RICE-A-RONI INVENTOR DIES NEAR SAN FRANCISCO
Adam Tanner, Reuters Life
Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
October 23, 2007 Tuesday
SAN FRANSCISCO – The son of Italian immigrants who turned an Armenian
recipe into Rice-A-Roni, the popular dish known to Americans since the
1960s as The San Francisco Treat, has died, his family said on Monday.
Vincent DeDomenico died on Thursday of natural causes at his home
in Napa, California, north of San Francisco, his daughter Marla
Bleecher said.
DeDomenico worked in his family’s pasta business when he was inspired
in 1958 to create the mix of vermicelli, macaroni and flavourings
that millions of Americans came to know by its advertising slogan.
"My uncle Tom’s wife got the recipe from an Armenian neighbour and
served it one night for dinner," Bleecher said. "My dad had been
making dried soups for the Army … When he tasted it he said maybe
we can make something like this in dry form.
"He went back to the plant and they started messing around with it,
starting with the soup base they made for the Army," she said.
Rice-A-Roni was soon found on American tables coast to coast
following the television advertising campaign in the 1960s that
featured scenes of San Francisco and its cable cars, along with a
catchy jingle to promote the easy-to-make dish. The ads also gave
the city much publicity.
"It’s a brand that’s been great for the city and is a vestige of my
childhood," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told the San Francisco
Chronicle last year. "Just the sight and sound of the cable car bell
evokes the old jingle."
The DeDomenico family in 1986 sold their firm, the Golden Grain
Macaroni Company, to Quaker Oats as part of deal worth about $300
million, Bleecher said. It is now owned by PepsiCo.
Even after creating the U.S. packaged food classic, DeDomenico
continued to tinker with new culinary ideas, using his family as
tasters. "He brought all these test products home," his daughter
said. "We ate these products until we were all sick of them."