Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Francesco Rivella, the Father of Nutella, has died.

There are several food related things someone can say to me that will instantly put them on my enemies list: Don’t fill up on bread, have some pasta with your cheese, or asking for a bite of my dessert when they’ve abstained, but right up there with all of them is telling me that Nutella is just frosting. Shut the fuck up. No one is eating Nutella for health reasons, it is because it’s addictively delicious, and a million times better than any canned frosting.

And it all started in the town of Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy, an area famous for their hazelnuts.

In 1946, a baker in Alba named Pietro Ferrero sold Gianduja, a mixture of chocolate and hazelnut, which was invented in the mid 1800’s in Turin, Italy as a way to extend the amount of chocolate available while the country had a shortage during the British blockade, which was implemented by Napoleon. Even though Napoleon is low key possibly responsible for Nutella under no circumstances do we have to hand it to him. We can save that applause for the Ferrero Company.

After his success selling solid gianduja, Ferrero started to sell a creamy version in 1951 markets as Supercrema gianduja.

At this point, Pietro’s son Michele had become a part the family business and along with Francesco Rivella, the began to revamp the formula hoping to market it across Europe. In 1963, they rebranded Supercrema gianduja, calling it Nutella. On April 20, 1964, the first shipment left Alba for Germany and Nutella was an instant smash success. The world’s love affair with the hazelnut cream began.

Rivella, who was born in the Piedmont Region, actually got his start as a chemist. When he was 25, he was hired by Ferrero, where he would study the raw materials the company used as well as developing new products. His chemistry expertise as well as his palette became instrumental in refining recipes until they became the iconic Ferrero products we know today.