The Spaghetti Tree

The Spaghetti Tree

“Marvin, what are you doing?”

“I’m trying to start a tree. Hopefully by the time we move back to Texas it’ll have rooted good.”

“Whats all the red stuff? Smells like tomato, I don’t think seeds will grow in tomato sauce.”

“They're not seeds.”

“What are you doing then? What’s that thing, looks like a noodle.”

”It’s spaghetti, I cooked several pieces because they weren’t clear about fresh or cooked. I’m trying both.”

“who they and why would you put spaghetti in sauce if it wasn’t about eating it. It should be cooked for that.”

“It’s not about eating. The program on BBC showed a woman in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family tree.”

“A spaghetti tree?”

“Yeah. I called and asked and they said to put spaghetti in tomato sauce and hope for the best. Apparently it’s not an easy plant to grow.”

“I’ve never heard of it. On a tree? And BBC showed it?”

”Yeah, it was a quick news special.”

”Where are you going to put it?”

“On the window sill. I figure it needs a lot of sun which is why it’s hard to grow in Sweden, they’re too far north and don’t get enough sun. Maybe it’ll do better here. Back in Texas with the sun there it should jump out of the ground.”

“Okay, but we have the Simpsons coming for dinner so I don’t want ANY tomato stains. Get it on my new table cloth and I’ll make you wear it like a scarf.”

“Right, you will. I won’t get it on anything. Getting the cooked ones planted is not easy, I have to push it down with a spoon and it just hangs over the side of the can.”

“Have fun, dear. God, he is an April Fool at times.”


Note:
The spaghetti-tree hoax was a three-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama, purportedly showing a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family "spaghetti tree". At the time spaghetti was relatively unknown in the UK, so many Britons were unaware that it is made from wheat flour and water; a number of viewers afterwards contacted the BBC for advice on growing their own spaghetti trees. Decades later CNN called this broadcast "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled".

When people called in the BBC told them to "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best".