What is worse than people's recollection to settle an argument, but articles on the Internet.

Here is one about dipping bread in olive oil.

http://tuscantraveler.com/2012/flore...samic-vinegar/

As I said in Italy you do not dip bread in olive oil as you will not receive a dipping bowl. You do it yourself as mentioned above.

Also the link above in itself is edifying. Florence - olive oil - balsamic vinegar.

Balsamic vinegar comes from Modena where there is no olive oil produced. In Italy the two are not mixed together - or should not be. Top quality balsamic vinegar is a unique experience and unbelievably expensive.

Now don't get me talking about spaghetti bolognese!

We Americans (and probably others) have also polluted the Italian tradition of not having cappuccino after noon.

We all want to get what we pay for, but I don't mind some Spanish or Tunisian oil mixed in with the "Italian". But, am leery of Italian oil because of past scandals - motor oil mixed in resulting in blindness and deaths.

<<We use the best olive oil for everything. Around here, people even use it sometimes in place of butter when making cakes.>> That is very common in Med countries that produce olive oil. In some countries butter was scarce and a luxury imported item, in northern europe it is the opposite case. I prefer Greek olive oil, either from Crete or Kalamata or Cyprus where they produce a type of olive oil called mavro latho (black oil) in small quantities.

Bedar - a pretty scurrilous and generalized accusation.

You are not perhaps from Spain?

Very interesting and educational thread.
Now, need some advice from experts of olive oil. I don't know much about it, thus learning.
I need a hostess gift and thinking some good little bottle of olive oil would be perfect. The hostess loves Italian food and always likes to dip bread in olive oil whenever we go out to eat.
I don't live near any fancy gourmet shops thus need to buy something from a regular US grocery store.
Can some one suggest some names of good dipping olive oil.
Truly appreciate your input. It will be a huge help.

However you use it, be prepared to pay more for European olive oil, problems with the Spanish crop will drive up all the prices...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddr...age-bites.html

For Spanish olive oil that you can buy on-line in the US try

Despana
http://www.despanabrandfoods.com/

And their store made chorizos are the best I have tasted in the States,


La Tienda
http://www.tienda.com/

Another terrific source is Zabar's

http://www.zabars.com/

I've been living in Italy for almost 16 years, and spent a lot of time here for four years before that. My husband is an DOP Italian, who has never lived outside the town where he was born, except for his years at boarding school and university.

I've never seen an Italian pour oil on the plate and dip bread in it. It would be rather unusual for an Italian to use bread for anything along with the first course, so I can't see that happening with a plate of spaghetti. Where I live, if you go to a restaurant in an area not much frequented by tourists, if you don't order an antipasto that features bread, you may not even see bread until the first course has been cleared away.

Maybe people do it at home, or, as I said, maybe in other regions. I live in Le Marche, which shares borders with Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, and Abruzzo. I've spent a fair amount of time in those regions. I've traveled to other parts of Italy, but you might say I have a tourist's knowledge only of those other places, and I've never been to Val d'Aosta or Sicily. (I think those are the only two regions I've never set foot in.)

Regarding cappuccino, I don't see the problem with breaking that custom. We were once visiting a town in southern Le Marche with four friends, to see an art show that was located in several different buildings in the town. It was a raw chilly day, and we stopped in a bar to warm up in the afternoon. I wanted something a little larger than an espresso to warm me up, so I said, "I'm going to order a cappuccino, afternoon or not, and blame it on my American birth." To my surprise, most of our friends (all IGP Italians) decided they wanted cappuccinos too. It was almost as if they needed a pioneer to blaze the trail.

bvlenci

I think we live in two different countries!

Bvlenci, can't help but wonder the difference between your DOP husband and IGP friends

Why on this night do we dip twice?

Le quattro domande.

In any event No double dipping!!!

It really dismays me. All I said was that I saw a great travel article. A bunch of know-it-alls had to chime in and completely torpedo the intent of my posting. Who cares if you get shot if you dip into your oil. What's that got to do with a well written article? HUMBUG!

ileen - There are lots of olive oil stores all over the US that ship. Many have popped up in the last few years with the same format. Stainless containers of oils you can sample (plain + a lot of different flavors) and a lot of vinegars. You can order sampler packs. I've purchased from this store before (near DD's) and a Fodorite used their online ordering for a gift. Gave my BIL a sampler pack and he thought it was one of his best gifts. You can pick 6 different oils or vinegars for the sampler pack. One of his favorites was the dark espresso balsamic.

http://www.giuseppesoils.com/

Sorry Waldo. First that is wont of these boards to wonder. Second, please refocus the group with what you found so interesting. Many people cite an article without specific reference which can lead to a diffusion of thought. So tell all why you are enthusiastic. Extract an excerpt that may prompt some discussion. And if you think people are going to stick one subject, then you will continually be disappointed.

Nochblad, we do perhaps live in different Italys. I live in a deeply traditional and conservative area, where people make their own wine, raise their own chickens and rabbits, butcher their own hogs, and make their own prosciutto and salamis. This lifestyle may not outlast the present generation, though. Last year, the only remaining farmer who was an expert in making porchetta died. Our local pork butcher makes porchetta, but the farmer was reputed to be the best.

Only a few farmers still cultivate their vines in the traditional manner, with widely spaced rows, and using young poplar trees to sustain the wires. The space between the rows used to be planted with wheat. The long rows were ideal for people plowing with oxen, and the grape vines interspersed gave the teams plenty of room to turn. Now people plant their vines with tractors in mind.

A few people still press their own oil, but most now take their olives to the local frantoio. You can request that your own olives be pressed separately, so that the oil will be truly yours. The default is that they weigh your olives and give you back an equivalent quantity of oil, taking some as payment. You bring your own containers, and they tag them with your name. Since the olives are all local, most people don't care if the oil is from their own trees. If you have a more prized type of olive, it would matter.

We have a raggia tree, which is more prized, but we have only the one tree, so it's not worth it to request a private pressing. Most years, I just put up the olives in the traditional fashion for eating out of hand; the raggia olives are ideal for that purpose. We take them to the frantoio only when we have an abundant harvest, which isn't often, and then we just use them as a discount on the oil we buy.

Vinoroma, my DOP husband is especially immune to foreign influences. Nobody believed it when they heard he was marrying an American.

Waldo, I'm sorry you are so dismayed. Digression is one of the certainties of life. To paraphrase IMDone, if you don't want the flock to wander, you have to be the sheepdog yourself.

I rather enjoy the byways a new topic leads to. I even enjoy the controversies.