How the ravioli came into the can – fun facts about 75 years of canned ravioli in Switzerland

When a leading Swiss canning company celebrates 75 years of canned ravioli, it’s worth taking a closer look at this historically and culturally influential product.

Etymologically and historically, the Italian filled ravioli with pasta dates back to the Middle Ages. Canned ravioli, meanwhile, first appeared in World War I as a frontline food for the Italian armed forces. Canned ravioli first appeared on the market in the interwar years. Many households did not have a refrigerator at that time. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the concept caught on with various market leaders in Europe and North America: Heinz in Great Britain, Buitoni in France, Chef Boyardee in the US for example – and Hero in Switzerland.

The predecessors of the hero can ravioli known in Switzerland today were the “Super Raviolini alla Milanese”, produced by the Seethal cannery since 1936. The factory in Seon AG, a subsidiary of Hero Lenzburg, was closed in 1943, but Hero relaunched his recipe in 1948 as a “superb Italian delicacy” – nationwide in Switzerland.

The lavish national advertising campaign included fliers, movie ads and the request for retailers to build pyramids with the cans in their stores. For much of the Swiss population, canned ravioli were the first introduction to Italian food culture. As a convenience item, they satisfied consumer cravings and desires for foreign foods after World War II. In addition, the product was a response to the emerging mass tourism, with Italy as one of the main destinations.

“Hooray, the groom is coming” was the name of the commercial that first appeared in cinemas in 1952 (it lasts no less than four minutes – the average attention span was probably longer then). “The road to marriage was paved with ravioli,” Vreneli, the bride, smiles to the camera after she is overjoyed and discovers a few cans of ravioli among the many wedding gifts. The highlight: her groom Angelo is Italian. Thanks to Hero ravioli, his first meeting with Vreneli’s parents is a great success.

Regardless of the advertised “Italianità” from the can, there was another important connection for Hero with the neighboring country to the south: the increasing demand for canned goods was mainly met thanks to the labor force of numerous Italian migrants.

Canned ravioli were launched, among other things, on the grounds that now even too Men (who, as is known, cannot cook) can prepare something hot themselves. Ah, the fifties.

In 1958, a full 10 years after Hero, the Swiss canning company Maggi followed. The product can assert itself in Germany. While Hero remains the undisputed market leader in Switzerland (currently with a market share of 40 percent), it is still the Nestlé subsidiary Maggi in the neighboring north.

On March 10, 1978, the success of canned ravioli suffered a sudden setback. The “Kassensturz” show “Ravioli X-015”, presented as a spy movie, presented the contents of the ravioli to the TV audience: agents plucked the grayish-looking fillings from the dumplings and found “unsatisfactory quality” ingredients in them – with for example, a Swiss manufacturer makes offal and even pig heads.

After the broadcast, sales in Switzerland collapsed by half. Hero responded with an advertising campaign: “This is what’s in it: beef, bacon and tomato sauce – no offal.” In addition, the manufacturers Hero Lenzburg and Roco Rorschach have sued the broadcasters and demanded damages of millions. A court later ruled that the contribution was lawful despite the lurid presentation. The manufacturers gave no judgment – and so the story ended with a comparison between the opponents. However, it took years before the old sales level could be reached again.

In 2022, more than 16 million francs were spent on canned ravioli in Switzerland. This corresponds to almost 6 million doses. During the Corona year 2020, this number rose to more than 18 million francs due to purchases of hamsters.

The market for canned ravioli is therefore – apart from the Corona peak – stable in the long term; currently even slightly growing. Which brings us to this:

Guys, you have a question to answer for me. Please be honest:

The advertising campaign for the 75th anniversary of the Hero product speaks of a “classic” that is “hot is 75 years”. Logical, but if you ask your friends and acquaintances, canned ravioli eaters are clearly in the minority. A poll on the editorial“Do you still eat canned ravioli?”) yielded the following answers:

Only four of the 18 answered “yes”. And a few more who would like to, but don’t (yet) do it. And before anyone (to paraphrase British Home Secretary Suella Braverman) calls the Watson editors «tofu eating wokerati» abtut: Respondents span all age segments, as well as different regions of residence and educational qualifications. But perhaps one constant can be established: if at least one parent is of Italian descent, canned ravioli just don’t show up in childhood.

I myself didn’t have my first real encounter with it until recently, when I had to include it in a TikTok recipe (to be honest, the recipe in question would have been creepy even without the addition of canned ravioli):

And that’s why we want to hear from YOU, dear users! Are canned ravioli still a constant in your daily diet? Or just a reminder of scout camps and the military? Is this canned product still necessary at a time when there is a large choice of fresh ready-made pasta products that one could switch to (Rana, Betti Bossi, Anna’s Best and Co. say hello)?