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There's something to be said about a lover of great wines. They can recognize a great wine and enjoy it. But that does not make them a true knower of wines, one who can have encyclopedic knowledge of wines, compare them, analyze them, decipher them. And of course cherish them. This difference is probably pretty clear in the world of wine.
But what about oil? Specifically, extra virgin olive oil, the undisputed heavyweight champ of oils. To be quite honest, I believe it's the champ of food, period. There are few things in the culinary world nearly as nuanced, complicated and in-depth as olive oil. Yes, of course wine. And cheese. And maybe beer. But little else. And while knowing next to nothing in the world of wine, and little more in the complicated worlds of cheese or beer, I think I am content just enjoying the fruits of those pantheons. But EVOO is a different story. It intrigues me and interests me but also seems like a graspable realm. What a useful if not delicious encyclopedia to know. Why not?
Why not spend time reading about ancient Roman methods of cultivating and pressing olives? Why not take weekend afternoons to roam to different olive oil tasting events? Why not spend a few hundred dollars on the Olio award-winning bottles as determined by the Der Feinschmecker Club, so I could experience the best? Why not learn countless more ways to use this magical elixir of taste in my cooking to impress my friends, and well, you! Why not? A wine enthusiast would!
So why not wine then, you ask? Because wine doesn't taste as good, and I'm all about taste! Call me the worst wine drinker in the world, but you better call me the most devoted foodie! Ask yourself this, since wine and food are inextricably linked: given the choice, would you take a dinner from the best chef in the world with only a slurpee to drink, or drink a comparably tremendous glass of wine from the best vineyard in the world with only a McDonald's cheeseburger to eat with it? I'd take the meal. Don't hold it against me.
I'm not going to tout the health benefits of EVOO, since (red) wine is just as “pop” healthy these days. And I can't say anything else about extra virgin olive oil other than the simple adage that a little goes a long way. A nice bottle of wine might cost you between ten and a thousand dollars. A nice bottle of olive oil will cost between twenty and a hundred dollars. But the bottle of wine will be gone in one evening of enjoyment, where the olive oil can be used and enjoyed in far smaller increments. So your olive oil investment will pay dividends far longer than a bottle of wine will, within reason. And it will make all of your sandwiches, salads, breads, dips and dishes sparkle with nutty or fruity or spicy or earthy or tangy or flowery or herby or buttery flavor.
Of course, once I'm a true olive oil aficionado and not just an enthusiast, I'll be able to select and write about and enlighten you about the precise bottle of oil to perfectly match any sandwich, salad, bread, dip or dish that you can name, so one bottle would never do. I suppose that would be a little more expensive, but we do have wine cellars! So why not olive oil cellars as well? I could see this love becoming a little fanatical.
Preview: Now that I am officially on an olive oil quest here at your witness, I will be reviewing a bottle of olive oil in a post later this week and including a great dish we cooked at home recently that really evokes the best from olive oil. So at least you get some fun out of it too!
