A reflection on the power of perception!

May the new year be full of happiness and blessings for you and for all your loved ones! This Year I am going to write to you a bit more often, I want to share with you my thoughts, our recipes and news I find interesting. Of course my main focus will be on all things olives, but I will occasionally digress, hopefully with interesting essays.
So let us start the year with a mind-tease between our perceptions of olive oils and wines; We all imagine them as close relatives, after all they originate in the same territories, they are deeply rooted in human culture and go back thousands of years.
They are the most sensual of ingredients on earth, the true gems of Mediterranean cuisine. They are both culinary enhancers that elevate our eating experience to heavenly heights.
But they differ in many ways, one of such perceived differences is that wine has conquered the status of luxury good, attracting a wealthy and variegated global audience.
Olive oil on the other hand still sits in the “necessity goods” category.
There are multiple reasons for this, but arguably only few are intrinsic to the qualities of the two, rather, they are rooted in the perception that we have of them.
Much of wine’s hyperbolic growth story can be attributed to the technological advances in production techniques of the last decades, as well as to the sizable and efficient investments in communication, focused on depicting it as a symbol of wealth, status and accomplishment.
Last, but definitely not least, the psychoactive properties of the alcohol contained in our favourite drink contribute to its allure.
On the other hand, in the world of olive oil, technological advances are just happening, the processes involved in the extraction of oil from the fruit are finally being approached scientifically, and the findings are just feeding into the production process.
This latency also applies to field work in the olive groves, where sustainable, organic, biodynamic farming are just making their appearance. The phenology of the olive plants, farming techniques and the properties of individual cultivars, are just making their inroad into product development.

While the nutritional benefits we can enjoy form high quality olive oils are being scientifically validated by the day, communication and marketing investments to increase the public’s understanding of these properties and health benefits are minimal.
Mainstream publicity about olive oil is sponsored by multinationals, it is outright misleading, it is brand centric and about banalities, about making facts disappear (or even inventing them) and it has to remain such not to disturb opinions.
As a consequence of this slow pace of innovation and investment, it is fair to say that 90% of olive oils in the world’s mainstream distribution channels are of poor quality: a rough product that reaches consumers already defected, mislabelled, be it by coincidence or by will, and sadly it is only a faded shadow of what it could have been.
Each one of the olives that are carelessly blended into these valueless oils, had within itself the magic potential to express perfumes, individuality, character and sensations comparable to those that any grape thoughtfully transformed into wine will share with us.
The medicinal properties of these olives are also lost along the process. The sheer result of ignorance across the production and distribution chains.

Everywhere in the world, we now have good skills in wine selection, and fortunately we have an ever more discerning taste, that is pushing producers hard to constantly improve their products.
Simultaneously we cook and dress our food with mixes of random oils from different countries, often different continents, blended without any logic other than to meet the economic goals of the reseller. WTF!
Imagine drinking a bottle of wine made with 100% French wines, all from different producers across the country, made with varying types of grapes, all of different vintages and above all, randomly selected and mixed!
Sounds crazy?
Well it is what we eat when we buy a bottle labelled Italian or Greek, or Spanish olive oil. 100 % Italian Extra Virgin Oil means nothing about the quality of what you are buying. Think about it 100% bad Italian oil is just bad oil – punto! It is just a wicked labeling trick. Provenance alone is NOT a descriptor of quality.
Don’t be fooled!
The olive oil industry loves this propensity of consumers to rely on such broad characterizations, because the multinationals that provide 90% of the world’s oil, do not own farms, olive trees, or mills, (maybe a few for storytelling) they just own brands, market share, contracts, bottling and logistic plants.
They are commodity traders, that have invested millions in conditioning the public to scorn the ability to distinguish a quality olive oil from their average offering.
They even convince people to prefer unfiltered oil! LOL!
Our standards of taste for oil hinge on limited experience, think about it: By adulthood, most of us have tasted many wines and can distinguish different grape cultivars. We have a good understanding of pairing wines with food, and we are familiar with provenance, aging and winery techniques, we can identify corked or defected wine.
In the sphere of olive oil, we likely tasted a handful of different oils. We cannot identify defects. Tasting never happens straight into our mouths, we taste oil on foods. As a consequence, most of us have no defined reference models to compare, assess, judge or understand the quality of the olive oil we eat.
What we like is often just what we are used to!
For me it is common to end up in a wannabe restaurant, or around rich and cultured dinner table where wine is served by sommeliers who sniff and swirl out of specialty glassware, all surrounded by exclusivity, indulgence in the blessed company of individuals eager to state their position in society also through their choice and understanding of wines.
While all this ageless ritual pleasantly plays out, there sits, ignored, a lonely ampoule of rancid oil staring at me; a landmark to ignorance!
Provenance, Heritage and Quality.
In the world of wine, the connection between terroir, the individual vineyards, the single farm and the producer is essential, it is unresolvable, instead, astonishingly in the world of olive oil, this all important heritage is still to be discovered and ABOVE ALL it is not demanded by consumers.
As if the links between these elements do not have relevance to the quality and value of the Olive Oil we buy. Simply Insane!
Quality is the outcome of a process, it is a determination driven by all of the tangible and intangible factors, efforts, sensitivities and decisions that go into making something valuable. Quality is a process that eventually results in unique properties, taste, texture and structure. It travels across all our senses!
This is true for oil and for wine!
To wrap this up, my take is that wine and oil happily co-exist both on Mars and on Venus, tough their best existence is to be found within the dimension of sheer quality on our marvellous tables on planet Earth!
What we do at Olea Prilis is an ongoing effort to provide an authentic and crafted product that comes from a recognized source, and that is often still scarce.