The April Fools’ Spaghetti Hoax [Video]

The Italian name for April Fool’s Day is Pesce d’Aprile, or April Fool’s Fish. It stems from the children’s custom of sticking a paper fish on a schoolmate’s back. As he or she is the only one unaware of the fish, that individual becomes the April Fish, or fool.

We must presume that Italians view fish as rather dumb or foolish. And without a doubt, they are not among the most intelligent animals around. I mean, who’s ever heard of a trained fish?

Greatest hoax of all

But the greatest April Fools hoax of all time was the BBC’s spaghetti tree hoax in 1957. The broadcast featured a family in southern Switzerland, the Italian-speaking region of the nation. They were harvesting spaghetti from a tree!

Many called the BBC after this newscast. There were many people who wanted to inform them that spaghetti doesn’t grow on trees. But others, because pasta wasn’t common in England then, wanted to know how to grow a spaghetti tree!

A spaghetti tree! Now wouldn’t that be useful? Think of all the money we could save! And it would be so easy to have organic pasta!

I find the spaghetti tree more amusing than the paper fish. But then, I’m not a hoax-loving kid. Few people these days would believe in a spaghetti tree. Pasta is now eaten around the world. So if you are planning a hoax for your friends, the April Fool’s fish might work better than a spaghetti tree!

But anyway, have fun watching the video! Right now we’re off to eat seafood – no April Fool’s about it!

Happy Pesce d’Aprile to you all!

Learn more about this hoax with this video.

Images: Spaghetti tree by Robert Couse Baker | Fish by Photo-grafe.