Converting to Olive Oil

Our tour guide in Lucca, Wanda, said that making olive oil was a religion. And it's gaining converts. Not long ago, I posted about olive oil from our previous Italy trip. During research for that post, I discovered Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller and I added it to my reading list. After exploring the history of olive oil Mueller delves into the occasionally sleazy world of olive oil to expose the realities of the business to naive consumers. The story is beautiful, the corruption is frightening and infuriating.

In my last post, I briefly mentioned the international olive oil groups charged with monitoring the quality of oils aspiring to be extra virgin. Mueller discusses these organizations as well, and notes that even when they find inferior oil, there is little they can do to remove the product from the market.

Fraud in olive oil is an age-old, global phenomenon and it comes in many forms. The oil may be labeled as extra virgin, but is in fact virgin, pomace, refined, or olive oil laced with inferior seed oils. Besides the risks that the mislabeled oils may be contaminated with other harmful substances, there is the fact that these oils do not have the same health benefits as real extra virgin olive oil. Real EVOO is loaded with antioxidants and has acted as a panacea for millennia. Time recently wrote an article about the Mediterranean diet lowering heart risks. Extra virgin olive oil is the crux of the Mediterranean diet, but consuming the fraudulent substances comes with none of the health benefits.

Mueller tells a compelling story with heroes and villans fighting in a war that is far from over. If you care at all about the quality of the food you and your family eat, do yourself a favor and read this book. You'll learn what you've been missing and you'll gain an insight into the culture of oil making. And keep some good oil nearby - you'll want it while you read.

Useful Links!

Amazon Page for Extra Virginity by Tom Mueller
Previous Post, Are Olives Fruit?
Time article, It's the olive oil