One of the greatest April Fools pranks of all time was pulled in 1957 by the BBC, of all institutions. Aired as an ordinary episode of the renowned series Panorama, it purported to be a documentary about "a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry." It sounds ridiculous now, sure, but back then many people had either never heard of spaghetti or had only ever had it from cans, and the episode was shot in a completely straightforward fashion and narrated by the respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. Hundreds of people called the BBC to ask where... More

In the NY Times, Melissa Clark realizes no one she knows actually knows what shrimp scampi is and so she figures it out for herself: Scampi are in fact tiny, lobster-like crustaceans with pale pink shells (also called langoustines). One traditional way of preparing them in Italy, [Lidia] Bastianich writes, is to sauté them with olive oil, garlic, onion and white wine. Italian cooks in the United States swapped shrimp for scampi, but kept both names. Thus the dish was born, along with inevitable variations like adding tomatoes, breadcrumbs, or, as Ms. Bastianich does, tarragon.As I saw it, this meant I was free to interpret shrimp scampi pretty much any way I wanted. And I wanted my scampi to... More

Jane Snow of the Akron Beacon Journal, on how "Tuscan" is used and abused as an unauthentic adjective today: "White beans are in so many dishes that Tuscans are called “bean eaters” elsewhere in Italy. But that doesn’t mean a recipe for canned beans and chopped tomatoes in salad dressing should be called “Tuscan,” as it is in The Dinner Doctor by Anne Byrne. Or that a Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe for Tuscan Roasted Potato-Chicken Salad made with frozen potatoes, cubed mozzarella cheese, canned white beans and pre-cooked chicken strips deserves the name. But what the heck. Almost any dish with garlic, basil, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes and even chicken has been tagged “Tuscan” somewhere, sometime in the United States."... More

Exciting news: "New Zealand fishermen have caught what is expected to be a world-record-breaking colossal squid. Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said the squid, weighing an estimated 450kg (990lb),took two hours to land in Antarctic waters. Local news said the Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni was about 10m (33ft) long, and was the first adult colossal squid landed intact. One expert said calamari rings made from it would be like tractor tyres." Wikipedia's Colossal Squid is fantastic, if you'd like to read more about the species. If you'd like to make dinner in honor of New Zealand's catch, Leite's Culinaria has Mario Batali's recipe for Stuffed Calamari on the Grill from his book Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages.... More

Hey, serious eaters: We ran this as an "Edibles" post a few days ago, but I liked it so much that I'm sticking it here in the featured video spot for a spell. It's our dear leader, Serious Eats founder Ed Levine, working his way through the guide to Italian hand gestures that's one of the featured designs on the disposable paper place mats at L.A. pizzeria Mozza. Check it out if you missed it the first time around. —Adam Kuban More