Community Chat

[Mersha]

A New Jersey Mystery: Who Dumped Hundreds of Pounds of Pasta, and Why?

The police and public works employees responded after “15 wheelbarrow loads” of pasta were dumped in mounds along a creek in Old Bridge, N.J.

By Michael Levenson

May 4, 2023

Ever since she met thousands of her neighbors while running for local office a few years ago, Nina Jochnowitz said, she has been fielding complaints from fellow residents of Old Bridge, N.J., a suburban town about 30 miles northeast of Trenton. Typically, they call her hoping she can persuade the town to crack down on fireworks or ATVs or pick up trash left on their curbs.

But last week, a woman she had met during that unsuccessful campaign called her to report an entirely different problem, Ms. Jochnowitz said: “There’s a pile of pasta dumped on the side of the stream.”

A scientist by training, Ms. Jochnowitz said she jumped in her car to investigate. What she found, about 30 feet off the road and less than a mile from her house, confirmed that this was more than an overturned bowl of bucatini.

Someone had apparently dumped hundreds of pounds of spaghetti, macaroni and alphabet shapes in large piles by the side of a stream in a wooded area where, Ms. Jochnowitz said, people often dump construction materials, bed frames and furniture.

“There was literally 25 feet of pasta that had been dumped,” she said.

The scene resembled something out of “Strega Nona,” the classic children’s book by Tomie dePaola about a kindly “grandma witch” whose magically overflowing pot floods her little town in Italy with pasta.

Ms. Jochnowitz estimated that 300 to 500 pounds of pasta had been left to congeal in the woods. She documented the pasta with the camera on her phone, emailed a town official to report the find and posted the photos on Facebook.

Before long, the town was consumed with theories about who might have dumped the pasta and why, especially in a state known for its love of Italian food. Was it a caterer with a last-minute cancellation for a wedding? A restaurant cooking for a football team that never showed up?

In Old Bridge, “That’s all they’re talking about,” said Denise Bloom, an administrator of a local Facebook group, who called it the “Great Pasta-gate of 2023.” Some residents, she said, have been posting photos of a few noodles on the ground and calling their renditions an “impasta.”

[goldensrbest]

A man was cleaning out his moms house, HE DUMPED ALL THE PASTA,just crazy!!

[Othereeeen]

Creepy Pasta!!

O well....they had to do SOMETHING with the 400 boxes of pasta they bought for Covid....they kept the boxes in the damp basement, so it was spoiled!!

Too bad someone didn't have 100 bottles of sauce!!!

[jackiejenny]

My question is why didn't they call their local trash people for a special pickup for 3 to 500 pounds of pasta like normal people do ?  

[THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes]

The Twitter-verse exploded:

The guy should go the penne-tentiary.

It was pasta expiration date.

The culprit was Al Dente.

His accomplice was Linn Guini.

There are lots more 

[Mersha]

Thanks for the info on the culprit.

I can't imagine what he was thinking.

Hopefully, he has to clean up the mess.

[THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes]

It has been cleaned up by employees from the Old Bridge, New Jersey Department of Public Works.

[jackiejenny]

Will the culprit, Al Dente, get a bill? 

[We rescue cats]

Why not donate it to a food pantry? What a waste. I hope he has to pay for the clean-up.

[SilleeMee]

Tax write off.