Welcome to Olive Oil of The World
Hi and welcome to Olive Oil of the World. My name is Ersilia Moreno and for years I have been buying and trying extra virgin olive oil out of a natural born passion to eat not just what is good for me, but what tastes good. My family traces its roots back to 13th century Italy and like many of you might already know, Italy is the largest exporter of olive oil to the United States. But before people started espousing the virtues and health benefits of the key ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, my mother was cooking in the 1960’s with a brand of extra virgin olive oil from Sicily that we could only find at Di Paolo’s in New York’s Little Italy.
I grew up in a family that cherished meals and my two wonderful parents made sure that we did not become peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese kids even if everyone else was eating it. When we would go out to eat, all 8 of us, we were always encouraged to try something new, and when the server would bring the “kid’s menu” my father would send it back and we’d get to choose off the regular menu. My parents made sure that we were exposed to all different kinds of food from all over the world. My friends saw it as gourmet, I just knew it as everyday fair.
My mother was and still is an amazing cook and she gives credit back to my namesake, my paternal grandmother Ersilia, for exposing her to all of the wonderful Italian ingredients New York City offered that had not yet arrived in her home town of Pittsburgh. We ate fresh from the garden and used olive oil for everything. It made the simplest sliced tomato with a piece of basil on top taste so deliciously special. My college years in the early 80’s brought me to Europe and the Middle East where I began to become exposed to olive oils from different countries and different regions within those countries. Subsequent trips back to Italy in the 1990’s (when you could still carry on liquids!!) included a requisite purchase of two 5-liter tins of olive oil from Umbria because it was impossible to find here.
Whenever I could I would buy olive oil from as many different countries as possible just to see what they tasted like. FINDING those oils was a huge problem. It would only be by chance that I might come across a Greek olive oil let alone a Jordanian olive oil, a French olive oil or one from California. Soon enough the supermarkets began lining their shelves with Italian and exotic branded olive oils along side of the standard Spanish ones you see today. They are all basically the same and many of them are not even pure Italian or Spanish oils. They are blended oils from various different countries with a fancy bottle and a fancy name. Don’t get me wrong, some of the absolute BEST olive oils in the world come from Italy and Spain. (Spain is the world’s #1 producer of olive oil and Italy is a close #2.) But you will not find them on the shelves of the supermarket. You may find some of these great oils in specialty shops and health food stores but you will not find what I have been looking for all these years. One place devoted to olive oil from every country that produces it. That is what I want to bring to you...
I want to share my passion with you. I want to share what I know to be one of nature’s most perfect and healthy foods. Like my parents did for me by encouraging me to try different foods, I want to encourage you to try different olive oils. And while I am at it, I want to share with you nature’s perfect partner for olive oil : vinegar. So as they would say among the 24 countries that produce this food of the God’s : benvenuti, ahlan wa salan, bienvenidos, bienvenue, galos orisate, bruchim habayim, hos geldiniz, dobro došli, bem-vindo, khosh aamadid, welcome! I promise you an amazing experience...