Nutella, it’s time we broke up. It’s not me... it’s you.

Nutella, it’s time we broke up

It’s not me… it’s you.

I’m not really sure when my Nutella obsession started, it’s just always ‘been there’. In the same way no one will remember eating their first slice of toast, I can’t remember the first time I spread the smooth shiny chocolatey silk-like topping upon it. I just know that there’s no other toast topping combination that can come close to it. Jam? Nope. Marmalade? Nope. Butter and jam? Lush, but still no.

And it’s not just toast, of course; this cocoa, sugar and milk combo in a jar is exceptionally versatile. I’ll pop it on ice cream, crackers, churros, pancakes, crumpets, bananas, strawberries—I’ve even eaten it out the jar with a spoon on occasion. I’ve even popped it in a milkshake with an espresso for good measure. (Not quite what the Nutribullet was intended for I’m sure, but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.)

So, imagine my horror when the palm oil issue was raised in the media. Large swathes of forest being destroyed so it could be collected and used in far more of our regular products that you could imagine.

What makes palm oil so bad? Well, it’s not bad for us or our health, to be clear. It is an edible vegetable oil derived from the palm fruit, grown on the African oil palm tree. Oil palms are originally from Western Africa, but can flourish wherever heat and rainfall are abundant.

You may not think you use much of it yourself, but it is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, and can be found in about half of all packaged products sold in the supermarket. Not just food but cosmetics too. It’s widely used by big brands such as Unilever and Nestle and if you look closely at labels, you can find it in everything from sweets to shampoo.

Extracting this popular substance means deforestation at an alarming rate. According to Greenpeace, in Indonesia alone, an area the size of a football pitch is lost every 25 seconds, decimating species such as orangutans and tigers. The facts are truly shocking when it comes to the palm oil used in Nutella (aforementioned food of the gods)—it is full of it. So what’s an environment-conscious girl to do? This Nutella addiction simply couldn’t go on so the hunt was on for an alternative, and fast.

And in an independent health food shop, a very helpful store assistant offered me an alternative. ‘We’ve sold 60 jars this week,’ he whispered with a wink, as if he was letting me in on a secret just for me. ‘Go on then,’ I said in equally hushed tones back, hurriedly handing over my £3.99 and stuffing the small jar to the bottom of my handbag while imagining I was a member of some secret Resistance.

And now I’m home, and the toaster is on, and I’m eyeing this intruding jar suspiciously. The label might be different, but it does look and smell like my favourite chocolate spread—although, according to the label, it uses sustainable sunflower oil instead.

So here we go... or ‘Vego’ to be precise. This new brand promises to be fair trade, organic, vegan-friendly, gluten-free and ‘deliciously creamy’. But never mind all that, how does it spread? Very well, I can report. And most importantly, how does it taste?

I can honestly say I can’t really tell the difference. And I say that as someone who can easy pick out Coke or Pepsi in a blind taste test or full fat milk in my skinny latte. It does have the addition of real hazelnut pieces which are very tasty indeed (think crunchy peanut butter versus smooth)—it's chocolate spread 2.0!

So Nutella, it’s time we broke up. It’s not me... it’s you.

No orangutans were harmed or trees deforested in the making of this new chocolately elixir, and that’s how all our products should be. So next time you’re in the supermarket, flip your product of choice over and check the label for palm oil rather than simply buying blind. Trust me, our world will thank you.

Now, where did I put that Nutribullet...?