"What is the most nutritious and delectable snack in the world?", she asked. And then tells us: "You toast a slice of bread, white or brown, wipe a cut clove of garlic lightly across it, then pour on a zigzag of olive oil, say a teaspoonful or two." In a few decades this oil has become popular, after a study showed that Mediterranean peoples have the lowest rate of heart disease among Western populations, a fact which is largely or partially attributed to their liberal use of olive oil. For it is high in monounsaturated fat - the "good fat" - and also in antioxidants which help prevent plaque build-up in the arteries. Other factors in this good-health view of the Mediterranean folk might be the climate and the virtues of the wine which some of them drink in moderate or adequate quantity. (Your heavy drinking is my moderation.) Anyway, there is a detailed and enthusiastic article on olive oil in the September issue of National Geographic. Probably writers like Elizabeth David in the years just after the war began the movement to appreciating this "most versatile fruit juice ever squeezed" and the writer, Erla Zwingle, while working on the story, gives the history and the diverse uses (including baptism) and convinces you that if you haven't been a devotee of the oil, you should hasten to become one. You must be selective in your choice of bottle. The tree has been known for 6,000 years, the oil for certainly 4,000. Today almost three-quarters of the world's supply of the oil comes from Greece, Spain and Italy. Modern equipment gives the massive production.
There are huge differences in flavour to the expert, but the best advice is that top of the market is Extra Virgin Oil, which means that it has not been altered, has not been heated, has less than 1 per cent acidity and "meets a series of exacting standards for flavour and aroma, as tested by panels of professional tasters." Others are slightly less nutritious than the extra virgin, and are marketed as virgin olive oil, or refined olive oil or simply olive oil. Some people take a spoonful in the morning as a tonic, says the writer. Some people rub it into their hair. As to baptism, a picture shows Father John Tavlarides in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral St Sophia in Washington DC anointing a child with olive oil and baptism in water, which signifies salvation. "Oil enables the baby to slip away from the grasp of evil," says Father John. As for his own grasp, "I haven't lost one yet."