Saturday, February 5, 2011

Nutella. The Immigrant- part two

In the last couple of days I have heard that Nutella is being sued for misrepresentation in a commercial they have out promoting Nutella as a healthy start to a child's day. I also recently saw a post on facebook by my cousin Jeff (first mention in my blog Jeff, as requested) advertising Nutella "Snack and Drink". WOW
These honorable Nutella mentions got me reminiscing about my childhood as an immigrant's child.
When I was a child growing up in a very Italian culture, Nutella was a ..staple. Not PB&J, not KD, not Grilled Cheese and when my siblings and I discovered these "Canadian" delicacies, we wanted for them so badly! Only much later in life did we fully appreciate the Nutella on toast, the 'S' cookies (the ones we for the longest time believed belonged to my cousin Frank because his last name is Stornelli) with latte e caffe for breakfast. We didn't have bacon and eggs, or oatmeal or homemade pancakes. Eggo frozen waffles was a big treat on a Saturday morning. Many of my friends would look at me like I was an alien when I brought a Nutella sandwich to school. It was chocolate on bread- What's the big deal?. BUT the second they had a taste- Whoa- those kids were hooked instantly.
When I think about immigrants living in a foreign country, my thoughts automatically go to the dramatic hardships they endured; the discrimination they faced, the back breaking work they did. But it dawned on me that even the little things needed adaptation; the snacks for your kids, the style of a lunch box (versus a paper bag- not cool), the type of  sandwich bread. Big and small - the challenges were several and.. real.
In immigrating, they sometimes found their kids in unpleasant situations and they knew it. In my case, my parents tried very hard to protect and teach us the "balancing act" . They loved Canada and they loved us. Compromises were delicate and thought through, discussed, appreciated, woven... - but we all agreed on one thing without hesitation, unanimously... Nutella was never up for negotiation. It stayed.

4 comments:

  1. Both Immigrants and Nutella have come a long way!

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  2. I remember those bowls you guys used to have. Your mom would put chocolate milk in them and we would dip our bread with jam or Nutella. Who has those bowls now?

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  3. OMG "the bowls" !! How could I forget??

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  4. We’ve come a long way Baby!

    Little did we know that our kids would learn to appreciate the finer things in life much sooner than we did. My children will almost always choose the Nutela over the BB&J; a plate of pasta with simple tomato basil over the KD.
    Best for last; Nonno’s prosciutto fatto di casa.

    It may be true; as generations evolve we do get smarter!

    Thanks Ester :)

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