In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.

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Wonderful! A mystery from my childhood explained. Some chain restaurant in the US in the 1970's decorated their lobbies with giant stills from this film. The restaurant may have been The Old Spaghetti Factory?

I remember being totally baffled by the images - my parents recognized them as a joke, but the utter lack of context made them deeply strange and they stuck with me as a result.
Posted by mike whybark  in  Seattle  on  Sat Apr 03, 2004  at  10:47 AM

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It was a truly boring day when I stumbled across this slip, and my friends and I found it truly entertaining. What's even better, it fooled several people, even to this day!

This is like the War of the Worlds, only harmless. Both are entertaining to those who recognise it for what it is, (an elaborate joke), and retain a slight plausibility factor for the gullible public.

Needless to say, I loved it.
Posted by Jaina  on  Tue Jun 22, 2004  at  12:01 PM

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Does anyone know what kind of player can view *.ram files? I'd really love to listen to the broadcast!
Posted by Legaia  in  Ohio  on  Sat Jun 26, 2004  at  12:53 AM

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To view .ram files you need the real video player. You can get it as a free download at:

http://www.real.com
Posted by Alex  in  San Diego  on  Sat Jun 26, 2004  at  01:00 PM

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Really silly joke how could anyone be fooled by this?
Posted by Script Doctor  on  Sun Jun 27, 2004  at  02:18 AM

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I was a small child (4 or 5) when I saw this and of course belived it was true. I told my family how I saw spaghetti being grown on TV and was told that I could not have seen that, I must have fallen asleep and dreamed it but I always remembered the show. About 25 years later my husband and I were watching "Bloopers and Practical Jokes" when once again I saw it. I was so excited that I had not dreamed it, I really did see people picking spaghetti and enjoying a bowl of freshly picked spaghetti.
Posted by carol  on  Fri Jul 09, 2004  at  10:56 PM

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I am 24, so didn't see the clip when it was originally broadcast.

A few people have written here wondering how on Earth people could be taken in by such a clip. What one has to remember is that back in 1957 a lot of people in the UK did not eat Italian food, and many would only have thought of Spagetti as an 'exotic' food, really having no idea how it was made. Back then, we made all our own food and hardly ever relied on 'foreign' ingredients, especially out of London.

This is not meant to suggest that people out of London are somehow 'backwards' or 'behind the times', rather that times were different then.

Don't be too harsh on people because they make a silly mistake... I'm sure people who have made this criticism will make many silly mistakes of their own!
Posted by Kevin Rogers  in  London, UK  on  Fri Aug 20, 2004  at  02:27 AM

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Hahahaha, spaghetti trees.. thats a good one!
Posted by C B  in  DK  on  Fri Nov 26, 2004  at  05:59 AM

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My father was at the time they broadcasted the spaghetti hoax in Manchester. His hoast family called him to the livingroom to see how they make the Spaghetties
Posted by Peet  in  Switzerland  on  Sat Apr 02, 2005  at  11:24 AM

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There was a commercial on American TV in the '70's or '80's showing Italian farmers picking spaghetti off trees. I forget the brand--anyone remember it? Obviously it was inspired by that BBC broadcast.
Posted by Nancy Protzman  in  USA  on  Mon Apr 04, 2005  at  10:26 AM

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Hi, Nancy! That's exactly what lead me to this site. I'm almost positive the commercial was from the '70s; I was born in '69 and I think I would have a clearer memory if it was the '80s. I can even hear the tone of the narrator in my head, but I'm not having any luck on the web finding mention of the advertiser.
Posted by Ember  in  Chicago  on  Thu Apr 07, 2005  at  08:47 AM

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I'm amazed to see that the Spaghetti harvest ws broadcast in 1957. This must make it one of my earliest memories - I was born in 1953 - and suggests I was staying up quite late (8pm). I remember that neither of my parents reacted to the hoax - presumably because they were uncertain. When we were told not long after it seemed astonishing that Panorama had done this - Richard Dimbleby, the presenter, was held in such high public esteem that he was asked to cover Churchill's state funeral a few years later.
Posted by Alan Urdaibay  in  United Kingdom  on  Sat Apr 09, 2005  at  02:22 PM

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Funnier than the original film, the BBC broadcast a retraction the following week admitting that spaghetti did not grow on trees. It was in fact mined. Shots of the spaghetti mine and a quick fade to black.
Posted by Anthony Martineti  on  Tue Apr 12, 2005  at  01:53 PM

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The commercial that aired in the U.S. was for Barilla brand spaghetti. (Barilla makes pasta of almost all types.)

It aired in the 80's. I know this because I was born in '76 and would not have remembered the commercial if it aired in the 70's. After showing a very pastoral setting with happy Italian adults and chidren harvesting the spaghtetti while a narrator did a voice over describing how great it all was, the commercial closed with the narrator saying something to the effect of: "Of course, we all know spaghetti doesn't grow on trees, but if it did..." and then mentioned something about how great Barilla was.
Posted by Hoopy Frood  on  Fri May 13, 2005  at  07:08 AM

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I was very young in 1957, but I can remember the Spaghetti Harvest broadcast. It was so effective simply because there was ONLY the BBC in those days (the commercial channel ITV began at the end of 1957) and the commentator was the heavyweight Richard Dimbleby, who had covered the Queen's Coronation and other great occasions.

It was also only 12 years after the end of the war and people, even those outside Britain, thought of the BBC as the source of all truth (a surprising number still do).

Another reason was that food rationing had only just ended (yes, 12 years after the end of the war!), spaghetti was considered very exotic and only came in cans with tomato sauce. People didn't have much money, so they didn't go outside Britain - especially since most of them had spent enough time away during the war. Therefore, very few British people actually knew where spaghetti came from or how it was made.
Posted by Caroline Andrews  on  Mon May 23, 2005  at  09:07 AM

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A line I loved in the spaghetti hoax was the explanation that "this is one of the most successful spaghetti farms, and an important contributing factor is the family's ability to have all the spaghetti approximately the same length, thus avoiding the waste when the odd lengths have to be cropped, prior to boxing."
Posted by Jack Carroll  in  New Orleans, La - USA  on  Thu Jun 09, 2005  at  07:21 PM

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Hmm,

I live in the USA and I remember a TV ad for (I think) 'Prince Spaghetti' that showed an italian family 'harvesting' spag from trees. The last line from the voice over was 'But we know spaghetti dosn't grow on tree's '

Amazingly enough in the USA the greatest 'hoax' on April 1st has to be Orson Wells "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. How can you put spaghetti before Wells"?

Biggest and MOST documented April 1st gag ever pulled.

Come on.. Put the guy in slot #1

With Respect,
Posted by Cozmo  on  Wed Sep 14, 2005  at  01:45 AM

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i remember seeing something like this as a kid (somewhere between '75 and '80), only my memory seems to have it tied to either Prego or Ragu spaghetti sauce. for about 2 years i thought you could actually grow spaghetti on trees. that was a pretty powerful commercial if i can remember it 20 years later
Posted by honey bunny  in  boston  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  08:25 AM

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I remember actually seeing the Panorama programme when it first came out. I lived in London with my parents at the time and, understandbly, as an 8-year-old child, was dumbfounded by the report.

The fact that Richard Dimbleby was the narrator gave it additional credence.
Posted by Michael Strubell  in  Barcelona, Catalonia (ES)  on  Sun Oct 09, 2005  at  11:33 AM

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"Of course, we all know spaghetti doesn't grow on trees, but if it did...

...nobody grows spaghetti like Barilla."

I was also born in '76, and I remember it as well. I remember being a bit confused at the time, because I knew spaghetti didn't grow on trees. I didn't remember the brand, but I do remember the "nobody grows spaghetti like..." tag line.
Posted by Andy Messier  on  Mon Oct 10, 2005  at  12:17 PM

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