Extra Virginity
Books | Cooking / Methods / Garnishing & Food Presentation
Tom Mueller
"[Mueller reveals] the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and [teaches] readers how to sniff out the good stuff." —Dwight Garner, New York Times For millennia, fresh olive oil has been one of life’s necessities—not just as food but also as medicine, a beauty aid, and a vital element of religious rituals. But this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt. A superbly crafted combination of cultural history and food manifesto, Extra Virginity takes us on a journey through the world of olive oil, opening our eyes to olive oil’s rich past as well as to the fierce contemporary struggle between oil fraudsters of the globalized food industry and artisan producers whose oil truly deserves the name "extra virgin."
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Author
Tom Mueller
Pages
256
Publisher
National Geographic Books
Published Date
2013-04-09
ISBN
0393343618 9780393343618
Community ReviewsSee all
"Full review and highlights at <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/extra-virginity">https://books.max-nova.com/extra-virginity</a><br/><br/>I expected to squeeze a lot more out of "Extra Virginity". I wanted a book that laid bare the dynamics of international, Mafia-connected crime syndicates and instead I got a promotional brochure for a couple ultra-fancy olive oil brands. Mueller's argument is essentially that 1) the olive oil we eat now is crap and 2) this is because major players in the food business are systematically adulterating "extra virgin" olive oil in ways undetected and unpunished by the authorities. He tested my patience with his relentless hawking of the virtues of olive oil and only halfway redeemed himself with some sketches of the history of olive oil production, consumption, distribution, and fraud. Yet, Mueller's exposé rarely names names and is heavily reliant on insider hearsay. Quite unsatisfying, especially because of the tantalizing glimpses of a fantastic criminal enterprise:<blockquote>In olive oil fraud, an EU investigator told me, “profits were comparable to cocaine trafficking, with none of the risks.”</blockquote>"
Max Nova