Nutella is Now American

Hi guys, it’s Rachael! So, I just got back from an Ultimate Frisbee tournament at Notre Dame University, where the lovely people who organized the tournament provided our team with food: bananas, bagels, peanut butter, and… Nutella!!! If you don’t know what Nutella is, it is an absolutely delicious chocolatey hazelnut spread that has recently become increasingly popular in the United States. Every girl on the team got ridiculously excited about the presence of Nutella, and it made me think about the first time I ever heard of it. When I was in France for a few weeks about three years ago, I saw this tasty delight everywhere, because it is a staple, household thing over in Europe. The French family I was staying with had Nutella toast every morning for breakfast, and there were little packets of Nutella with the jelly packets at continental breakfasts at hotels: basically, it was everywhere. In the three years since I have come back to the U.S., Nutella has started to make an impression over here too, and may one day be the staple that it is in Europe.

According to http://www.nutellausa.com/history.htm, Nutella originated in Italy during WWII as a cheap alternative to chocolate, which was rationed during the war. The spread of this tasty treat from its origins in Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and now to the U.S. made me think about globalization in terms of the foods we eat. In matters other than food, some people have equated globalization with Americanization because of the huge influence American culture has around the world. This is by no means true, because there is a lot more to globalization than that. The food situation in America is in direct contradiction to this idea. Think about it: when you are deciding where to go out to dinner, the first thing you ask is, are you in the mood for Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, etc. The variety of food in the U.S. largely comes from different countries and their styles of food. What is American food, anyways, other than hamburgers and hotdogs? We would not enjoy the richness of variety in food that we enjoy in America if we didn’t eat a lot of food from cultures other than out own, and I would argue that American food is really just a combination of all these other types of food. This is the global nature of the world at its finest. Then again, I might be biased because I love Nutella and French bread so much.

On a completely unrelated note…

Speaking of chocolate, here is a nice recipe I found the other day: 5 minute microwavable cake. Great for college students like me because of its simplicity, this cake actually tastes pretty good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow5n1NvS0f8&feature=related

Enjoy!