World Nutella Day is February 5th

Nutella is made from cocoa and hazelnuts. It was popular in Europe for a long time before it made its way to the United States. A friend of mine visited Europe in high school and brought a jar of Nutella back with her. Later she became my college roommate, and I remember she and I used to celebrate our good grades by dunking vanilla wafers into the creamy, chocolatey stuff. Delicious!

Nutella is originally from Italy. It is based on the Italian chocolate-hazelnut confection known as gianduia. Nutella as we know it today was developed in 1963, though it is based on an older recipe dating from the 1940s. The first sale of what came to be known as Nutella was done by Pietro Ferrero, whose sons eventually marketed it across Europe. Nutella's signature taste came to be what it is today technically because of World War II. It was during this time period that there was a shortage of cocoa powder (among many other foods), so because hazelnuts were plentiful in this particular region of Italy, Mr. Ferrero included these roasted nuts in his confection to bulk it up. This addition ended up being what gives Nutella its unique taste.

World Nutella Day is a fairly new "holiday" to celebrate Nutella and give Nutella enthusiasts a reason to eat Nutella all day if they want to! The first World Nutella Day took place in 2007. A website has been created to celebrate World Nutella Day that I urge you to check out if you are interested in it: nutelladay.com

The best way to celebrate World Nutella Day? Basically...eat Nutella! Try to find as many different ways to eat it as you can. For instance, it's a great pancake topping or a dip for fruit. Nutella.com has some interesting suggestions for activities on World Nutella Day, including taking a photo of yourself eating Nutella and tweeting about your Nutella love on Twitter, and becoming a Nutella fan on Facebook. If you're really, really, into Nutella, there is no shortage of ways you can let the world know about it!

Sources:

Nutelladay.com "How to Participate in World Nutella Day." Nutelladay.com

Nutella USA. "History." Nutella USA.com