UPDATE: The Mystery Of The 500LB New Jersey Pasta Dump Has Been Solved!
HUGE news for anyone who became as obsessed with the Old Bridge, NJ pasta dump as I did. We finally have answers and I can finally stop bugging anyone who will listen with my theories:
Via NBC 4 New York:
Neighbors said that the oodles of noodles came from a nearby home that is up for sale. A military veteran moving out of his mother's home after her death seemingly found a stockpile of old food that she had kept in the house.
"I mean, I really feel like he was just trying to clear out his parents' house and they were probably stocked up from COVID," said neighbor Keith Rost, saying it's a generational thing. "My grandparents always had a cupboard full of cans and pasta, just to be safe."
If anything, let this be a friendly reminder to those of us with boomer parents. It may be time to do a quick run-through of their basement and make sure they're not stock piling anything that may be difficult to remove should the home need to go up for sale, for... reasons. I would imagine it's already stressful enough dealing with the loss, let alone discovering they've left you hundreds of pounds of elbow macaroni.
I do wonder at the choice to dump all those noodles in a wooded yet very populated area (sources estimate this took about 15 wheelbarrow trips), but apparently the town doesn't do bulk trash and who knows if this person had the finances to hire help to haul all that ziti to a dump. And I'm not going to be the one mad at a vet who just lost his mom and has to find a new home; I'm willing to chalk it up to "grief can make us do some wacky things" and/or "it's New Jersey which I feel explains a lot on its own".
The mayor must feel the same because 'he told NBC New York that the case is closed on the pasta peculiarity, saying "no harm, no foul".'
Side note, in my previous blog explaining the origin of the whole pasta drama I called Old Bridge 'North Jersey' which sparked a major debate about what is North vs Central (doesn't exist) vs South Jersey. Here is the official map which settles it all.
And before you come at me, please know I have the full backing of resident Jersey expert, Frank the Tank.