Was it an exhibit by Kitchener's very own guerilla artist, or was it simply a plate of late-night food left on the side of the road?
We may never know for sure, because a plate of macaroni that was left for days on a barrier in downtown Kitchener has gone missing.
The plate first surfaced at the corner of King and Water streets on Tuesday, and the internet noticed.
Then, a museum-like tag identified it as an art piece called "Abandoned Snack," pushing the macaroni and cheese further into the limelight.
"Macaroni and sundried tomato on ceramic," the sign read. "Unknown Artist."
CTV was contacted by a man who claims that the placard for the so-called art piece was made by Jeff Woods.
Woods, though, maintains that he did not create it, claiming that he was given the placard for the so-called art piece to attach to the pole next to it.
"This obviously was a piece of contemporary art from an emerging urban contemporary artist," Woods says.
"And I've seen other examples of their art around town, with things like the abandoned cart series that seems to be some kind of commentary on consumerism."
But Woods says he doesn't know who the so-called artist is.
He says that on Thursday morning, he found out that the plate was gone, but he's not sure if it was vandalized or stolen.
"It's a toss-up. There's critics of all art in society and I'm not certain whether it was vandalized or whether it was removed because of its presumed future high value," he explains.
He likens the so-called art piece to those of high-profile anonymous artist Banksy.
So does this plate of macaroni mean something, or is it just a plate of macaroni?
Three years ago, a man trapped himself in a banana barrier at Kitchener City Hall . Zhaoyi Kang, a Chinese man who immigrated to Canada, built "The Well" to represent racial barriers that people face.
Woods say he can't say for sure, but he thinks that the macaroni carries deep meaning within its elbows.
"I'm not going to project a meaning onto the art on behalf of someone else," he says. "To me, it spoke to a class divide. A lot of the issues that are coming up in Kitchener around gentrification."
