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What is Nutella for Italians?

Just think that the expression “Che mondo sarebbe senza Nutella? “(how would the world be without Nutella)was the slogan for it for many years.

I did not grow with Nutella as our mother did allow us to have it only sometime but  many of my school mates had Nutella for breakfast. I can  really say it has been part of my life, my friends lives, my friends’ children lives .Everybody knows Nutella .

But let’s go back to its history.

Year 1946.

After the Second World War, cocoa was a very difficult commodity to find, which is why Michele Ferrero, from his small town in Piedmont, created a sweet pastry with hazelnuts, sugar and little cocoa .

Thus was born the ancestor of Nutella, Giandujot, a sweet loaf that could be cut into slices and spread on bread.

1951 is the year in which Giandujot turns into SuperCrema easier to spread.

1964 the Italian state issued a law prohibiting the use of superlatives in advertising, hence the need to change its name to Nutella. The name started with the English word Nut but ending with  the Italian ella.

Between the end of the 60s and the 70s “pane e Nutella”(bread and Nutella )was considered a healthy and genuine habit based on a concept of energy. When we talked  of breakfast we automatically spoke of “bread and Nutella.”

It hasn’t changed since then, of course we no longer have  only bread and Nutella but Nutella ice cream, Nutella desserts etc. It is part of the Italian quotidian life, even if we don’t eat it, it’s like pasta, pizza: loved, criticized, discussed but incredibly common in Italian life.

Good Nutella Day to all of you !

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