I don’t really enjoy eating Chef Boyardee brand pasta crap, but I was curious about who this guy on the can really was.  He is Italian-American immigrant and chef, Ettore Boiardi.  Boiardi opened a restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1924, and it became such a hit that he decided to sell the stuff on a wider scale.  Boiardi wanted Americans to be able to pronounce his name so he wrote it “Boyardee,” because he was proud of his Italian heritage.  Nothing says authentic Italian like Americanizing your name and mass producing cans of noodles mixed with ketchup.