Olive
oil has a bit of a unique place in nutrition science. It’s one of the only
single foods all the warring factions agree is good for us: Paleos, vegans,
vegetarians, low-carbers -- we've all got a bottle of it in the kitchen. It’s lower in saturated fatty acids than most animal
fats, which pleases the veg-heads (and the ignoramuses who think saturated fat is “bad” for us), and it’s loaded with monounsaturated
fatty acids, which seems to please everyone else—doctors, nutritionists, chefs, and
newspaper journalists who think they know anything about biochemistry. Olive
oil has been anointed (pun intended) with the magical powers to do just about
everything from preventing heart disease to making your salad delicious. (The
latter, I agree with; the former, I don’t think we can say for sure. Prevent heart disease, maybe, maybe not.
But biochemically and physiologically speaking, it’s sure less likely to cause cardiovascular problems than, say,
soybean and cottonseed oils.)
I love
reading about the science of nutrition, but I also love reading about cooking,
culinary culture, and, if I’m especially enamored with something, individual
ingredients. Since olive oil figures heavily into my diet—and probably yours, too—when
I heard there was a book called Extra Virginity, which covers some of the historical, cultural, gastronomic,
and economic significance of this palate- and health-pleasing oil, I got my
keister to the bookstore to get a copy. And with a subtitle like, “The Sublime
and Scandalous World of Olive Oil,” I knew I’d be in for some serious
eye-opening.
