Olive oil is one of the first products man produced during the agricultural
revolution. Olive oil was used in various rituals, in oil-lamps, and for
countless occasions. It was a popular belief that olive oil was a source of
youth and power. In ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, it was mixed with several
herbs and flowers to obtain a variety of medicines and cosmetics. In the 15th
century, Spanish priests introduced olive oil and olive to Central and South
America and to California.
Until 1970’s, olive oil had been a substance used in local dishes or something
found in the “authentic” sections of food shelves, which was usually considered
a delicacy peculiar to the far east for a very long time.
During a period when almost every food was made with olive oil in the
Mediterranean Cuisine, westerners usually came across olive oil in restaurants.
Thanks to a research in the 1970’s, the importance of olive oil heightened. This
research concluded that among the westerners, Mediterraneans were the ones least
affected by heart diseases. It was thought that olive oil that Mediterraneans
consumed in high amounts had an effect on the result of this research. The fact
that juvenility and adolescence are the periods when body needs better nutrients
and that olive oil consumption is a better choice of nutrient for this period,
the fact that it inhibits osteoporosis by preventing the loss of calcium in
senility, that due to its oil acids, it is an important factor in the formation
of cells and nervous system during pregnancy, and that it has a rich content of
saturated fat that helps prevent atherosclerosis
and of antioxidants, have all contributed to the increased consumption of olive
oil.
Consequently, following the 1980’s, there was a boom in demand for olive oil in
the Western Countries. Consumers started to place importance on the conscious
consumption and to choose natural products that did not contain additives. As
people gained knowledge of consuming ‘more natural’ nutrients, olive oil got its
share out of this consciousness.
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