I suspect that comment was more about the analogy of building detailed models out of pasta; in other words, that the subtext was that it looks like a painstakin

I suspect that comment was more about the analogy of building detailed models out of pasta; in other words, that the subtext was that it looks like a painstaking technical feat achieved with strange materials for the purpose. And maybe in that respect all the more impressive. PHP gets a bad rap because of problems with its design and implementation and some loosy-goosy culture (though most of these can be worked around or smoothed over by a framework and personal discipline, core language issues can be a form of technical debt). Really fixing this might require a breaking new version like Perl 6 or Python 3. But of course you can still build things with it. Like models of Neuschwannstein Castle ;)