Olive Oil

March 15, 2006

Whenever my parents ask if I want to go to Whole Foods, a grocery store in Atlanta, I always say yes. When we get there, first I look at the produce and the colors and textures of the fruits and vegetables, and then I head straight for the olive oil. At Whole Foods in Midtown, Atlanta, there is an olive oil tasting in the olive oil aisle.

In Sorrento, Italy, my grandmother and I, along with our tour group of kids and their grandparent or grandparents, went to a small farm. At this farm they make cheeses, grow fruit, and grow and press olives for olive oil. When our group went, they showed us how to press olives, make cheese, shape mozzarella knots, and we got to make and eat pizza for our dinner.

At the small farm we went to they use soft woven wicker or other woven fiber disks to press the olives. For the regular olive oil they press it again but for extra virgin olive oil they only press it once. That is how they press olives at this small farm, but I am not quite sure how they press olives at factories or other places, but I have a feeling it might be quite similar at the other places.

One of the joys of tasting olive oil is that all olive oils taste different because of the different places, climates and soil types that the olive trees are grown in. Because of this it is really fun to compare the different oils.

At one of my favorite restaurants in Atlanta, Woodfire Grill, they serve a changing selection of three different oils and three types of bread: country white bread, foccia bread, and whole-wheat raisin bread. It is really interesting comparing the different combinations of olive oils and breads, because the sweetness of the raisin bread brings out the grassiness of the oil, but the country white bread is the classic and you can really taste the of the olive oil without any extra flavors of the bread.

I also like to try the kinds of olive oil with different things in them like pesto, basil, rosemary, nuts, or sun dried tomatoes. They are interesting to try with bread and taste how the taste of the oil changes if you try the same oil without the flavorings.

I think that olive oil is fun and interesting to taste and compare, especially when you have someone to talk about the flavors with. My dad and I like to go to Woodfire Grill or any other place to taste olive oil and compare our opinions of the flavors and talk about how some of the oils are peppery and sharp, some are smooth and buttery, some are grassy and crisp and some are light and almost watery but still very flavorful. I like to try to think of good ways to describe a certain oil with only one word, and this is a good way to really experience the flavor.

I enjoy the variety of olive oil and how oils from different places can taste so different even though they are all just olives. My favorite olive oils are mostly from Italy because to me they seem fuller and more flavorful than oils from other places. Olive oil is fun and interesting. I love the flavors, textures and even the colors.

Isis is fourteen years old and is really interested in food because her dad is a good cook. She was practically raised in a Vietnamese restaurant, and as a baby ate her first solid foods there, which were rice noodles. She tries most foods that are offered to her and her parents urge her to also. For example, when she was 7 years old, she was at a French restaurant and her parents were having snails and they easily talked her into trying them. They ended up being pretty good! Isis takes ballet, plays soccer, sings in a choir, and loves to travel. Isis went to Italy for two weeks and when she came back she went on and on about the food, especially the gelato. Isis thinks that if you are going to eat, why not eat well if you can? There seems to be no reason not to.

Email questions or comments for these two young women to webmaster@drgourmet.com.