In one of the most brilliant examples of tomfoolery, on April 1st, 1957, the British news show Panorama ran a three-minute segment about a bumper crop of spaghetti in southern Switzerland. The piece attributed the crop's success to an unusually mild winter and the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil. The show's host Richard Dimbleby (a highly respected journalist) provided the soundtrack that ran alongside videos of people harvesting spaghetti and placing it in baskets. The segment concluded with the line, "For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti."
Spaghetti, of course, is not grown, but rather a pasta made utilizing flour, eggs and salt. This segment became the most well know April Fools joke pulled by a reputable news organization in history. The quality of the performance was so good that the station received hundreds of calls from people asking about spaghetti cultivation so that they could grow their own spaghetti trees. The original transcript of the program is below.
-Professor Walter
It is not only in Britain that spring, this year, has taken everyone by surprise. Here in the Ticino, on the borders of Switzerland and Italy, the slopes overlooking Lake Lugano have already burst into flower at least a fortnight earlier than usual.
But what, you may ask, has the early and welcome arrival of bees and blossom to do with food? Well, it is simply that the past winter, one of the mildest in living memory, has had its effect in other ways as well. Most important of all, it's resulted in an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop.
The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer. There is always the chance of a late frost which, while not entirely ruining the crop, generally impairs the flavor and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets. But now these dangers are over and the spaghetti harvest goes forward.
Spaghetti cultivation here in Switzerland is not, of course, carried out on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry. Many of you, I am sure, will have seen pictures of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley. For the Swiss, however, it tends to be more of a family affair.
Another reason why this may be a bumper year lies in the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil, the tiny creature whose depredations have caused much concern in the past.
After picking, the spaghetti is laid out to dry in the warm Alpine air. Many people are very puzzled by the fact that spaghetti is produced in such uniform lengths. This is the result of many years of patient endeavor by plant breeders who succeeded in producing the perfect spaghetti.
Now the harvest is marked by a traditional meal. Toasts to the new crop are drunk in these boccalinos, then the waiters enter bearing the ceremonial dish. This is, of course, spaghetti -- picked early in the day, dried in the sun, and so brought fresh from garden to table at the very peak of condition. For those who love this dish, there is nothing like real home-grown spaghetti.
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