Intro to Greek Olive Oil | Olive Oil Passion

Did Zorba The Greek Grow Olives?

I read on a blog the other day something Anthony Quinn, playing a guy named Zorba, said in an old movie called “Zorba The Greek.” Something about everybody needing a little bit of crazy.

Well, I’ve got my crazy. I’m crazy over good food. Isn’t everyone? I’ve never understood why some folks go on a dinner date and pretend that all they want is to nibble on a lettuce leaf. Food is to be enjoyed. By the way, my cholesterol is healthier than the average American’s. I attribute that to olive oil. But the state of my health isn’t what I wanted to talk about.

I want to tell you about this Greek place I went to the other evening. It could easily have been used as the movie set for “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It had a mural of the Acropolis on one wall and a pastoral scene of olive trees on another. The piped in music made you want to leap up and shout, “Opa!”

My date and I sampled some Kalamata olives which are grown strictly for food, not olive oil. Over grilled fish brushed with fabulous Koroneiki Olive Oil and lemon juice, I told him about the tiny Koroneiki olives. They’re hard to grow, but they produce a high yield of oil, and the oil is exceptional. It truly is. That fish was delish.

Did you know that 65% of the Greek olive oil production comes from the Peloponnese though olives for oil are grown in mainland Greece, Crete, the Aegean Islands, and Ionian Islands too. I even know how they graft a cultivated tree on a wild one.

Now, just listen. I too once thought agricultural facts were boring. I mean I have no aspirations to be a farmer. But if you look at pictures of Greece and see how mountainous it is, you’ll be amazed how they grow olive trees by carving out terraces on those rocky slopes. With all that rock, I just don’t know how they grow anything, much less use 60% of the cultivated land for olive-growing.

By the way, I looked up that Zorba quote. It goes like this: “You have everything but one thing: madness. A man needs a little madness or else–he never dares cut the rope and be free.”

Oh, did I tell you I ordered a DVD of “Zorba The Greek?”

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