Well, actually yes, Nutella is today the most consumed and loved spreadable cream in Italy and these data from 2022 confirm it: In the sample of Italians who were questioned, they were asked “Do you like Nutella?” 74% answered “I like it” and 26% replied, “I don't like it”.
After World War II, cocoa was extremely scarce. Ferrero, originally from Piedmont in Italy, turned this tricky problem into a smart solution, creating a sweet paste made from hazelnuts, sugar and just a little of the rare cocoa. The ancestor of Nutella® was born.
According to Chef Giorgio Rapicavoli, Italian Nutella is “far more delicious and more hazelnut forward.” While the ingredients are mostly the same, the Italian version lists 13% hazelnut and 7.4% cocoa powder as two of the ingredients. The American version excludes these numbers on the food label.
An “austerity recipe” with a long history
Nutella is sometimes called an “austerity recipe”, as at the time, in the 1950's, the Second World War and rationing had left chocolate in short supply in Italy. Adding hazelnuts, which were cheaper and more readily available than cocoa, made the spread much more affordable.
Well, actually yes, Nutella is today the most consumed and loved spreadable cream in Italy and these data from 2022 confirm it: In the sample of Italians who were questioned, they were asked “Do you like Nutella?” 74% answered “I like it” and 26% replied, “I don't like it”.
Each day 1.35 million pounds of Nutella are produced
According to the Ferrero company's statistics, France is considered to be the largest consumer of Nutella in the world where over 25% of the world's production is consumed and produced each year.
Customarily, Italians grew up eating pane e Nutella – by spreading the creamy chocolate on a simple slice of bread. It is a perfect match and it's usually eaten at breakfast or as a snack.
While most of the world loves Nutella, France is particularly keen on it.
Ferrero had to keep the letter N in black due to trademark issues. There was another brand that used the name Nutella. So, to keep it different, he changed the colour of the letter 'N'. This was the year (1964) when our beloved Nutella came into existence.
HISTORY OF FERRERO IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Today, we employ over 300 people across our commercial operations in Australia and New Zealand and our factory in Lithgow, New South Wales. Tic Tac and NUTELLA® have been proudly made in Lithgow for over 40 years.
Thicker and nuttier
According to Nutella enthusiasts, there are some differences. Both Serious Eats and Jim Webster of The Washington Post contend that the European version of Nutella is less sweet and has more hazelnuts.
And to this day I have pronounced 'Nutella' like most other Aussies – when I'm reading my shopping list, in my head it's NA-TELL-AH. But it seems I've been wrong all along. According to the Nutella website, the delicious hazelnut and cocoa spread is pronounced NEW-TELL-UH. Yep that's right – “New-tell-uh”.
Usage notes
Nutella is one of a small number of German nouns which can or historically could have all three genders; see the appendix. The masculine gender is rare and only used in some regions.
In 1964, following the death of his father, the son of Pietro Ferrero, Michele, created a new recipe for the SuperCrema: the first jar of Nutella was born. Nutella spread from only Italy to across Europe. Germany fell in love with the spread and lead to its cultural diffusion across the eastern hemisphere.
It's safe to say that Nutella in France is the same as peanut butter in the United States: a staple. One of the most popular ways to enjoy Nutella is for breakfast. The idea is to toast bread, spread Nutella on it, and dip it into milk, either cold or hot.
Pietro Ferrero was looking for a way to cut costs at a time when cocoa was expensive and still under wartime ration. Hazelnuts, however, were abundant, so he came up with the idea of developing a less expensive sweet by mixing them with cocoa. The concoction he created came in a loaf, wrapped in tinfoil.
The most common classic breakfast food in Italy is the “cornetto”, or croissant. A cornetto is often filled with some kind of cream, custard, jam or chocolate spread, and accompanied by a coffee.
Pane, burro e marmellata (bread, butter and jam)
The most traditional breakfast food in Italy is brad butter and jam or, in Italian, pane, burro e marmellata. The type of bread used varies from region to region and each family has its favorite kind.
A typical Italian lunch consists of a primo (pasta, soup or risotto dish), a secondo (meat or fish-based dish) and a contorno (side dish). Italians love their carbs and enjoy adding freshly grated Parmesan cheese to their dishes. Italians also exhibit a truly incredible talent for reinventing leftovers.
Even though there are certainly countries across the globe that consume more total chocolate than Switzerland, Switzerland consumes the most chocolate per person.
In Japan, Nutella ヌテラ is quite hard to find and sold in tiny pots at a prohibitive cost. It's quite rare to run into Nutella in a konbini, but in major cities supermarkets, it can be found on 'world food' shelves.