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> The problem is when the mix-ins are from North Africa, e.g. from Morocco, which are considered of inferior quality Tunisian here. I'm curious: why is North A
by Cyph0n 8y ago
> The problem is when the mix-ins are from North Africa, e.g. from Morocco, which are considered of inferior quality
Tunisian here. I'm curious: why is North African olive oil considered inferior?
- zozbot123 8y agoRacism, mainly. They say the same thing about Turkish hazelnuts while failing to acknowledge that Turkey is the homeland of hazelnuts and way way older than Italian ones.
- reaperducer 8y agoTurkey is the homeland of hazelnuts and way way older than Italian ones. Older !== better. See also: California wine.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- reaperducer 8y agoI'm not an expert here, but I've heard that olives are a lot like grapes. The quality and flavor varies greatly by soil, weather, and climate conditions.
- YeGoblynQueenne 8y agoI don't know. Probably traditional reasons. For example, French wine is considered superior, but I find Greek and Italian wines at least as good (although I haven't really tried all that many of any type). I don't have a good source for this, but the way I always knew it is that, when it comes to olive oil, Spanish is considered best, followed by Greek, followed by Italian, then everyone else's comes next. I am Greek, so of course I believe this is wildly inaccurate. Also, the bit about wines. Ours are obviously better. Bottom line: probably not for any good reason.
- Cyph0n 8y agoAs I assumed, it's purely subjective. I would argue that almost no one can tell the difference between the highest quality olive oils from the major oil producing Mediterranean countries. So way I look at it is that Mediterranean olive oil > others.
- YeGoblynQueenne 8y agoOn that we can agree. Then gagain, we're both Mediterranean :)
- pif 8y agoHello, Southern Italian here. I've never heard any bashing against North African olives or oil. Common sense says that olive is a Mediterranean tree and no particular Mediterranean region is better than all the others. On the other side, the issue raised against non-EU olives is that they are not subject to EU quality regulations, and those regulations are considered quite strict.
- HelloNurse 8y agoOil quality depends mostly on how it is produced; setting aside the possibility of contaminated product, olives from different places can only have a different taste.