I-CAR-DE?

[Spyhummingbird]

Anyone know what this jar would have been for? I have three of these I-CAR-DE that I can't turn up any info on.

 

[nhpharm]

It was mayonnaise. The last name of the fellow that sold it was Aicardi, so I-Car-De is the phonetic spelling of his last name.

 

[moodorf]

Spelling your hard-to-pronounce last name phonetically for the customers must have been a thing back then...

 

[UnderMiner]

Spelling your hard-to-pronounce last name phonetically for the customers must have been a thing back then...

View attachment 244126

I've noticed that too, particularly on mid-century bottles. This Clicquot Club bottle for example has the phonetic pronunciation of the brand name above the actual name.

 

[Spyhummingbird]

A Boston-based mayonnaise. I found a nice article from the Dorchester Historical Society sharing the following:

Aicardi mayonnaise (spelled phonetically, I CAR DE) was started in the early 1900’s by James A. Aicardi. He began making mayonnaise and selling it door to door. Then eventually the company grew, and they sold mayonnaise, picallili and one other items. It was the top mayonnaise in Boston.

In the 1890s, the family lived at 285 Broadway in South Boston, where James, Sr. had a fruit store. By 1902, the Aicardis resided around the corner at 164 ½ Silver Street, though James, Sr.’s store remained at 285 Broadway. That year, older brother Frank ran away because his parents were upset with his “smoking cigarettes and reading cheap novels every spare moment.” He made it as far as Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he was spotted by a police officer. He eventually returned home, because in 1905 Frank was fined $10 for “playing dice on the Lord’s day.” James and Beatrice attended school in South Boston, James graduating from the Lincoln School in 1904 and Beatrice from the Norcross School in 1907.

In 1913, James, Sr. and Angelina founded the Aicardi Food Products Company. I-Car-De Mayonnaise, their signature product, was advertised as “positively different!”

 

[willong]

Spelling your hard-to-pronounce last name phonetically for the customers must have been a thing back then...

That's the product line that came to my mind when I saw nhpharm's explanation of I-CAR-DE. I'm old enough to remember the ads on B&W television; and I still eat their canned ravioli more than a couple times per year!

Chef Boyardee's Ravioli, Campbell's condensed soups (Tomato Rice was one of my favorites--"Mmm, mmn good!"), Nalley's Chili and other such products form foundations of fond memories for this old working-class stiff, especially married to mental images of early camping trips and other family outings where the foods were savored.

Are jet-setters' recollections of bistros on the French Riviera any sweeter?