It used to be said that there were two guaranteed sources of work in the region: at the Fiat factory in Turin or the Ferrero Rocher plant near Alba. The latter demands a huge supply of hazelnuts to go into its Nutella spread (and other chocolates), and so you see hazelnut groves everywhere. As a result a lot of local cooking contains the nuts (the nearby town of Cortemilia has an annual hazelnut festival), particularly cakes and tarts.