the olive blog

Olive Cultivation in Ancient Greece: Seeking the Ancient Economy

A heads up from Amazon alerted the olive blog to a new book by Lin Foxhall to be released on 6 September 2007 -- "Olive Cultivation in Ancient Greece: Seeking the Ancient Economy".  The Book's description says it "...explores the cultivation of the olive as an extended case study for understanding ancient Greek agriculture in its landscape, economic, social, and political settings. Evidence from written sources, archeology, and visual images is assembled to focus on what was special about the cultivation and processing of the olive in classical and archaic Greece, and how and why these practices differed from Roman ones."  But at £65 this will remain on the wish list for all but a few historians.

101 things to do

Vogue UK briefly reviews a forthcoming book -- 101 Things To Buy Before You Die -- which is purported to be a catalogue of all the best things in life. Ex-Vogue writer Maggie Davis and Charlotte Williamson, of The Daily Telegraph have apparently selected an £50 olive oil which should be tried.  The book is not out until November but they have probably written up Manni olive oil or the like.  A case of style over substance?  If so it could be argued that this is not an unreasonable position for a couple of Vogue writers. On the other hand price at that level indicates more about marketing than "the best olive oil". Sounds more like price is used as a shortcut but will be pleasantly surprised if they have done some considered research and offer something new.

"Les Olives du Table" by Fiorella Cottier-Angeli

Susan in Italy dropped by the olive blog and left a recommendation for "Les Olives du Table" by Fiorella Cottier-Angeli. She has an post on the subject of curing olives here.  The book is available (follow link above) at the French Amazon site en Francais but not at the US or UK Amazon sites. Many thanks to Susan for the tip.

Olives are the new English roses

A new book claims that, as far as horticulture is concerned, Mediterranean is the new English. The author argues, as a consequence of global warming Brits should pull up apple trees and plant olives. More here at the UK Observer.

101 thngs to do with olive oil

A new book review by Iretta Hunter on Carol Firenze's "The Passionate Olive: 101 Things To Do With Olive Oil" can be found at the Contra Costa Times. There is a link to the actual book under the olive blog's Amazon links on the right.

Letters of a Portuguese Nun

Actress Miriam Cyr has written a book about the identity of the writer of a series of letters, published as a book in 1669, between a  Portuguese nun and a French soldier. The story unfolds in Beja a flourishing community in Northern Portugal trading olive oil. The town today still produces olives.

Food in the Ancient World

According to a new book entitled "Food in the Ancient World", for Greeks, a staple meal was mazza, a barley porridge flavoured with olive oil and vinegar. A book review is available here.

more on olive blog authors

Yesterday the olive blog noted an article in the UK Telegraph with recommendations from some of the authors featured in our recommended reading list. In Carol Drinkwater's recommendations she gave a plug for her local olive press and their product. The site's homepage is here but with some nice photos here and map here. All the text est en Francais which is a little surprising given the fans of Carol Drinkwater's books span the world and would presumably be a ready market.

olive blog authors

Two authors on the recommended list (see left) of the olive blog are Carol Drinkwater and Alex Dingwall-Main. Both are featured in this article in the UK Telegraph on living in France and their advice to would be ex pats.

'Hungry Planet: What the World Eats'

the olive blog hopes this book -- 'Hungry Planet: What the World Eats' does well. A good summary here with a striking contrast between several families in different countries and what they consume in a week. There are 24 such cases in book. Two of those covered in the article mention using olive oil and I assume there would be more in the other countries.