Comfort food alert: ‘Spaghetti Day’ is Jan. 4

Yum. Jan. 4 is National Spaghetti Day in America. “Buon Appetito” is an Italian term that means “enjoy your meal.” 

The usual response is “Grazie, Altrettanto,” indicating “thanks; likewise.”

“Spaghetti” is the plural form of the Italian word “spaghetto,” which is generally defined as “a stringy, round noodle.” 

U.S. diplomat Thomas Jefferson was a noodler. He “discovered” spaghetti while on assignment in Europe from 1784-89. 

“He enjoyed the dish so much that he returned to Monticello, his home in Charlottesville, Va., with two cases in tow,” reported Tori Avey, a food historian. “When his supply ran out, he sent for reinforcements via a friend from Naples, Italy.”

 Tori Avey

The Monticello archivist said that Jefferson also brought home the recipe for spaghetti noodles: “6 eggs, 2 wine glasses of milk, 2 pounds of flour, a little salt. Work them together very well.” 

During Jefferson’s tenure as U.S. president from 1801-09, spaghetti was a mainstay on the White House menu for formal dinners. 

America’s love affair with spaghetti was sparked even more by the arrival of the Boiardi family in 1914, who came from Piacenza, Italy. 

Brothers Hector, Paul and Mario Boiardi all found work in the culinary department at the swanky Plaza Hotel in New York City. Within a year, Hector was promoted to head chef. He was good. 

By 1924, Hector’s dream of having his own restaurant came true in Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened Il Giardino d’Italia (Garden of Italy).

 

When customers started begging Chef Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce to take home, he began filling old milk bottles with his sauce and giving them to customers. 

“Whatever time the chef had away from his restaurant was spent filling those bottles in his loft apartment,” reported Michele Norris of National Public Radio. 

Anna Boiardi, Mario’s granddaughter, said that one of her “Great Uncle Hector’s customers was a truck driver. He began distributing the sauce as he drove throughout the country. And people loved it.” 

“By 1928, the demand had increased to the point that factory production became necessary,” Anna wrote. 

Hector Americanized his name to Chef Boy-ar-dee and expanded operations. The family upfitted an abandoned silk mill in 1938. It was located in Milton, Pa., in the rich agricultural area of the Susquehanna River Valley. Tomatoes and mushrooms were plentiful and grown within 10 minutes of the factory. 

Spaghetti products were an inexpensive way to feed the whole family. Pasta and sauce were easy to produce in mass and could be sold at reasonable prices at a time when the average American didn’t have much money to spend on food. 

During World War II, the Milton factory worked around the clock to produce rations that went to American soldiers. Hector Boiardi spent many hours planning and figuring how to make the foods that would be shipped overseas. 

“Uncle Hector moved his bed into the office with a chalkboard. On the chalkboard, he figured out the chemistry to make it work,” Anna said. 

Hector told his employees in 1943: “It is up to us to make sure that every soldier gets plenty of good nourishing food. That is our job, and no one can over-rate its importance.” 

The local community applauded his war efforts, and Hector was awarded a Gold Star, the highest civilian honor, by the U.S. War Department.

 

The Chef Boyardee brand was sold to American Home Foods for $6 million in 1946. It lives on today under the umbrella of Conagra Brands.