One of my guilty pleasures —besides binging on Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks— is a banana and Nutella crêpe. The combination of banana, cocoa, and hazelnut makes it irresistible. Or is it its 50% sugar and palm oil content?1
My maternal grandparents emigrated from Piedmont, Italy to Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 1890s, as you’ll find out in one of my next STRIP-TEASES®. Piedmont is rich in great food and wine. The province of Alba was the birthplace of Nutella. And in the hilly long areas (the Langhe or “tongues”), local vineyards produce Dolcetto d’Alba, a dry wine with tones of cherry and plum2. During World War II, and thanks to courageous resistance fighters, Alba declared independence —for shy of a month— from the short-lived Fascist Republic of Salò founded by Mussolini. After the triumph of the Allies in 1945, Pietro Ferrero sold the first “300 kg (660 lb) of pasta gianduja, the predecessor of Nutella.”
Another guilty pleasure is morcilla (Look it up!), or boudin noir, as the French call it. The last time I was in Paris, my friend César and I had lunch at a 7th arrondissement restaurant, not far from Pont d’Alma where Princess Diana’s life came to an end. Waiters were serving the boudin noir lunch special left and right, accompanied by steamy, heaping portions of mashed potatoes and affordable glasses of Bordeaux.
—New York City, 5/4/2021
1 In the United States, Nutella’s ingredients are: sugar, palm oil (50%), hazelnuts (13%), cocoa (7.4%), skim milk (8.7%), reduced minerals whey (milk), lecithin as emulsifier (soy), and vanillin, an artificial flavor.
2 Many thanks to Pier Paolo Prassolo for this information.