Olive Oil, beautiful to taste, touch, and sight

A lot of the pleasure that comes from eating is through a psycho-physical process called haptics. Haptics refers to the sense of touch, specifically involving nonverbal communication. The etymology of this word dates back to ancient Greece associated with joining together, or fastening to. Every meal, you come together with what you are eating, which is why when someone has a bug or hair in their food the meal immediately becomes much less appetizing. If one thinks of the haptics of a hug or kiss, it brings much more pleasure to the individuals involved (assumed that there is mutual agreement with those involved). The same is true with eating. Food’s texture, temperature, and overall way it feels while eating communicates to our bodies how to feel about our immediate eating experience. This phenomenon is taken into consideration by amateur to professional chefs when preparing even the simplest of meals.

Through this consideration come the blends and alterations of certain dishes, with specific foods having the sole purpose of simply adding to the haptics of the eating experience. Let’s take olive oil for example. Nobody buys a bottle off expensive olive oil in order to enjoy it by itself, but rather to spread it over certain parts of foods in their preparation in hopes to add softening, moisture, and flavor.

Think of pesto, a personal favorite addition to a sandwich or pasta dish, and its ingredients. They read as follows: 3 cups packed fresh basil leaves, 4 cloves garlic, 3/4 , cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional). If you were to simply puree all of these ingredients together without the olive oil, it would be dry and grainy. But with the olive oil added, the arid mixture transcends into an oasis of textured flavor for an enhanced paste of unrivaled taste.

Olive oil brings cohesion to meals, and for me personally is one of my favorite single ingredient that plays a vital role in making tastes blend, and for that I owe it attention deeper than acknowledging its existence. Olive oil has been used for centuries and not simply for eating.

In Thomas Mueller’s book Extra Virginity he explores Olive oil’s historical use and significance as well as the evolution of what makes olive oil great. Mueller is not just an olive oil enthusiast as far as eating goes, his life is completely embedded in olives, literally. Living in the countryside of Genoa Italy, his “stone medieval farm house” (described by Dwight Garner of the New York Times) is surrounded by olive groves (Garner 1).  In his raunchy (hence the name Extra Virginity) nonfiction narrative he explores different historical uses while making sexual innuendos and jokes about olive oil’s place throughout time.

Mueller writes on olive oils place in ancient Greece, where athletes were “anointed … with olive oil, which could be rather sexy” (Garner 1). Muller continues by referencing UC Riverside professor who states “The oil on a gleaming, tanned, healthy body was a literally ‘flashy’ adornment. Oil heightened the body’s erotic charge, and encouraged male same-sex desire and pederasty, first in Sparta, then throughout the Greek world” (Garner 1). Olive oil seemed to be a symbol of physical beauty in ancient Greece as well as a part of sexualized culture. The way the oil feels on the bodies of ancient Greek citizens (again, haptics) made individuals not only more conscious of other’s beauty around them, but also their individual desire to express their own.

In America we see the olive branch all the time, as it is clenched in the right talon of the bald eagle that is our nation’s official seal. According to Wikipedia, the olive branches are meant to symbolize peace for our nation.  And with olive oil being such a popular cooking tool, in order to keep the peace of the people it is important that there is no shortage.

Huge parts of Italian lands are dedicated to growing olives for olive oil. According to UC Davis’ school of agriculture, “the output of olive oil is about 435,000 metric tons annually, which represents 25% of the world’s production” (Vossen 4). Another fascinating fact is that the “average per capita consumption of olive oil in Italy is 48 cups per person compared to about 2.5 cups per person in the US” (Vossen 4). The Mediterranean history is so full of olive oil that it continues to be a staple in the diets of its inhabitants, whereas in America we use it, but it does not carry the same meaning in our lives.

One part of olives that excite Americans as well as other people around the world is the fact that  “Recent studies have shown that extravirgin olive oil contains an abundance of phenolic antioxidants including simple phenols (hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol), aldehydic secoiridoids, flavonoids and lignans (acetoxypinoresinol, pinoresinol)” (Owen 1). Sense we are all fortunate enough to know exactly what all that means, I will humor you by putting it into ‘normal’ people’s terms. The way that certain components of olive oil react with specific fatty acids discourage the chance of mutations that become cancerous. This is being continually studied, however even the chance of it being true gives more excuse to dip bread in some greeny gold oil and relax in its deliciousness.

Overall, olive oil is one of the greatest foods to eat. It is incredibly pleasing to eat, has rich history, is affiliated with sex as well as peace (both great things), and can help cure cancer. To be honest everything I researched on olive oil just made me love it more. Even its production is as good for the earth as food comes. Mostly grown in its native environment and harvested by the same people that have been doing so for thousands of years, I would almost conclude the reason it tastes so good is because the earth responds so positively to the way in which its production has stayed true. In a food industry that is generally unsustainable to the earth, this is a great thing.

Works Cited

Garner, Dwitght. "Olive Oil’s Growers, Chemists, Cooks and Crooks." New York Times [New York] 11 Dec 2011, n. pag. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/books/extra-virginity-by-tom-mueller-a-word-on-olive-oil-review.html?_r=2>.

Owen, R.W. "The antioxidant/anticancer potential of phenolic compounds isolated from olive oil."European Journal of Cancer. 36.10 (2000): 1235-1247. Print. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959804900001039>.

Vossen, Paul. "http://cesonoma.ucdavis.edu/files/27190.pdf."ucdavis.edu. UC Davis, n.d. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://cesonoma.ucdavis.edu/files/27190.pdf>.