snoburbia [heart] nutella

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Nutella. I first discovered it in the cabinet of a friend in California. This friend bought $180 shoes (in 1987), drank Orangina and shopped at Trader Joes (in 1987). She and Nutella were cool.

But now, Nutella is at Costco, and Orangina is owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple.

And the other night, I was horrified to see a television commercial for Nutella. Now the masses would know my delicious chocolate secret.  But not to worry; it was aimed right at snoburbia. First of all, the ad was placed on that ersatz egghead show, Rubicon (watched on DVR, of course). And then there was the subtext:

Nutella, is "perfect on multi-grain toast and even whole wheat waffles."

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Comments

[Kevin Warner]

Dear Snoburbans,

Really now, everybody knows (who's in the know) that Nutella is health food at its best! After all, there are over 100 hazelnuts in each jar (nice vegetarian protein). So the whole wheat toast is just icing on the proverbial sugar and fat.

yours truly,
A devoted snoburbian nutella lover

[Dennis]

Growing up in a somewhat grungy Italian neighborhood in the Northeast, we just got Nutella from the corner grocery (Italian, of course) because it tasted good. A shame it was found in Snoburbia - we had it to ourselves for so long!

[Kevin]

P.S.

For a real snoburban treat, try it on peanut butter filled pretzels (from TJs of course)! Mmmmmm.

[Bob in Loudoun]

Hey now! The masses learned about Nutella when Kobe Bryant endorsed it years ago.

I have twins, and one of them (the boy) just loves Nutella on waffles and many other things too.

[Clay]

Nutella is hardly a health food. It contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

[Mike]

I remember coming first across Nutella 10 years ago in Germany. Good stuff. Perfect for toast (especially for dense wheat bread).

Funny it should be a "snob" food. It started off in late 1940's post WWII Italy as a shortage induced alternative to chocolate (more hazelnuts around than cocoa). From that standpoint it kind of reminds me more of Australian Vegemite (post WWI shortage induced vegetable spread) than any kind of gourmet spread.

[Judy]

Only in the US does it contain Trans fats (the partially hydrogenated stuff). Europeans are apparently smarter than we are. Yep, gotta dumb it down for the Americans. Sigh.

[Doris]

Giada DiLaurentiis talks about it all the time; evidently it was her favorite food growing up. She occasionally uses it on her show.

[Ty]

This is no secret. Me and my friends have been eating Nutella since a mission trip to Bolivia in 2004. :)

[hexenwahn]

Nutella is made from PALM OIL which is harvested in plantations that were made by destruction of some of the only remaining orangutan habitat in the world. It's disgusting and its eaters are irresponsible.

[twiddly2]

Hate to burst the Snoburbia bubble, but I used to buy Nutella (single-serve pkgs that came with a little spoon) from my school canteen (tuck-shop or cafeteria for the Americans) in a primary (aka elementary) girls' school which was located in a third-world (albeit developing) nation. I would have been so happy as an 8-year-old to know that I was among the elite in my snacking fancies. Bu the way, I emigrated to this big and beautiful country many years ago and now call my little enclave of Snoburbia (South Riding) in Virginia home.

[mistah charley, ph.d.]

You write "But now, Nutella is at Costco" as if this makes it uncool. In fact, as you should know, Costco IS cool, and my relative who lives in Snoburbia shops at Costco. Costco gets high ratings for quality of produce, etc. in the Consumer Reports surveys, and their product range includes many items that snoburban residents consume (as well as some that are less classy, of course). They also pay their workers a [working class] living wage, something that their principal competitor Sam's Club DOESN'T do.

[Robin]

Costco carries Chanel makeup palettes. Hoe declassé can it be?

As for what's exclusive, the bar always goes up every so often. When I was in high school, Ultima II was among the most expensive cosmetic lines there was. Now you can get it in CVS, for crap's sake. Kiwi fruit were impossible to find. Now they're everywhere.

Does your friend wear Louboutins or Blahniks now? I bet she does.
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Nutella is made from PALM OIL which is harvested in plantations that were made by destruction of some of the only remaining orangutan habitat in the world. It's disgusting and its eaters are irresponsible.

You write "But now, Nutella is at Costco" as if this makes it uncool. In fact, as you should know, Costco IS cool, and my relative who lives in Snoburbia shops at Costco. Costco gets high ratings for quality of produce, etc. in the Consumer Reports surveys, and their product range includes many items that snoburban residents consume (as well as some that are less classy, of course). They also pay their workers a [working class] living wage, something that their principal competitor Sam's Club DOESN'T do.
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I'm guessing that such sanctimony is the whole reason you created this blog.

[Rebecca Penovich]

The first time I heard of Nutella was hearing my high school friend rave about it when she lived in France. Yesterday, my son asked for a Nutella and banana sandwich for lunch. So it's hit the American mainstream. I did have to say to my son, you realize I am basically making you a chocolate sandwich for lunch to go with your Halloween candy.

[Nekole W]

Nutella is awesome... though we did take a 6-7 year hiatus in our lovely relationship. I had a friend (in Snoburbia, went to Lycee Rochambou in Bethesda-French International) who always had an open and unopened jar of Nutella. Always. When we got hungry, even if we were at my house (we lived across the street from each other), we'd go to hers just to be able to have Nutella on toast or Croissants. Then we kinda slipped away from each other... last May I was shopping with my parents at Harris Teeter and saw a jar of it, and had to buy it. Man is it yummy!