***I try to be an
honest and boundary-pushing writer and person. I apologize in advance if I
offend anyone. Please tack on comments below; they are always welcome.
Olive oil boasts of socially and individually desirable
qualities such as extended youth, cardiovascular stamina, and anti-cancer
prowess. The substitution of olive oil—a fantastic, unsaturated, medicinal, and
long-lasting oil—for unhealthy, saturated fats such as butter and margarine ensues
a healthier diet, one that doesn’t starve the human but instead strengthens, cleanses
and renews the body.
This doesn’t mean simply drenching olive oil on an iceberg
salad next to a plate of finger-lickin’ fried chicken, French fries and a tall
glass of Coca-Cola (a drink that quietly adds 40 grams of sugar per pop). Then,
olive oil is simply not powerful or magical enough to combat the disaster that
is the rest of the meal.
A diet rich in olive oil promotes the real Mediterranean Diet
(MD), but our American society has some roadblocks before encountering the full
benefits of this potent plant.
Fact: 87.7% of the US’s wealth is held in the hands of 20%
of the population.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The other 80% of our population devotes a majority of their
lives to sustaining their families and building better futures for their
children while laboring over the remaining 12.3% of the US’s wealth.
Even so, simply affording olive oil isn’t the main concern
for the future of olive oil in our nation. It’s the interlinked factors that
weave into this decision; these include education, culture, food availability,
poverty, and, of course, the notorious media.
The largest hurdle is education, which is enormously tied
into the media. The States have a 99% literacy rate, but our “on-the-go”
lifestyles have divided our society into very distinct factions. Media generally
doesn’t give us all of the needed information or portrays things to be
incredibly easy, simple and fast. Thus, the general population gets one side of
the story through the media.
For example, I knew olive oil was “great for you” and that
it was a part of the MD, a very beneficial diet. However, until I took out the
time to read more and understand exactly what this means, I simply was told to
use more olive oil, have more bread and VERY
SOON I’d look as gorgeous as Catherine Zeta-Jones in those commercials for
Elizabeth Arden’s “Mediterranean” fragrance.
Also, before I read Tom Mueller’s Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, I
used to stir fry rice and vegetables at high temperatures with our “Extra Virgin”
olive oil. This book taught me that heat rapidly oxidizes olive oil and will
break down some of its nutritional value. Since being in Italy, I’ve also
learned that the MD means using olive oil as the main condiment in meals: as dressing
for salad and as flavoring for meats, veggies, etc.
The MD also ensures one consumes around 40 times more olive
oil than the average liter of oil consumed by Americans.
Culture is the other great hurdle. According to all the
information on olive oil adulteration, apparently we’ve all been using lampate oil, or fuel, instead of the
real Extra Virgin olive oil. It’s the lowest grade oil with all the natural, strong
flavors removed and the most amount of processing.
Guidelines and laws
governing the testing and sale of good oil are close to nonexistent.
But we’re so used to this bad oil that we wouldn’t know good
oil if it were staring at us.
The authentic, real Extra Virgin Olive Oil has flavor. It’s bitter. It’s pungent. It’s
refreshing. It’s delicious.
And because most of us back away from strong, disagreeably-flavored
foods or we simply like the oils that we use, we stick to these tasteless oils.
That’s what the grocery store will offer us because that’s where there business
is.
It’s a vicious cycle.
And unless we take in information from the media with a
grain of salt and make sure we educate ourselves, this type of foolery will continue.
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