Yes, Chef Boyardee Was Real And He Cooked For A President

When you think of Chef Boyardee, you probably think of the pizza-in-a-box kits your mom let you make on Saturday nights or the canned ravioli that was a staple meal during college (alongside salty canned soup and other discontinued canned foods of yore, perhaps). The smiling chef on the box seems as true to life as Santa Claus. Yet, Chef Boyardee was a real person.

In 1914, a teenage Ettore Boiardi came to the U.S. via Ellis Island from Piacenza, Italy (he's also sometimes referred to as Hector). His brother had already emigrated to America and gotten him a job in the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. There, Ettore honed his natural culinary skills and eventually became the head chef. During the summer, he developed his talents further by working at a historic high-end West Virginia resort called The Greenbrier. It was around this time that President Woodrow Wilson became involved.

By 1915, President Wilson's wife had died only a year prior and he was already engaged to a prominent widow, Edith Bolling Galt. Fearing a scandal at his second wedding due to the speed at which he remarried, the couple decided to make it a low-key affair. Wilson asked Chef Boiardi to cater the event in 1915 which most likely took place at the bride's home in Washington, D.C., where the ceremony was held. Despite what's maintained in the commonly-told version of this story, it's unlikely that the reception was held at The Greenbrier, as the hotel is about four hours away from the ceremony site.

Boiardi must have cooked a memorable meal for the Wilsons because, three years later, President Wilson put him in charge of a dinner for 2,000 soldiers returning from the European front in World War I. Soon after, his career took him to Cleveland, Ohio. Little did he know his fortune -– and his name –- were about to change again.

In 1928, Ettore and his brothers opened a restaurant in Cleveland called Il Giardino d'Italia. Italian food was becoming increasingly popular in this era and patrons loved their Boiardi-cooked meals so much that they often asked for the sauce to-go. A lightbulb went off, a new business was born, and by 1936, Boiardee's food was being canned and sold under his new Americanized name of Chef Boyardee. 

Boiardi stayed active in his business until 1978. The company was sold to food giant Conagra in 2000, which has added many more products under the Chef Boyardee name since. Yet the name and face that started it all still graces the label of every product.