The (Literally) Sweet Story Of How Alan Alda Met His Wife

Have you ever had a meet cute over a plate of delicious food?

Cindy Ord/Getty Images for World Science Festivals/Getty Images
By  Marnie Shure

Every time I think I'm ready to delete Twitter forever, it pulls me back in by slipping a tweet into my feed that's perfectly calibrated to delight me specifically. Yesterday, that tweet was Val Kilmer reminiscing about his time filming Heat. Today, that tweet was Alan Alda, relaying the quite literally sweet tale of how he met his wife over a fallen rum cake. Twitter, you've done it again.

It all began two days ago, when Twitter user @sonyashea3 shared a snippet from the Wikipedia entry for veteran actor Alan Alda.

"Head empty, only thinking about how alan alda met his wife," tweeted @sonyashea3. According to Wikipedia:

In 1956, while attending Fordham, Alda met Arlene Weiss, who was attending Hunter College. They bonded at a mutual friend's dinner party; when a rum cake accidentally fell onto the kitchen floor, they were the only two guests who did not hesitate to eat it. A year after his graduation, on March 15, they were married.

The tweet has since racked up 153,000 likes and counting, with enthusiastic responses in every direction.

"I used to wait on them at my old restaurant and they are the kindest, sweetest people," read one reply.

"They're also just as adorable now," wrote one user, posting a recent red carpet photo of Alan and Arlene in which the lovebirds are laughing heartily.

Well, Alda love and support must have made its way back to the 85-year-old actor, because today he quote-tweeted the original post and added his own context to the story:

"We did eat the rum cake off the floor and were inseparable after that," Alda confirmed in his tweet. "But I was captivated by her even earlier in the meal when I heard her at the end of the table laughing at my jokes. She had me at Ha." And lo, there was not a dry eye on Twitter this day. The post has 45,000 likes and the number is ticking up quickly as people share this little anecdote that perfectly encapsulates what people love about the actor.

As some Twitter users pointed out, it turns out that a 2018 episode of The Sporkful podcast is dedicated to the story of Alan Alda, Arlene Weiss, and the rum cake that started it all. I know what I'll be listening to this evening. But first, a question for readers: Have you ever had a food-related meet cute? Did you and your partner ever bond over something as unforgettable as a floor cake?

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