The best travel article I've ever read appears in the Magazine section of the Washington Post (WashingtonPost.com) this weekend. It makes me want to get off my butt and hurry to Italy.

I presume you mean this - http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...e-2ff8801f27af

Here is a very surprising story about olive oil and Italy.

Here is an excerpt from the Economist:

(Spain) is the world’s largest producer of the oil, but one-third of its exports are sent in bulk to Italy where it is bottled and sold, often for a significant markup, under Italian labels. Some of the oil sold with the Bertolli brand, one of Italy’s and America’s favourites, is in fact pressed by Deoleo from the fruits of Spanish olive groves.


http://www.economist.com/news/busine...pressing-issue

Love Spanish olive oil.

We buy our oil in bulk from the local mill, and it costs more than twice what the supermarket brands cost. If someone had told me Bertolli was 100% Italian, I would have scoffed. Even among brands found in the USA, it's nowhere near the best.

We store our oil in a stainless steel container in our cantina, which is unheated, and decant it as needed into a dark green bottle.

All good extra-virgin olive oils are a bit greenish, but if they're cloudy the oil is unfiltered. Some people prefer that, and I bought ours unfiltered one year. However, I've gone back to filtered, because there's a bitter residue at the bottom of the bottle in the unfiltered oils.

I think someone who lives in the US might be better off buying a high quality California oil rather than an imported oil. Any oil exported to the US, unless it's an expensive gourmet selection, has to be made in industrial quantities. I've never tasted a California oil, though, so it's just speculation.

I usually buy two types, a cheap extra virgin for sauteing and a better one when consumed directly in a salad dressing or over some dish. We prefer Spanish olive oil when reasonably priced, especially those that are redolent with a rich green color. My favorite is Las Brisas but it is not easily found.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but isn't dipping your bread in olive oil a purely American invention?

I've never seen an Italian do that, but this could be a regional thing.

We use the best olive oil for everything. Around here, people even use it sometimes in place of butter when making cakes.

IMDonehere - stand corrected.

Unfortunately the oil industry in Europe is dominated by Unilever and Nestle. They have taken over the major names in Italy and are resistant to proper naming of the source of the olives used. They want to hide that Made in Italy oils (which command a higher price) are made from Spanish olives or even olives from cheaper sources.

The only certainty is to by Italian oil with the IGP or DOP certification.

bvlenci - I've never seen an Italian do that, but this could be a regional thing.

Have you ever been to Italy???

When you buy olive oil in Italy, the label must state the origin of the olives; this is often printed in a very tiny font. If olives are Italian or coming from a single source, it will be stated so (and the font will be likely easier to read). If olives are "comunitarie", it means they come from UE countries, likely Spain. "Extracomunitarie" olives may come from everywhere.

In Italy you do not dip bread in oil at lunch time. But an old time Italian snack, given to kids when I was young, was bread with olive oil and salt. It has been superseded by industrial snacks.

In Italy you do not dip bread in oil at lunch time.

Where on earth did you hear this?

Nochblad - bvlenci, like me, has been living in Italy for a long time.
A lot of Italians dip bread into oil during harvest time, when the very fresh oil is available. But most have a version of bruschetta, which in rome traditionally is a thick slice of toasted/grilled bread slathered in oil (no tomatoes; garlic, salt, oregano optional). So many tourists are surprised when they do not get a little bowl of olive oil and some bread for dunking into it - which is an american invention from the 80s i believe.

I've been living in Italy in for 51 years and I cannot remember a time I saw anybody dipping bread in oil at lunch time. I saw bread dipping in an Italian restaurant in Tokyo, but I guess it does not count.

And, I would add, Italian restaurants mostly do not serve butter going together with bread.

I have lived in Italy over 30 years married to an Italian (Tuscan family).

Yes - you will not find dunking bowls. But it is quite usual for an Italian to pour a bit of oil on his plate and mop it up with pieces of bread. Obviously this is done especially when the new oil is available but so long as the oil is of good quality one does it all year round.

asps - maybe we have travelled to different parts of Italy

Nothing like a good food fight among expats in Italy.

I'll chime in, although I've never lived in Italy (but I'd love to). The first and only time I ever saw an Italian pour olive oil onto his plate and dip bread into it was this past March. In Florence. At lunchtime.

The quality of a restaurant in Italy is determined by the quality of its pasta and the quality of its olive oil and the quality of the parmigiano used -

To evaluate there is no better way than asking for a plate of spaghetti in bianco (i.e. with nothing added) and add a little bit of their olive oil (plus a s sprinkling of parmigiano).

If the three are perfect frankly there is no better dish.

It sounds like I do not need to stand corrected but it is more like a squat because of the lack of agreement.