A guilty pleasure for anyone who loves hazelnuts and chocolate (which is just about everyone on the planet), today, February 5, fans of the tasty spread celebrate World Nutella Day 2015, and here are some amazing facts about this delicious sweet flavor that you can put on pretty much anything!
Websites all over the world have paid homage to World Nutella Day 2015 by showing off some love for the spread, including The Telegraph's list of surprising dishes that can be prepared with Nutella and all kinds of stats about how often people will consume the Ferrero-made Italian chocolate and hazelnut spread.
Now, on to the list of 6 sweet Nutella facts!
1. Loving fans created World Nutella Day 2015 eight years ago
An American blogger named Sara Rosso that has lived in Italy for years joined forces with a friends Shelley and Michelle and created a holiday that was made to set aside all great experiences related to this delicious spread - deciding on February 5 as the perfect date.
They have their own website, www.nutelladay.com and even a Facebook page. The guys at Ferrero didn't think World Nutella Day 2015 was all that awesome at first, but have since reconsidered.
2. The person responsible for the creation of Nutella is none other than Napoleon Bonaparte!
Way back in the first years of the 19th century, Napoleon was the star of a conflict that is still referred to as the Napoleonic Wars, and during that time, he performed a blockade on British commerce that caused prices to rise - including that of chocolate.
At the time, the chocolatiers in Italy were faced with the tough chore to keep working in spite of the difficulties, and so they ended up adding a lot of pieces of hazelnuts to their products, thus inventing the spread we now celebrate on World Nutella Day 2015.
3. The name "Nutella" is almost 51 years old!
As the company was founded in 1964, the Ferrero brand gave its "Pasta Gianduja" spread the name of Nutella, and the very first jar of the delicious stuff left the factory on April 20 of that year. So, last year it saw its golden anniversary!
4. While you read this sentence, someone bought a jar of Nutella
According to a report by website Mental Floss, every 2.5 seconds, there's at least one jar of Nutella being bought somewhere in the globe, which is a great reason to create something called World Nutella Day 2015!
5. The owner of Ferrero, the Nutella parent company, is the richest man in Italy
Michele Ferrero, the 89 year-old son of the Ferrero company and the heir of the chocolate fortune (also responsible for other delicious chocolate desserts like Kinder Chocolate and Eggs, Ferrero Rocher and even, surprisingly enough, Tic Tacs), is worth $23.5 billion, making him the richest man in Italy - even surpassing controversial entrepreneur and politician Silver Berlusconi.
Ferrero is actually the wealthiest candy maker in the world, according to Forbes.
6. Ferrero produces a lot of Nutella every year. A LOT.
According to the company's numbers (featured in the Interesting Facts section of their website), it's possible to circle the world 1.4 times in Nutella only with the amount produced in a year; with the same amount, someone could cover the Great Wall of China EIGHT times.
Other hilarious numbers include the fact that someone could build the Big Ben 22,000 times with the amount of Nutella sold in one year, and you could line up all those Nutella jars around the Danube river 24 times over - which is saying something, considering the river is so big it covers 10 countries!
Now, grab your favorite pastry and cover it up to celebrate World Nutella Day 2015!
