> There’s nothing inherently wrong with liking rancid olive oil. There is, however, a problem with thinking you’re buying extra virgin and getting low-quality oil instead. For starters, because extra virgin oil is harder to make, it commands higher prices.
But most people are buying extremely cheap olive oil. The "extra virgin" designation does not seem to be strongly associated with price in grocery stores. What is associated with price is the "made in Italy" label, compared to oils made in countries near Italy, or even California. And it's such a sharp price difference that relatively few people are buying authentic Italian EVOO anyway—3x or 4x as much, in my estimation.
Most people are buying big jugs of olive oil from, e.g., Turkey, and they're totally fine with it. They don't taste the difference, as the article notes. So, if there's nothing inherently wrong with rancid olive oil, and people are getting a year's supply for $20 already, then what exactly is the problem?
I go out of my way to find olive oil from outside Italy since I heard the Italian olive oil industry is tied up with organised crime. Most common alternative sources are Tunisia and California. It's hard sometimes because you'll see olive oils labelled "Greek" or "Tunisian", and then you turn the bottle over and it says "BOTTLED IN ITALY"...
> So, if there's nothing inherently wrong with rancid olive oil, and people are getting a year's supply for $20 already, then what exactly is the problem?
I mean, if you thought you bought a new Iphone but it's actually an Android phone, you could still download apps and send messages and stuff. What would the problem be in that case?
IMO it's that a company that is misrepresenting an Iphone that way is certainly capable of doing all kinds of other mendacious behavior. So Perhaps your Turkish olive oil is a mixture of some unknown percentage of (rancid) olive oil with cheaper oil(s). Perhaps its not olive oil at all, but just cheaper oil colored to look like olive oil.
At some point, having a namespace clash that large is going to cause problems.
To my knowledge the best comercially available olive oils that you can get from stores in the EU market are Greek and Spanish olive oils. Italians do have some very good olive oils but one can only get them either from the farm or a specialty store.
But most people are buying extremely cheap olive oil. The "extra virgin" designation does not seem to be strongly associated with price in grocery stores. What is associated with price is the "made in Italy" label, compared to oils made in countries near Italy, or even California. And it's such a sharp price difference that relatively few people are buying authentic Italian EVOO anyway—3x or 4x as much, in my estimation.
Most people are buying big jugs of olive oil from, e.g., Turkey, and they're totally fine with it. They don't taste the difference, as the article notes. So, if there's nothing inherently wrong with rancid olive oil, and people are getting a year's supply for $20 already, then what exactly is the problem?