Annual swiss spaghetti harvest returns April 1

(hfng/shutterstock.com)

The year was 1957: a particularly good year for the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest. Thanks to an unusually mild winter and the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti 'weevil,' spaghetti growers enjoyed a fruitful harvest, said anchorman Richard Dimbleby, a revered and highly respected newsman at the time.

In his signature deadpan, haughty voice, the host of British TV program Panorama, Dimbleby narrated a segment in which wholesome, Swiss men and women harvested strands of spaghetti dangling from trees, and dried them in the ‘Alpine air.'

Fifty-four years after first airing on April 1, the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest Hoax continues to be an April Fool's Day favorite after being tweeted all day by followers of notable foodies like former New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman, and posted by The Washington Post. In the span of two hours on April Fool's, the video attracted almost 6,000 hits.

At the time, the hoax generated a huge response, reads the summary, as hundreds of viewers called in to the BBC asking how they, too, could grow their own spaghetti.

Their response: "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ugSKW4-QQ&feature=youtu.be