One of the greatest April Fool's jokes ever: Swiss spaghetti harvest

by Shayna Glick, Posted Apr 1st 2008 @ 12:01PM

Black and white arty image of dried spaghetti.

It's April 1st and you know what that means: it's April Fool's Day! You'll probably be avoiding (or not) tricks all day. I bet nothing will top this one from the BBC.

A well respected news program called Panorama broadcast a story in 1957 about a great spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. The public fell for it hook, line, and sinker. The BBC fielded hundreds of calls from viewers asking how they, too, could grow a spaghetti tree, to which they answered "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

This is the first I had heard of this, but it is classic! The footage from the original story is quite nice, but I can't imagine anyone actually believing it. Ah well, I guess I come from a much more cynical and media savvy age, but it's neat to look back on a time when a hoax like this was possible.

Source

Filed Under: Television/Film, Did you know?
Tags: aprilfools, BBC, british isles, did you know, spaghetti

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-01-2008 @12:37PM doodoolemonque said... Thanks for this. This is the kind of stuff I used to love to show my kid and somehow forget to explain its a joke. Its not as much fun since she caught on. And now when I tell her weird stuff that's true, she never believes me, but there's value in learning drollery.
Reply