(from here)
The frequency of Nutella sightings was not something I was expecting either. Italians it seems eat Nutella with...well...with just about anything. If it said chocolate it probably meant Nutella, something B discovered to his chagrin when ordering what turned out to be a Nutella and Nutella and cream gelato one afternoon. It seems Italy just can't get enough of the stuff so it wasnt surprising to find out it is actually as Italian as the ice cream cone, the espresso machine and the human torpedo . Created in the 1940's by Pietro Ferrero, who also flogs those little gold wrapped chocolatey nuggets of the best part of a dollar. Born out of necessity during World War II, when there was a chronic chocolate shortage, Ferrero, looking for a suitable dilutant, mixed chocolate and hazelnut butter and sold the result as a block. In 1951he began selling a spreadable variant he called 'supercrema gianduja' and the version was born. The name Nutella wasn't adopted until 1964. Incidently 'gianduja', a mixture of chocolate and 30% hazelnut paste, was invented in Turin in 1852.
The family Ferrero has done rather well out of the chocolate hazelnut combination. Last year Forbes voted 82 year old Michele Ferrero, who currently runs the business, the richest man in Italy with a, more than, 9 billion dollar worth.
What economic downturn?
Four years ago Shelley and Ms Adventures in Italy proclaimed February 5th to be world Nutella Day.
4 comments:
Nutella---you crack me up! What a great post topic. Too fun.
I've never had Nutella ... after this post, guess I need to try it, eh?
You are so right - we even got a photo with a 5kg jar of it at our favorite Crepe shop in Rome. Lucky for us the guy loved us and gave it to us for a photo - mind you - 4 Euro a crepe x 3 kids x 6 nights in a row = a lot of profit.
I must be reincarnated Italian or something then, as I don't think I have the actual bloodline! We love nutella. I cannot tolerate most jams or jelly. Of those I like, I only like a very little. After learning to like peanut butter (it was a pregnancy thing - I always hated it until then) I wanted peanut butter sandwiches, but you need something to go with it. Obviously, nutella! It's closely comparable to peanut butter, less sweet than fruit preserves (which my kids won't touch, but they love nutella too). We have PB&N sandwiches... and I am tickled to report, that crepes and nutella is what I served my family for breakfast this morning! :D Mmmm!
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