Penn Grad finishes seven-week Olive Garden Pasta Pass diet

The Saturday after his Never Ending Pasta Pass to Olive Garden expired, University of Pennsylvania grad Matt Pershe didn't waste any time making his way back to the real food.

"I ate at a Penn alumni tailgate and got basically everything but the pasta salad," he says. "We're talking brisket, a hot dog, BBQ chicken, potato salad, green salad, and some pumpkin pie. I think I was excited to eat non-pasta food."

And you would be, too, if you had spent the previous seven weeks eating every single meal from a chain Italian restaurant. Which, of course, is exactly what Pershe did beginning back in September, when the Olive Garden offered its $99 Pasta Pass that gave cardholders access to bottomless pasta dishes twice a day for seven weeks straight. For an AmeriCorps volunteer like Pershe, who receives only a $1,000 stipend each month, that's actually a good deal.

Pershe chronicled his adventures at the Olive Garden on his Never Ending Pasta Blog, concluding his dispatches this past Friday with a posted entitled "Fritta Finally Say Goodbye." Luckily, I recently got to catch up with the newly pasta-free Philadelphian to hear his thoughts on his experience at the Olive Garden, how it changed (or, rather, didn't) his health, and whether or not it was all worth it. Check out the interview below:

Philly.com: What made you decide to attempt to use the Olive Garden's Pasta Pass deal the way you did?

Matt Pershe: The Pasta Pass was economical enough for me to justify going to a restaurant for seven weeks instead of packing a lunch or buying, which is what I'd been doing before the Pasta Pass. Since I've started my year of service with AmeriCorps, however, that's basically stopped. I just can't afford to spend $5 or more on lunch.

P: Any hurry to get back into a restaurant now that you've completed the Pasta Pass run?

MP: I'm taking a break from restaurants. I've budgeted a tiny bit of money for non-SNAP food purchases, but in general, unless the place accepts SNAP, I won't be there. When a flight home for Christmas eats up an entire paycheck, you can't do restaurants. It's a poverty lifestyle I signed up for this year, and this is part of it.

P: So you're mostly getting back to cooking your own meals now?

MP: I went to Trader Joe's last night (Monday) for my first full grocery shopping run in seven weeks and it felt so good! I bought chicken and andouille sausage last night. I'll be focusing on getting a lot of greens and produce, especially after the pasta diet. But I had a jar of Trader Joe's marinara sauce and a couple packages of pasta in my cupboard this whole time. I moved them to the back of the shelf last night when I bought all the new things.

P: Did you notice any changes in your health over the seven weeks? Another Pasta Pass user says he actually lost four pounds.

MP: Several people complimented my figure while I was using the Pasta Pass, which has absolutely never happened before. Based only on looking at me, if I did gain any weight over the past seven weeks it was minimal. If there have been any notable changes in my health over the past seven weeks, they're all internal -- which is kind of concerning -- but I haven't felt anything bad yet.

P: What ended up being your favorite meal over the seven weeks? What about the worst?

MP: I actually liked the majority of meals I had from Olive Garden. The only items I truly hated were the chicken fritta and shrimp fritta. Those and other items scared me from a nutrition standpoint. I think my favorite combination may have been cavatappi with marinara and grilled shrimp.

P: Was it odd for you to get so much attention for basically just willfully eating pasta?

MP: At first I was terrified by the media attention the blog received, but I came to find it interesting and even entertaining. I found it funny that something I did as part of a daily routine was so interesting to people. And if this was to be my one shot at the spotlight, I found it hilarious that it was because of Olive Garden. These were definitely some of the strangest weeks of my life.