Delightful Third Time Around
For the third time around, I had the great pleasure of inviting the general public to the magical world of pugliese olive oil culture, as the event Med Smak av Oliv once again took place at Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm last Thursday. The interactive olive oil tasting entices an understanding of the legacy of the taste of place while incorporating much appreciated consumer knowledge of the dynamic food that olive oil is. I tell stories from the orchards and facts from the field (of olive oil research), show videos and images of harvesting methods and extraction techniques, bring about curiosities with regards to the making of olive oil and its usage beyond the scope of its craftsmanship and enchanting roots in Puglia. We taste oil and we make efforts to sense nuances and flavors beyond the fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency that characterizes extra virgin olive oil. It is with a passionate attention of mine and an equally engaged attention of the visitors that these nights so delightfully turns out.
One of the things that we do during the event, is to explore the historical foundation of olive oil culture in Puglia. As part of this, we taste a DOP Collina di Brindisi oil and become wondrous about the fact that it contains at least 70% of the ancient cultivar of Ogliarola. This is a cultivar that dates back to Roman times and as these trees still carry fruit, the cultivar occurs still engaged to cultivate oils in the time of ours. Much like I encourage the audience at Medelhavsmuseet to think about this for a bit as they taste the oil — that is, to think about the fact that they taste an oil made from fruit from olive trees that have yielded fruit for making oil for more than 3000 years — I encourage readers of this post to look at the ancient olive trees below and imagine walking amongst thousands of them. Many of these plants are millenial, most of them centennial, and all of them trace the history and tradition of olive cultivation for olive oil production in this landscape. Looking at them, or if you have the ability to imagine yourself walking between them, attempt to grasp the difference in age between you and them while realizing your concurrency at this very moment in the time of lives. Think about how many people that have made this journey before you, not least as part of cultivating the landscape and the oil to become therefrom. Try to sense and taste the craftsmanship and become touched by the delights of this place, if only for a moment of interacting with it through the imagery of these trees. It makes for an enchanting experience, however present at a spatial and temporal distance as one might be.
