supplied tomatoes to him. (In fact, my mom was born just a few miles away from Milton.) Granny was always proud that her tomatoes had helped the war effort. Not long after WW2 ended, they sold the farm and moved to south Florida to help my grandfather’s ailing health. But Granny always remained a farm girl at heart, growing stuff in her garden and saying hello to the occasional wayward cow that would make its way into her yard from the nearby pasture.

[CeliniaGava]

The brand has been part of my entire life, so 60+ years. It was never gourmet food, but as a kid it was pure nectar! Great video, I knew absolutely NOTHING about this!

[tindal]

I have raviolis, spaghettios & a pizza kit in my pantry right now! Long Live Chef Boyardee!!! 🍝🍝🍝 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹

[DoomFinger]

One key thing left out of the story is that Chef Boyardee didn't have to sell the company. They scaled up and hired more employees to help with the war effort, but once the war ended the demand went down. Instead of firing the extra employees, Chef Boyardee cared so much about keeping them employed he sold the company.

[Hollows]

The epitome of the American dream. Rest In Peace, Hector.

[MarkMeadows]

Chef Boyardee came out with retro cans of beefaroni and other pasta meals a few years ago. I actually liked the Beefaroni. It was supposed to have the old school ingredients, but it didn't really make much of a difference in taste. It was good though.

[OGSontar]

I'm in my 60's now, and I still love me some Chef Boyardee ravioli. Regular, mini, overstuffed, you name it, I love it. It's been a favorite since I was only knee-high.

[jessicamatiuk]

I'm 36 make a comfortable living and I always have Chef Boyarde in my pantry. I find it comforting after a really bad day and you want some nostalgic cozy feelings.

[kyleshiflet]

I always found the story of Hector Boiardi very interesting and inspiring