You don’t need to spend much time in Italy to discover the love affair that many Italians have with the chocolate-hazelnut spread called Nutella. Most hotels include it as part of their breakfast buffet, where you’ll often see Italians spreading it liberally between a couple of biscotti to make a Nutella cookie ‘sandwich’. Nutella pastries are available in many pasticceria, and as a flavour it’s also a ubiquitous favourite in most gelateria. If you visit a city such as Rome in the autumn or winter, you’ll notice little crêpe stands set up in or around gelateria - as in the attached photograph - where you can buy a crêpe smothered generously with Nutella for just a couple of euro…easy on the wallet, if not on the waistband!In honour of this most Italian of decadent treats, please try to translate the following article about Nutella, which I adapted from the Italian Wikipedia entry. You’ll notice that the article contains a mixture of tenses, including il presente, l’imperfetto and il passato remoto. As always, feel free to post your translation as a comment, and I’ll add a translation of my own in a couple of days:
Nutella è il nome commerciale di una crema a base di oli vegetali, zucchero, nocciole e cacao, ideata nel 1964 dall’industria dolciaria Ferrero. Il nome deriva dalla congiunzione di nut, che significa "nocciola" in inglese, e il suffisso ella per ottenere un nome orecchiabile. Il prodotto è venduto in vaschette di plastica e vasetti di vetro, ed è tanto benvoluto ovunque in Italia.
L'origine della Nutella è legata al cioccolato Gianduia, che contiene circa il 50% di mandorle e pasta di nocciole. Il Gianduia prese piede in Piemonte nel momento in cui le tasse eccessive sull'importazione dei semi di cacao cominciarono a scoraggiare la diffusione del cioccolato convenzionale.
Pietro Ferrero possedeva una pasticceria ad Alba, nelle Langhe, area nota per la produzione di nocciole. Nel 1946 vendette il primo lotto costituito da 300 chili di "Pasta Gianduja", il quale fin dall’inizio ebbe successo istantaneo con entrambi i genitori ed i loro bambini.
Al inizio si trattava di un blocco solido di cioccolato, ma nel 1949 Pietro sviluppò la sua prima crema, che fu spalmabile e fu venduta inizialmente come Supercrema. I bambini prendevano pezzi di pane al supermercato, ed erano dotati una spalmata di Nutella sul pane per gratis. In questa forma il prodotto fu un successo senza precedenti!
Oggi Nutella rimane estremamente popolare e ricordato con affetto in romanzi, canzoni e opere cinematografiche. Probabilmente è la crema spalmabile più diffusa al mondo; essa è utilizzata soprattutto come accompagnamento per pane, biscotti e frutta, anche se negli anni sono state ideate numerose ricette che ne prescrivono l'uso in torte e crêpes.
Nel 2004, anno in cui si festeggiavano i 40 anni di vita, sono state vendute oltre duecentomila tonnellate di Nutella, con un mercato che copre quasi tutti i paesi del mondo.
*image: Crêpe stand in Piazza Navona, Rome;
Credits: Image property of Jane (itpblog at hotmail dot com)
1 response(s):
OK, here is my attempt!
Nutella is the brand name of a sweet spread made of vegetable oil, sugar, hazelnuts and cocoa, created in 1964 by the confectionary company Ferrero. The name derives from the conjunction of nut, which is the English word for ‘nocciola’, and the suffix ‘ella’, which together form a catchy and memorable name. The product is sound in little plastic tubs and glass jars, and is popular throughout Italy.
The origin of Nutella is tied to Gianduia chocolate, which contains around 50% almonds and hazelnut paste. Gianduia caught on in the Piedmont region at a time when high taxes on the import of cocoa made conventional chocolate prohibitively expensive.
Pietro Ferrero owned a bakery in Alba, in the Langhe region, an area famous for its production of hazelnuts. In 1946 he sold his first 300kg batch of “Pasta Gianduja”, which from the outset was an instant success with both parents and children.
Initially the product was a solid block of chocolate, but in 1949 Pietro developed his first spreadable crema, which was sold under the brand name ‘Supercrema’. Children used to take pieces of bread to the supermarket, and were then given a free smear of Nutella. In this form, the product was an unprecedented success!
Today Nutella remains extremely popular and is commemorated with affection in novels, songs and films. It’s probably the most widely sold and eaten spreadable product in the world; it’s used primarily as an accompaniment for bread, biscuits and fruit, even though in the years since it was created it’s also found its way into numerous recipes for cakes and crêpes.
In 2004, the year of it’s 40th birthday, two hundred thousand tonnes of Nutella were sold, in a market that extends to almost every country in the world.
Post a Comment