1. No category

Like an Extra Virgin
Author(s): Anne Meneley
Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 109, No. 4 (Dec., 2007), pp. 678-687
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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ANNE
MENELEY
?
Like an Extra
Inthis article, Itrack the contemporary possibilities for the global circulation of extravirgin olive oil. Recent technoscientific
ABSTRACT
discoveries
Virgin
the
about
health
benefits
of
olive
extravirgin
oil
combine
with
narratives
olive
about
"ancientness"
oil's
and
"naturalness"
ita very successful food commodity inan era of global concern about the risksof "industrial" food. "TheMediterranean" has
emerged as a culture area that isdefined by food in two realms: ina scientific register ("the Mediterranean Diet") and in contemporary
gustatory discourses of distinction that imagine "the Mediterranean" as a site of delicious, "real" food as opposed to the industrial,
"
discourses of distinction, production]
processed food of the North Atlantic. [Keywords: olive oil, food commodities, "the Mediterranean,
to make
TO AN ancient Greek myth, Athena, the
of
craft
and artisanship (techne), competed
ACCORDINGgoddess
with Poseidon, god of the sea, for the namesake of the city of
Athens: Poseidon offered only a salty spring whereas Athena
tree.
offered
the
suasive
to the Athenians,
but
olive
and
also
olive
and
cleansing,
olive
to be more
seemed
gift
for it provided
for quotidian
wood,
weapons,
curing,
Athena's
furniture,
the
oil,
"liquid
and
illuminating,
not only
crowns,
kingly
for
gold,"
There
anointing.
per
olives
eating,
something
useful
and
functional
from
it: olives
must
be cured before they are edible; wood must be carved and
finished; and olives must be crushed and pressed to obtain
the "liquid gold."
The
association
between
craft
and
craftiness
is embod
ied in Athena. She is also the goddess of a male techne:
strategy in war. Odysseus is her favorite hero, and he is the
one
guileful
who
uses
craftiness
over
force
to win.
Indeed,
in the narrative frame of the Odyssey, the olive tree is the
unifying element that binds the fantastic world of the "sto
ries" and the prosaic civilized world (oikoumene). Although
strange and fabulous lands are opposed to civilized ones by
the absence of agriculture in the former and its presence in
the latter, there is one specific tree present both in the world
of
the
"stories"
and
in the
oikoumene?the
olive:
tree of whose
wood
built his bed, the fixed
Odysseus
in fact the olive
of his home
And
is
(23.183-204).
point
on a number
of occasions
the means
of Odysseus'
escape
The
It provides
the stake with which
he bores
danger.
of the axe with
the Cyclops's
eye; and the handle
through
he builds his boat.
which
1981:87]
[Vidal-Naquet
from
Vol. 109, Issue 4, pp. 678-687,
ISSN 0002-7294
Anthropologist,
to photocopy
rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
and Permissions website,
http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintlnfo.asp.
American
All
tree
olive
is also
cornerstone
the
of
the
house
domestic
the inhabited world
hold (oikos) and a sign of civilization,
of arable land and agriculture. Thus, the olive tree is both
the sign of "feminine techne," the civilized and civilizing
domestic
and
crafts,
"masculine
on
craftiness
techne,"
the
battle field. Athena, who is Odysseus's
tutelary goddess as
tree is her gift to
is
the
of
and
the
olive
well,
both,
goddess
humankind.
I start with
could
hardly be amore appropriate gift from a goddess of domestic
arts. Yet Athena's gift to humankind
depends on techne to
make
The
to mime
this account
contemporary
I use
past.
an
how
emerging
an imaginary
has
the
affected
and
craft
olive
of
olive
genealogies
"techne"
style
nization
of establishing
scientific (chemical) becomes
distinction
(organoleptic).
as
I consider
opposes
oil
Con
production.
as a "natural"
fat
since
the
antiquity,
actual
mecha
in
I explore how,
Finally,
the
oil,
"extravirgin"
entwined
the
to Modern,
Antique
often
the
oil
I exam
and gustatory
Second,
unchanging
erase
of production
of olive oil production.
the process
oil.
industrial
of
ex
Mediterranean"
as
Europe
against
an
olive
First,
of "the Mediterranean"
representations
of a seamless,
sequently,
and
"the
scien
olive oil's
into
point
by the culinary
circulation
production
entry
of
to Northern
Mediterranean
oil,
circulation.
notion
space defined
how part of this notion
of olive oil
both
of contemporary
and
consumption,
production,
ine
an
as
Athena
of three dimensions
ploration
olive
of
also tend to start with
tific and culinary, which
mythic
of the mythology
accounts
with
techno
of
discourses
A NEW UNITY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN?
For both
French
than
the ancient Greek geographer
historian
the
Fernand
sea itself
Braudel,
the
is the distinguishing
Strabo and noted
olive
online
ISSN 1548-1433.
?2007
by the American
Anthropological
or reproduce article content
through the University of California
DOI: 10.1525/AA.2007.109.4.678.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
tree
feature
rather
of
the
Association.
Press's Rights
Like an Extra Virgin
Meneley
Mediterranean
region. The International Olive Oil Council,
the organization
responsible for regulating and promoting
the
worldwide
and
circulation,
production,
as
least
consumption
of olive oil, published a book entitled The Olive inMediter
ranean Cooking (March 1994), which features a map of the
Mediterranean
olive
by
region,
varietal.1
the
from
are
as
such
sea,
considered
that were
on
focused
to unite
posited
comportment
Umbria,
trees.
olive
their
as
particular
region,
However,
of their
the
after
began
mediately
or not
whether
the
originary
in
unity
and political
(and, indeed, one does find antiphonal
nomusicology
seeMagrini
over the Mediterranean;
all
picking songs
the
is the most
"the Mediterranean"
of
concept
in the
but,
academy
and
Specifically,
technoscientific
by
Diet"
Mediterranean
aesthetically
is
olive
for
superior
not
culinary
in
represented
culinary
cookbooks,
an
as
the
gustatory
the
of
aspects
I
The
and
olive
of
oil,
as a
envisioned
one
science?albeit
on
Crete
Diet"
"Mediterranean
to
of
gift
a
considerable
the
was
like
not,
a
rather,
gift
mythology.
funded a study of 765
Foundation
evaluate
but,
goddess
its own
with
In 1948, the Rockefeller
families
value.2
culinary-aesthetic
now-ubiquitous
standard
postwar
of
liv
ing; 128 of these families were chosen for daily inspection
to evaluate food intake. This research strategy, which might
have
warmed
the
cockles
a cultural
of
ecologista
heart,
in
volved the inspecting of cooking practices, the recording
of every bite put in everyone's mouth,
and the weighing
of food consumed and even food waste (Visser 2004:2). Al
in Crete: A Case Study
though it was published originally
an
Undeveloped Area (Allbaugh 1953), this study still has
of
later studies found that Greeks
ramifications
today: when
low
incidences
of
heart
had
disease, the dietary information
in
the
Rockefeller
report
was
claimed
as
an
just
explanation.
of the "good" fat olive oil in the Greek
The prominence
diet was portrayed as the linchpin of what became known
now
legitimate
(Rosenblum
is one
oil
its
of
or Peircean
qualities,
a firm
of
proponent
poten
"qualisigns,"
the
therapeutic
all manner
with
of
qual
to a highly
in the introduction
dealing
the
opening
Where
olive
ancient
of
eyes
produc
scientific
science
cutting-edge
seems
research
com
medical
the modern
and
wisdom
we have found a pot of gold .. .green gold" (1996:11,
added).
to verify
meet,
emphasis
Hippocrates's
faith in olive oil almost daily: scientific research claims
that olive oil is proven to be helpful in the prevention
of
heart
diet-that-stands-for-a
olive oil
affect the way extravirgin
region profoundly
circulates in the contemporary world. I stress here that it is
extravirgin olive oil that is perceived to be
estate-produced
of dietary
was
manual
New
magazines,
cooking shows, and the like. Olive oil is central to both.
argue that this positive imaginary of the medicoscientific
and
olive
of
intrinsic
significant
munity.
this
realm;
as the
acted
companies
of various oils
tion, including the chemical composition
Barilla
claims:
"Knowl
Nutritionist
Jean
(Kiritsakis 1998:3).
of
oil
the
of
and
olive
edge
healing properties
health-giving
2003),
as well
health
presses"
enormous
coun
less salubrious businesses
"ancientness"
technical
been defined
of late
that propose
that "the
and desirable
pleasing
is amply
aesthetic
region
discourses
an
received
Ur-Mediterranean
signature
ities of olive oil was noted
are
has
the
oil-importing
of medicine,"
discourses.
this
the
is often invoked as a guarantor of the "rightness" of
today's scientific claims about the benefits of olive oil.4 The
fact that Hippocrates,
the man widely touted as the "father
social
salient
in medicoscientific
rather,
its star,
oil,
"Mediter
the
from
"pour
(at
which
in eth
the notion
of
olive
tially
con
and
literally
olive
as
Greece
The
such
conditions,
ecological
a resurgence
from
Aside
organization.
shared
of subsistence,
modes
and
on
books
to
began
in the 1970s
1996:138).3
a "cultural entity" as the Mediterranean
(see Gilmore 1987;
Pina-Cabral 1989). Some, like Jane Schneider (1971), found
comitant
2004:3),
began
disease
heart
America
males),
to
fronts for the Mafia's
publica
was
there
(Visser
when
tion of J. G. Peristiany's influential Honour and Shame: The
im
Values ofMediterranean Society in 1966, anthropologists
to debate
in North
try and started exporting and importing olive oil in even
greater quantities than they had in the early 20th century
a fo
particularly
diet"
When
Diet."
middle-class
among
ranean
replaced
val
cultural
and the implications
honor.
for male
the
the
cus on the chastity of women
and
of the region known
the delimitation
"the Mediterranean"
of
because
far
regions
of Tuscany
"Mediterranean
in the United States
boost. Indeed, olive oil consumption
went from 64 million pounds in 1982 to 250 million pounds
in 1994 (Rosenblum 1996:273). The Italians, recognizing
a good market opportunity when
they saw one, quickly
but
country
by
even
definition,
interior
Mediterranean
In anthropology,
ues
this
the
not
space
marking
Under
the
appear almost endemic
679
breast
disease,
and
colon
and
cancer,
II diabetes.
Type
A recent New York Times article (Burros 2004) announces,
to Make Health Claim
"Olive Oil Makers Win Approval
on Label." In the 1990s, olive oil researchers cited its
as healthful,
antioxidant
and other chemical
qualities
that probably only a few
including one such chemical
are
aware
of:
namely,
which
alcohols,
"terpenic
in
assist
the fecal excretion of cholesterol
through increased bile
acid secretion" (Wahlqvist and Kouris-Blazos 1996; see also
Krasner 2002:12). Other scientists have proven that pure
(now called "extravirgin") olive oil is high in phenolic com
in a recent
pounds:
think,
looking
Dr.
article,
at our
results,
stress and the increase
are behind the observed
Perez
that
Jimenez
the
"we
explains,
reduction
in oxidative
oxide bioavailability
in isch?mie reactive
improvement
(American College of Cardiology
2005). The
hyperemia"
article, by the American College of Cardiology, decodes the
above expert advice for the lay reader as proof that olive oil
contributes
to positive
in the nitric
cardiovascular
est in this series of discoveries
is the
oil,
discovery
oleocanthal,
of
a chemical
which
has
effect as ibuprofen. These
cannot be evaluated by
functioning.
The
lat
of olive oil's salutary qualities
substance
the
same
in extravirgin
olive
anti-inflammatory
particular qualities of olive oil
individuals
but,
experientially
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American
680
rather,
the
require
Yet more
craze
than
intervention
on
is going
take
December
expert
as authoritative.
in the contemporary
concerns
functional
technoscientific
of
of us
most
which
knowledge,
Vol. 109, No. 4
Anthropologist
with
olive
I note
As
health.
oil
else
where, extravirgin olive oil is also a sexy fat (Meneley 2005).
Chef and food historian Patrie Kuh, in his book The Last
Days ofHaute Cuisine: The Coming of Age of American Restau
rants (2001), uses Thorstein Veblen's (1977) memorable
and
term
evocative
nausea
aesthetic
to
to refer
the way
in which
to
began
rustic
the
of
feelings
"aesthetic
and Mediterranean
Italian
haute
of
ahead
evoke
On
palates.
laxative
for David's
But
shelf).
oils,
vegetable
which
according
now
sense?is
the days
chemist.
when
a
region
unified
a
by
"My
only
other
it at
them
an
not
up
the
olive
to
envision
thentic
the
a cuisine
and
less
On
oil.
imaginings
and
"taste
her
of
and
an attendant
effect
care
skin
quotes
antioxi
the
allowed him to develop
d'Olives:
"I've
and
tiful people
done
years
discourses
Food writer
and medical
and
technes
of
profoundly
of marketing
refers to
of
techno
and aesthetic
oil mar
olive
shape
When
today.
aesthetic
implicitly
and those of gustatory
so
modes
and
beau
olive oil market,
discourses?those
contradictory
seemingly
and
spaces
Trillin
Calvin
of pleasant,
imaginings
shape the international
help
com
the
refines
Mediterranean
authentic
as do medicoscientific
distinction.
and
smooths
These
(Penna 2000:142).
beautiful,
fat,
food
of
who
industrial
on
sim
com
to
asked
re
the
more
that
lifestyle
"natural,"
than
on
people's
actions
nutritionist
is, we
the world
in
in the world,
the
In discourses
margarine
is described
"ultimate
about
as
fat
by noted
techno-food"
a substance,
as
in contemporary
in general
discourses
food
of late,
to come
into
back
favor
after
"natural"
fats are beginning
scare over
olive
oil?sometimes
dubbed
the recent
transfats;
to be the fa
the "friendly fat" (cf. Barilla 1996)?continues
vored
to
par
olive
justify
where
as an Umbrian
it shares
with
breast
Deborah
connoisseur
olive oil becomes
a great
food?it's
milk
with
Krasner
of
variety
fatty
been
acids.
states:
in
continual
much
is made
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
know
use
"Here's
story: It nat
and
antioxidants,
We
same
the
author, April
the hero of this health
diet since antiquity" (2002:13).
In addition to the antiquity
the Mediterranean,
olive
"olive oil is a 'natural' (naturelle) fat
of fatty acids" (conversation
Food
are
claims
technoscientific
"naturalness";
because
contains
urally
in mono-unsaturated
nutritious
oil's
told me,
excellence
distribution
Sometimes
them.8
among
17, 2005).
au
as
Nestle
or
like Crisco
like olestra, which
Marion
oil producer
ismore
to be a kind of Ur-natural
one
industrial
as
well
used
succinctly
That
opposed
OF OLIVE OIL
understood
to an
(2002:338-357).
the Mediterranean,
modernity.
as
or fat substitutes
website,
a robust,
of
maker,"
with
rest
an
in
them
using
Olive oil is popularly
which we live. As I argue elsewhere for Italy (Meneley 2004,
2005), these imaginings can be described as a kind of "re
verse Orientalism";
like the negative Orientalism
regarding
knowledge about the Middle East (Said 1979), these positive
have
on
the
of
Penna
research
of olive leaves, which
Cr?me
increas
intertwining
Vanessa
his
discussing
THE "NATURALNESS"
space
is based
and
for people
associated
stressful,
also
like soaps and
on the scientific research that claims that olive oil
contains the same pain killer as ibuprofen, Trillin quips, "It
may only be a matter of time before there is extra virgin
Advil and first pressing Motrin"
(Hotz 2005).
which set the region in imaginary contrast to Northern At
lantic (incl. Northern Europe and North America) and, by
extension,
about
ment
as a geo
aesthetic
of us,
by many
influential
imaginaries
an
finds
Writer
lotion,
Oriental
are
products
one
connoisseurship?that
their
only
and
culinary
fat:
authenticity
an
common
in beauty products
again
culinary
transcen
elided.7
olive
aesthetic.
skin
a
fears and prejudices
or
ingredients
antiaging
kets
food is "real food_The
gion, claiming that Mediterranean
real food of real people"
(Laudan 2003:290).
Ironically,
it is Wolfert,
other
domain,
of research, but you only need to look at Mediterranean
skin for proof that having olives in their diet
women's
these
ple, and sensual lifestyle far from the madding crowds of our
competitive North Atlantic culture" (Wolfert 2005). Wolfert
sums
an
plexion"
1977 Mediterranean
to the Mediterranean
shared
and
once
creams;
dant potential
side
among
buy
influential
primary
approach
ideal,
claims
ingly popular
skin
subsumed
a
becomes
the more
encom
to
2006]5
as a shared
but
myth?an
also
oil
be
to the defini
it possible
in a safe
attendant
MD,
in the Guardian,
the Mediterranean
demarcated
she writes,
Olive
makes
which
under
category,
Having
as central
Mediterranean"
ist knowledges?and
Aleu,
audience,
could
"The
Fernando
for
by the latest sales figures
.. .This
these days.
enough
staple has come a long way
Britons
[Hickman
U.S. chef Paula Wolfert's
graphic
as well,
dent
the Mediterranean.6
Mediterranean
one.
aesthetic
of
based on a knowledge
satisfaction
Mediterranean"
to pull
or Jaime
is up
Ainsley
a culinary
as opposed
En
by the Oxford
recognized
And judging
glish Dictionary.
the UK, we
just can't drizzle
millennia-old
Mediterranean
Cookbook
pass
"the
scientific
to you,
to climatic
local
of
the Muslim
began
to blame Delia,
you wish
but the verb "to drizzle"?in
since
tion
the
begins,
Whether
cultures
and gustatory
and
the
to an article
and
languages
scientific
"the fact that you couldn't buy
food writer Gina Mallet,
olive oil easily, if at all, only made Elizabeth David's book
more alluring" (2004:107). Times have changed in Britain:
2006 was the first year that olive oil sales surpassed that of
other
of
health
when
of the Atlantic, Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean
Food, published first in Britain in 1950, described ingredi
ents that were at that time scarcely available in Britain (for
instance, olive oil was sold in tiny bottles in drugstores on
the
they are not necessarily
nausea"
cuisines
for U.S.
French
even though
Muslims?can
fats go in and out of favor in culinary fashion: just as the
use of butter (as opposed to lard or schmaltz) in haute cui
rather than farmhouse cookery,
sine signified sophistication
butter
2007
it's
in
it's high
a
safe
the
and
human
of the olive and its use in
of
extravirgin
olive
oil's
Like an Extra Virgin
Meneley
"natural" qualities when extolling its healthful virtues by
firms vying for a share of the increasingly lu
contemporary
crative olive oil market and by health professionals
seeking
to promote healthier lifestyles. Although
the fact that con
is involved
techne
siderable
ous
to the
ancient
Greeks,
and
oil marketers
olive
ural"
in olive
there
full
substance,
is considerable
writers
food
of
was
production
"natural"
talk
olive
of
as
oil
obvi
among
a "nat
if it simply
goodness?as
flowed from nature itself, like breast milk. For instance, food
critic and cookbook author Patricia Wells blurbs the back of
Mort Rosenblum's book, Olives: The Life and Lore of a No
ble Fruit (1996), saying, "We close the book with a renewed
for one
reverence
claim
entists
of nature's
the
Even
gifts."
as a source
enduring
"naturalness"
"Dr. Perez
superiority:
most
Jimenez
of olive
oil
said
olive
that
sci
of
oil may
its
su
be
to extract
oil
from
as
such
seeds,
sunflowers,
rapeseed" (American College
added).
Food historian Rachel Laudan
food
of
discourses
late,
tolling of "the natural"
she
are
calls
there
For
that
argues
an
in
ex
uncritical
in their
olives
ever
for
guessing
sonous"
a moment
that
the
weren't
things
(2001:97).
Even
when
the
techne
considerable
for pro
necessary
promotions
of extravirgin
olive
is an untouched
oil
un
and
is itself
process
timeless.
there
However,
the
use
of artifice
its traditionalness
modern
industrial
to overcome
production
at
nature?then
and antiquity
as
it stands with
being
relatively
least
in
respect to
natural.
Yet there was a major shift in the second half of the
of olive oil produc
18th century toward the mechanizing
tion. The industrializing of olive oil production was linked
to
the
revitalization
of what
was
perceived
to be
a stagnat
(Mazzotti 2004). An explicit
economy
ing Mediterranean
Europe and the Mediterranean
alterity between Northern
was
posited,
with
the North
seen
as more
advanced
in wick
In
lamps.
a part
expansion,
capitalist
of olive
oil's
and marketers,
producers
is em
what
phasized is the techne or craft aspect of olive oil production.
Not only is the "ancientness" of olive oil production
in
but
these
are
"traditions"
production
as
presented
from the onslaught of mass
being in need of protection
olive
oil
Olive oil
marketed
produced
by multinationals.
connoisseur
and promoter Judy Ridgway states: "A phrase
some producers
which
like to include on their label or
in their promotional
literature to indicate quality is 'tra
ditional method'"
traditional merely
(1997:25), in which
to
stone
wheel
research
with
the
my
are
that
contemporary
the
olives.
of
estate
that although
in machinery,
"modern"
crush
producers
I noticed
and Umbria,
fully
to
is used
their
in accordance
with
EU regulations regarding safety and hygiene, a bow is of
ten made to "techne" style production by retaining the old
stone
that
millstones
now
powered
by
crush
olives.
the
electricity
of
ter power. The
rest of the process
but
is often
"tradition"
that is foregrounded,
Even
technoscience.
times
For
employed.
ern mill
in Trevi, standing
oil was
the techne
partially
in
pot
of
sight,
some
mod
steel oil
of gleaming
told me
pro
veiling
are
metaphors
owner
of a sizeable
the
in the midst
cotta
material
that
olive
in his veins because his family had been making
same
exact
a terra
not
horse,
is highly mechanized,
mode
genealogical
instance,
slave,
or wa
"traditional"
the
are
millstones
In promotional
invoked.
and
"naturalness"
These
instead
for 400
oil
years.
Techne
and
the
are
technoscience
in the product of extravirgin olive oil, which, rather
is launched onto the market and into
counterintuitively,
united
have
in olive oil technology
transformations
been considerable
over time and space. If artisanal production
(techne) is not
for the Greeks the definition of techne
exactly natural?and
was
overall
For contemporary
tankards,
from the ancient
changing lineage of olive oil production
onward. One is left with the impression that the
Minoans
production
history
the
ducing
knowledged,
its function
beyond
light
is erased.10
that
cessing
oil from bitter and inedible olives is ac
what tends to be highlighted
in contemporary
olive
and
factories
it is the
poi
internal
in olive oil pressing technology
to
transformations
produce a higher quality of olive oil were themselves gener
ated by the industrial revolution. Higher quality oil (with a
lower acidity level) proved to be the best lubricant for clock
works and also for industrial machinery,
the best indus
trial lubricant available at the time (Mazzotti 2004:278).9
olive oil was greasing the wheels of English
Mediterranean
mills
are bitter and simply inedible. As Annie Hawes, novice olive
farmer in Liguria, notes in her book Extra- Virgin: Amongst the
take my hat off to what
Olive Groves of Liguria: "Imentally
ever unbelievably
desperate person first discovered the ed
sure Iwould have starved without
the
of
olive?I'm
ibility
of
deed,
oil in Tuscany
state
"natural"
went
reforms,
as a source
and
During
she points
foods
out, many
or even
in
their
poisonous
instance,
food
refers
good by those whom
As
indigestible,
unpalatable,
state.
"natural"
(2003)
as inherently
Luddites."
"Culinary
2005, emphasis
to be
tends
and
soybeans
of Cardiology
as
voked,
perior to seed oils because it is a natural juice, pressed from
the olives, so it does not go through the type of process need
economic
Mediterranean
681
tech
as opposed
and economically
to the Mediter
nologically
was
ranean, which
lagging behind and stagnating (Mazzotti
2004:277). A notable irony is that the increased demand for
olive oil at this time, which provided a partial impetus for
the
bodies
as a "natural"
consumers
of
product.
Most of the oil presses that I visited in Tuscany and
Umbria had amuseum or a tasting room decorated with the
like the beautiful "Ali
trappings of "traditional" production,
Baba" terracotta pots and the flat ladles that were formerly
used to scoop out the oil as it settled in these pots, the
circular fiber mats used to press the oil, and olive-picking
and
"combs"
In a wonderful
sacks.
gathering
Spain, both human
experiential
advanced
technology
computer
"traditional"
past.
are
of
Glimpses
knowledge
the
example
to
employed
"ancient"
from
and the most
were
recoup
a
achieved
by a Spanish engineer by taking photos of the tower presses
and beam presses at the Museum of Oil History in Jaen. To
better
understand
how
these
presses
operated,
he
included
oral testimonies of elderly men who actually participated
in the traditional production
but also relied on the latest
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682
American
AutoCAD
Vol. 109, No. 4
Anthropologist
a simulation
to produce
technology
December
terracotta
to
used
amphorae
tween
wine
one, albeit one of trust in brand predictability and depend
ability ("goodwill").14 As opposed to the generic placeless
anonymity of industrial production, whereby olive oil may
transport
and
olive oil in the ancient world, considered by some to be the
first commercial packaging (Twede 2002), are now defunct.
in shipping technologies,
Despite transformations
packag
ing continues to be a very important part of the production
and
circulation
of
estate,
Avignonesi
contemporary
whose
olive
extravirgin
I interviewed
marketer
oil.
The
in Tuscany
and
shipping
conventions.11
storing
to
nods
The
tradition and techne can be read on the labels of Tuscan
and Umbrian estate oils (i.e., oil produced by olives solely
from
one
on which
estate),
artisanal
a terracotta
mill,
tic house,
in addition
expiration
date.12
one
pot,
to, most
The
often
finds
a grove
of
trees,
or a rus
an
a handwritten
importantly,
handwritten
a sketch
of olive
is particularly
date
im
portant in indexing a specific producer and a high-quality
product that will not, unlike some industrial brands that
are so highly processed that they contain only a little ex
olive
travirgin
oil
for
last
color,
that
the most
of
sets
important
an
up
PRODUCTION
versus
industrial
between
arti
sanal production
is the Slow Food Movement,
started in
was
in
Petrini
who
Carlo
the
when
1986,
Italy by
appalled
restaurant appeared in Rome (see Petrini
first McDonald's
2001). This movement
opposes
vociferously
industrially
produced food: particularly, the name Slow Food implicitly
to
points
its bad
the
"other,"
classic
of
extravirgin
olive
oils,
among
exemplar
other
olive
production
include
is stressed;
an olive
"heritage"
(Denominazione
of
sortium
prod
employing
as
being
Yet
flects
"noble"
as
their
the
opposition
a tension
between
and
Tuscan
independent
a genealogical
in the
the Chianti
Protetta)
d'Origine
elite,
advertisements
the
oil with
Classico
which,
describe
metaphor,
a con
Laudemio,
estates,
vol
DOP
also
their oil as
natural-industrial
versus
artisanally
really
re
oil
that
remains
the
same
sold in its broad international
that
are
as mass
produced
as
erance
of
of
he
which
and
regions
un
blended
olive
in contrast,
oils,
Karl Marx
between
was
argued
Extravirgin
estate
what
connection
the
characteristic
oil
of
producers
as
and
producer
sev
the
consumer,
production.
or
goal,
capitalist
this
accomplish
is the
there
described
at
taste that indexes the
tempt to, by achieving a distinctive
particularity of the oil and the identity of the producer.15
Instead
of
erasure
the
of
characteristic
the
of
capitalist
that Marx
producer
was
argued
olive
extravirgin
production,
oil
producers try to make the labor invested in the commodity
visible; for instance, noting on the label that the olives were
"hand-picked."
Another
valued
a DOP
ing
status
of
guarantor
for one's
is achiev
distinctiveness
olive
extravirgin
to year
year
wherever
distinct
five
DOP,
For
oil.
instance,
it is
different
warm
for
this
tastes
the
sides
oil was,
latter
climate
tion,
and
to
is said
to
in contrast
size
The
and
grown
taste
piquant
informant
assured
me,
to "suffer" (soffrire) the harsher
shallow
in
soil
terraces.
the
must
conventions
production
In addi
be
followed
(modes and timing of picking and pressing, the amount
of heat used in the pressing, and methods
of storing both
and
olives
In
oil).
the
words
of
one
olive
oil
producer,
the olives must
be treated with respetto (conversation with
is the notion of "respect"
author, April 20, 2005), which
for the olive-guided
technological
production
techniques.
instance,
pressed
that,
to one
according
with
pressure
gentle
in his
tastes
words,
the olives
producer,
at cool
temperatures,
if one did not want
extraction,
like
"kitty
must
be
without
a resulting olive oil
(conversation
pee-pee"
with
Umbrian olive oil
author, April 24, 2005).17Another
the following proverb: "Olive oil is
producer produced
like
a woman.
If you
treat
her
she'll
well,
give
product. If you treat her badly, she'll kick you
(conversation with author, April 18, 2005).
But
proper
production
"extravirgin"
be
the
half
the
instance,
oil
mild
Umbrian
my
is the
connection
For
Trasimeno
the mountains.
of
relatively
particular
Lake
are
trees
the
ceive DOP certification,
The
(Assisi
recognized
oil.
olive
and
where
on
of
surrounding
an unctuous,
trees
large
Assisi-Spoleto,
in terraces
of
and
varietals
microclimate
network. Here one finds labels
oil.
are
underzones
Spoleto, Colli Martani, Colli Trasimeno, Colli Orvieto, and
area is highlighted
Colli Amerini). Geographical
in the
the
oil
be
in
that
Umbria, joined by
requirement
produced
the specific qualities of climate and soil of each of the five
are held responsible for
regions. The distinct microclimates
chemical
mass-produced
is em
olive oil. Despite the fact that industrial technology
in
the
oil
that
to
of
claims
be
arti
olive
production
ployed
sanally produced, these estate oils oppose themselves to the
olive oil like that of Bertolli, Colavita, and
mass-produced
Carapelli. The latter depend on the "sameness" of taste that
to brands, so they aim to produce a blended
is distinctive
olive
In the production
to overcome
For
lineages.
between
or
countries
many
a result of the trees having
ucts. In 2000, the press of the Slow Food movement,
Slow
an elegant volume
Food Editore, published
entitled Ex
the techne of
travergine (Ricci and Soracco 2000), wherein
ume
uct.
allow
indus
trial food, fast food. In contrast, the Slow Food movement
champions artisanally produced food, like artisanal cheeses
(as opposed to highly processed and packaged cheeses) and
estate
from
impersonal
til it achieves their signature brand's typical taste, smaller
olive oil producers try to find ways to distinguish their prod
brian
food movements
contemporary
opposition
be bought
an
is essentially
the Italian province of Umbria has its own DOP; to attain
DOP status, the oil must be from olive trees planted
in
Umbria and itmust also be bottled there.16 Within
the Um
forever.
INDUSTRIAL VERSUS ARTISANAL
One
and
producer
attempt
in 2000, consciously
styled its bottle on the shape of the an
cient amphorae, albeit with a flat bottom in conformity to
current
consumer
(Rojas-Sola
2005).
The
2007
but
also
are not
practices
receive
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a
good
enough:
to
re
not only be graded as
the oil must
must
you
in the shins"
a
grade
of
seven
out
of
Like an Extra Virgin
Meneley
a
on
nine
taste
test,
one
to
according
the
of
Um
official
is valued not only
brian olive oil tasters. The designation
because it gains distinction
for the producers, giving their
oil a higher profile, but also because itmeans it can be sold at
a
and
price
higher
a much
has
in distinctly
"nature"
to be
chance
greater
outside of the country. The
a kind of Latourian hybrid
and climate.
technology,
French DOC. Chaia Heller
exported
DOP itself might be considered
of nature, culture, land, techne,
on the
The DOP is patterned
notes
that the French construct
a
as
terms
social
of
product
de
(gout
food
able"
as a means
terroir)
others
systems,
of
"sustain
creating
locally
as Ruth
Laudan
that
argue
such
of olive
another effect of the French Terroir Strategy, as she calls it,
is that it is a "brilliant marketing device" (2004:138), some
which has adopted
thing that the Slow Food movement,
a
describes
little
this strategy,
differently, as I discuss below.
as
oil,
"pure"
oil
I have
DETERMINING
"It's
He
true."
we marry,
shrugged.
one
of
Tuscan
a
is either
olive
we
together
got
virgin
engaged."
statement,
ment
his
from
vent
was
Catholicism
a
only
as
were
there
in olive
into extra-virgin
crete
and
gin may
of many,
but
and
exchange
an ultrapure
oil?which,
in girls
is divided
course,
(second
extra-virgin
extra-fine
virgin,
fer
so on,
and
virgin,
down through a dozen or more
layers of virginity and
so
near virginity, before reaching a level of promiscuity
that it is labelled merely "pure" and is thus
unthinkable
fit only for export and lighting fires.
?Anthony
The
above
the
recent
fuse
a novel
from
quote
connection
oft-noted
food
of
oil
proliferation
as well
of
ulations
oil
is not
it is for olive
for the U.S.
oil
Food
development
gradations
on the
potential
so vex
those
of
so con
of
manip
responsible
a chemist
useful analytical
is required
surveillance
teration and mislabeling
of olive
added).
emphasis
"Virginity"
acterize
both
people
and
of
olive
techniques
adul
oil products"
(Firestone
that
is used
to char
oil.
In women
and
olive
remains
a
virgin
for
all
time.
Connecting
this
can
oil
es
production,
Cappella
are nine
There
virginity.
be marketed
the various
so cleverly
an olive oil can be assigned,
oil
and
the
categories
superimposes
official
to
categories
affecting very much
it can
price
how
command.18
is now determined by a chemical test for
Extravirginity
level:
acidity
legally, the term extravirgin can only be used
an
to denote
olive
oil
that
has
less
than
is also determined
cals.
Yet
modes
these
and
abstract,
objective,
of determining
0.8
democratic
are not
extravirginity
acid
percent
prac
by production
cannot be applied to
using heat or chemi
ity. Extravirginity
tices: the appellation
"extravirgin"
oil that is produced by a treatment
oil
oil,
rich
is also
tasters?which
can
be
as
classified
scientific
Aristo
enough.
tasters
"extravirgin";
test
results
oil
are
as
must
establish
at all. Although
in
couched
is classified
if an
to determine
necessary
that the oil has no defects
follows?"olive
extra
such
virgin
the
as
language
grade
when
the median of the defects is equal to 0 and the median of
the fruity attribute ismore than 0" (Kiritsakis 1998:244)?
how
value
stands for purity. It is perhaps not chance that
virginity
not only was Athena the goddess of techne but she was
also a product of a virgin birth, springing from the head
the immortal
of Zeus fully grown and clothed. Moreover,
Athena
the
imaginaries
term now.
(IOOC), a body created
olive
to rank
and
novelist
womanly
organoleptic
2001:179,
is a qualisign
onto
which
extravir
standard criteria for grading to en
authenticity
of oil, which
the
bureaucratic
and
in
commod
term
The
in
supervirgin
promote
internationally
product
a food
consumption.
legal
and
production?and
on
Olive Oil Council
regulate
sensorially
"Constant
to control
sure
official
working
states:
Administration
tablished
food
cratic technes of distinction and aesthetics intervene in the
taste test?done
form of an organoleptic
by highly trained,
or misbranded.
instance,
of new and more
as continuous
is the
fun
that
adulterated
For
producers.
and Drug
theme
sex makes
and
an issue for food regulators as
in purity is asmuch
Vigilance
as well
playing
status
that
olive
that
for ensuring
olive
as
"virginal"
central
whose
between
consumers,
The Food of Love
Capella,
to
1956
a
des
quality of olive oil. The con
entailments
it is also
author,
recent
shaping of or interventions
production?produce
evoke
with
is a relatively
conditions
imaginary
(or a goddess)
(conversation
"Extravirgin"
the highest
ignation denoting
in
everyone
grades of virginity
of
com
literal
away,
generation
(first cold pressing),
superfine
pressing),
where
country
knew that there were as many
no
drew
illogical,
apparently
In a
friends.
ex
an
achieve
a woman
producer,
is not
she
15, 2003).
The International
Vincent's
not
does
oil
or
virgin
November
ity's ultimate
when
So we had to stop sleeping
just like her mother.
until
a
to be
a vir
of
travirgin designation,
they do not bottle it under their own
the "impure" daughter.
label, metaphorically
disowning
It is the extra in the extravirgin olive oil that departs
from this shared metaphorical
space; after all, in the words
food
wants
"Lucia
to
process
purity
Iwas told by several Italian
oil
technes and technoscientific
"
"
EXTRAVIRGIN ITY
the
guard
if an
that
idiom,
the production
might
(Meneley 2005).
producers
tend
people
the honor-shame
of
through
they
elsewhere,
argued
in a version
oil
their olives
surveilling
insure
as
societies,
producing
to speak
olive
labor associated with traditional agriculture practice (Heller
this issue; see also Heller 2002). Although some scholars like
Amy Trubek articulate the possibilities of reviving a "taste of
place"
tradition to his contemporary
mythohistorical
product, a
Greek olive oil producer in a recent advertisement proudly
proclaimed his olive oil as "4,000 years old and still a vir
gin!" (National Post 2002:L19). Even in contemporary olive
ginal daughter
human
683
one
determines
the
Lidia Bastianich,
that
argues
that
sensibility
a different
olive
2004)
must
be
oils
appreciated
cultivated.
travirgin olive oil is a fat that can be perceived
art,
something
fats like Crisco.
that
cannot
be
matter.
chef and cookbook
'extra-virgin'
"top-quality
of art" (Best Life magazine
aesthetic
is quite
grade
a celebrity
imagined
In Italy in 2005,
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
author,
... are
pieces
by a rarefied
In
short,
ex
as a work of
for mass-produced
I took part in an olive oil
684
American
Vol. 109, No. 4
Anthropologist
December
tasting seminar taught by a professional Umbrian olive oil
taster. The techne for tasting includes qualities of persons
and their purity of intention and body: (1) an orientation of
the
intellectual
taster's
health,
lic,
untainted
and
by
or coffee).
cigarettes,
of the taster's body
deodorants,
perfumes,
Discourses
(good
mints,
of purity
also
gar
in
appear
in which oil should be eval
the surroundings
determining
uated. The oil should be tasted in the daytime in a clean,
room with white walls. The olive oil should be
well-aired
a clean,
poured
into
gently
warmed
in
the
stemless
one's
of
palm
and
glass,
hand.
then
held
and
For
visual
in
one should hold up the glass to the natural
spection,
to
clear,
evaluate
the
tory
evaluation,
short
sniffs.
and
color
of
clarity
our tutor
instructed
The
the
oil.19
us
to give
light
the
For
olfac
a
pouring
few drops on the tip of the tongue, tasting it before inhal
ing it sharply, so that the piquancy
registers at the back
of one's throat. The oil, despite being oil, should not taste
Then
"greasy."
by
moralistic
"defects,"
such
as
such
as "fruitiness"
or
and
tactile
flavor,
fume,
with
(conversation
In another
so
sine,
Beans,"
to
is graded
and
rancidness,
"virtues,"
when
the "per
qualities"
are in great
equilibrium"
sensations
realm,
talk
about
olive
extravirgin
mimic
ways
the
discourses
in Russell
a
such
evaluations.
For
One
excellence.
However,
as
cru has
grand
is a discourse
speak"
and
cultivated
in which
in the
demonstrated
extravirgin
is
connoisseurship
sensory
of
process
see
ing, smelling, and tasting the wine but also in the capacity
to deploy sophisticated and persuasive descriptions of the
wine (Silverstein 2006). Claudia Pharand, the owner of an
Montreal
exclusive
this point
into
"You
explicitly:
wine,"
get
shop
into
Pharand,
the
controlled
in taste
tle differences
oils are categorized
of wine,
in olive
cultural,
the
a wine
has
who
appellations,
So,
region.
at home.
cellar
you
learn
the
the mono-variety
sub
olive
by region" (Latimer 2003). As in the case
oil
discourses
field.
of
and
technoscientific,
in one
together
by
oil, makes
into olive oil is like getting
"Getting
offers
olive
expensive
selling
connoisseurship,
the aesthetic
evocative
Silverstein's
the
are
agri
brought
phrase
"bou
tique agriculture" (2006:12) describes much of what the
Slow Food movement
promotes, but it is a term that keeps
and
in
the
class
frame, something that Slow Food
hierarchy
elides
or
denies.
Surprisingly,
for
a movement
that
that
of food: the dan
from meat-slaughtering
when
refrigeration;
seem
to have
than
technology,
more
became
refrigeration
a collective
had
enough),
amnesia
about
of
artisanal
comes
that
cheap?and
tastes
and
the
knowing
industrial
viewed
to be
begin
technes
from
It was when
and
questions
acces
in
how
some
with
to industrial
and
of
origin
food became
about
raised
lost in the transition
have been
in terms
the
one's
confi
food.
readily available
and
derision
suspicion?
that "the Mediterranean"
became the positive Other for the
North Atlantic,
in terms of food that was
defined
largely
to
instead
of industrially, produced:
be
imagined
artisanally,
food that was healthful, aesthetically pleasing, and requir
ing of a discerning palate that becomes part of what Pierre
Bourdieu (1984) calls discourses of "distinction." The oppo
sition between
the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean
is one
of
technoindustrial
superiority.
ily available
which
Atlantic
dwellers,
techne-aesthetic
food items,
each
Instead
"boutique
has
ingredient
techne-aesthetic
of
is part
the
cooking"
a traceable
of the
knowledge
distinctions
"habitus."
upper-middle-class
and
superiority
For North
Mediterranean
of
an
read
generic
in
is valued,
origin.
Even
is Muslim?
though part of the Mediterranean
long considered Europe's despised Other and now depicted
as the troubling Other within
(cf. Asad 2003:159-180)?
the Muslim
can
Mediterranean
the
through
rubric
of
be
or
encompassed
"Mediterranean
cuisine,"
elided
can
which
be consumed as delicious and healthy food without
refer
ence to religion and politics. Just as class politics get erased
so do regional and religious
in the Slow Food movement,
in discourses
politics
are imaginarles,
of
for the way
about
course,
in which
Mediterranean
but
ones
extravirgin
cuisine.
These
with
real
olive
oil can travel the
consequences
world.
In the contemporary world, there is no doubt that the
Diet and aesthetic
aspects of the Mediterranean
arose
from the Italian left, there is remarkably little discussion
of class in the Slow Food movement
(Laudan 2004; Leitch
arise
dustrial food actually made food safer and its supply more
secure (Laudan 2003), and she suggests that gastronomy
is only possible under conditions where food accessibility
is assured (Laudan 2004). When people are confident that
they have enough to eat (or in the case of some North Amer
food
olive oil marketers, L'Olivier, has included 33 Grand Cru
in their list of their
oils from all over the Mediterranean
New Harvest oils (L'Olivier 2006).
"Wine
we
dence
French
successful
of E. coli
con
food
contemporary
sible, as did food in general in the postwar period, indus
trial food took a class slide in North America and Northern
like Ruth Laudan, argue that
Europe. Some food historians,
cui
of
many
underpin
the effects of fast food on obesity, and the politics of genet
food. As Jack Goody (1997) demonstrates,
ically modified
industrial food facilitated European expansion
in the days
and
single estate olive oils of particular
the most
of
term
the wine
instance,
to denote
been adopted
gers
haute
in the case of coffee described by William Roseberry (1996),
much more influential in olive oil tasting is the discourse of
wine
also
cerns related to the industrial production
what might
eval
oil
vocabulary
oil.20
mass-produced
movement
"Francs
of
Baker's
to use
Although not all North Atlantic consumers may be aware
of the Slow Food movement,
the concerns that inspired the
ica, more
author, April 22, 2005).
wonderfully
parodied
in that
it is unthinkable
distinction
in: oil
figure
or
"harmonic
aesthetic
in many
uations
evaluations
sourness
CONCLUSION
before
to four
three
involves
evaluation
gustatory
2003; Meneley 2004), although Slow Food supporters deny
accusations of elitism (cf. Kummer 2002; Parasecoli 2003).
and mem
(concentration
capacities
ory) and (2) the comportment
2007
healthful
appeal
of
the Mediterranean
as
This content downloaded from 147.222.232.69 on Fri, 13 Feb 2015 01:58:02 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
an
imagined
space?both
Meneley
different
unifying
and
ness,
orders of qualisigns
artisanal
shape how
technes
oil flows
olive
of Mediterranean
nary
nary alterity depends
a reference
with
as
a kind
tradition?
the
yet
of
to
somewhere
the
imagi
culi
desirable
on an implied
crucially
point
and
And
globally.
cuisine
natural
of antiquity,
distinction
of
opposition
and
north
west,
lands typified by the ancient geographer Strabo as the lands
of barbaric others who subsisted on cuisines typified by
In the
butter and beer as opposed to olive oil and wine.
of Europe
modern
imaginary, the boundaries
geographic
are ever shifting geographically
and rhetorically, and the
an antique
classical pagan
boundaries
the
as one
stands
Mediterranean
of
of
Europe's
as noted
land straddling
relative
others,
imagined
above
and
Christendom
newcomers,
Islam.
does not merely
But the Mediterranean
as
backwards
periphery
it may
industrial
seen
be
a
as
stand to Europe
as
core,
to European modernity
classical antiquity
Rather,
to
European
(Herzfeld 1987).
with
semiperiphery
a rich
cul
tural and aesthetic capital as opposed to a core with a rich
endowment of both scientific and material capital. It is this
relationship of partial identity and partial alterity that is
figured in the opposition between artisanal technes of aes
and industrial technoscience.
Even the
thetic distinction
of a single
determination
aesthetic
and
scientific,
nical,
qualisign,
has
"extravirgin,"
The
aspects.
tech
of
diagnosis
ex
travirginity partakes of purely objective analysis (chemical),
traditions of production
(techne), and the discursive con
noisseur
tion
"techne"
experts
by
with
ing an extravirgin
Anne
of
distinction,
"taste":
the
ultimately,
subjective
there
apprecia
is more
to be
than being pressed for the very first time.
Meneley
of Anthropology,
Department
ON
Canada, K9J 7B8
versity, Peterborough,
Trent Uni
NOTES
Iwould
like to thank
the various
olive oil pro
Acknowledgments.
in Tuscany,
and tasters
and California
ducers, marketers,
Umbria,
a way of
to understand
how olive oil can be both
who helped me
a living and a passion.
This research was funded by the So
making
and Humanities
Council
of Canada.
cial Sciences
Research
Thanks
to the myriad
in various
friends
and relatives
who
ways,
helped
Vaidila
Patrick
and Michelle
Banelis,
Bersenas,
Eugene
including
Iwould
Deni
and Amal
al-Ras.
like to thank my
Poletti,
Meneley,
Paul Manning
for their sear
stalwart
and Donna
colleagues,
Young,
on earlier drafts of this article. The com
ing and funny comments
were
AA reviewers
ments
of the anonymous
particularly
helpful;
I could not follow up all of their suggestions
Iwill
here,
although
in future work
and am grateful
for their generous,
labors
unsung
once again
on my behalf.
to be an
Deborah
Heath
herself
proved
in organizing
to Ben
collaborator
this volume.
Thanks
excellent
in seeing
for his admirable
editorial
this special
Blount
patience
until
the end.
"In Focus"
through
1. The council
itself proposes
that olive
rier: "One fact is certain:
the expansion
area moved
in hand with
hand
home
East to West,;
(March
1994:5).
car
oil is a kind of culture
tree beyond
of the olive
its
the spread of culture
from
2. Numerous
studies claim that the health
benefits
of the polyphe
are only present
in extravirgin
nols and antioxidants
olive oil. As
I elaborate
in the same
oil cannot
further, mass-produced
operate
in terms of showing
distinction.
way
culinary
Like an Extra Virgin
685
an anonymous
it is notable
AA reviewer
that Italy
noted,
as the signature
olive
Greece
Mediterranean
producer,
replaced
and medicoscientific,
the prominence
of Greek mythology
given
narratives
research on Crete in anchoring
of olive
mythology-based
success.
dis
oil's current
See Rosenblum
(1996) for an illuminating
cussion
of the rivalry between
various
countries.
olive-producing
For example,
the largest olive
consider
the Spanish:
despite
being
in the world,
oil producers
by the Italians who
they are eclipsed
are the most
oil from
successful
marketers,
up the excess
buying
on the label "Bottled
other parts of the Mediterranean
and noting
in Italy" rather than "Produced
in Italy." Even within
Italy there
are rivalries:
Iwas asked indignantly
olive oil producer
by a Puglian
Iwent
to study olive oil when
to Tuscany
two to three
only
why
as opposed
in Tuscany,
to
of Italian olive oil is produced
percent
3. As
Puglia, which
ther discussion).
is the
largest
oil producer
(see Meneley
2005
for fur
4. My use of the term qualisign
is guided
Keane's
(2001)
by Webb
of Charles
Peirce.
reading
to the British
5. Leo Hickman
is referring
chefs Delia
celebrity
are so well
all of whom
and Jaime Oliver,
Smith, Ainsley
Harriott,
are necessary.
known
that no last names
can be a
6. Indeed, Wolfert's
assertion
that the Mediterranean
an un
from the competitive
North
Atlantic
culture
reveals
refuge
interaction
in the
of social
with
the agonistic
aspects
familiarity
in the anthropological
in great detail
lit
Mediterranean
described
erature
(cf. Campbell
1964).
a similar
7. Arjun
for the
makes
(1988:21)
argument
Appadurai
na
various
of "vegetarian,"
under which
transcendent
category
can be partially
to appeal
to U.S. markets
tional cuisines
subsumed
it is a salient
for which
category.
It is interesting
to see how perceptions
of "healthy"
fat?and
how
in technoscientific
have been
ratified
research?have
changed
the last century. With
the introduction
of the notion
of "calo
as a way of getting
chil
ries" and child health,
Crisco was promoted
dren
fat to help them grow
(Neil 2002:306).
(esp. girls) to eat more
to imagine
Such a suggestion
is hard
now,
given
contemporary
concerns
the exemplar,
and
of which
Crisco was
about
transfats,
8.
they
over
in the Northern
countries.
Atlantic
obesity
9. Massimo
of its viscosity
and oili
Mazzotti
"Because
continues,
itmaintained
well under pressure:
ness, olive oil worked
extremely
sur
coefficients
0.07 and 0.08 between
wood
of friction
between
or a combination
of the two. This meant
faces, metal
that,
surfaces,
be
the relatively
low rotational
given
speed of English machinery
fore the turn of the nineteenth
olive oil could endure great
century,
stress without
2004:292).
(Mazzotti
decomposing"
childhood
owes
to Sidney
10. Obviously,
section
Mintz's
this
inspiration
like
work on the taste for food commodities
(1985) groundbreaking
An
of industrializing
consequences
sugar and unequal
production.
is Susan Terrio's
of
other notable
work
(2000) on craft production
French grand cru chocolates.
came
at the bottom,
11. The ancient
to a point
which
amphorae
in ships
When
facilitated
for transport.
the
stacking
off-loading
the amphorae
would
be stuck in the sand to keep them up
cargo,
right.
12. Fine olive oil, unlike
fine wine,
does not improve with
age and
two years of its purchase.
within
This
should
ideally be consumed
concern
for extravirgin
of olive oil is of immense
property
particular
olive oil producers
seeking markets.
13. In a
Laudemio
in 1996,
book
published
as the fust grand
consortium
Rosenblum
cru of olive
describes
the
oil (1996:111).
14. See Paul Manning
of the conse
(this issue) for a discussion
in postsocialist
See also
of brand unpredictability
quences
Georgia.
R. E. Moore
discussion
of branding
for an insightful
(2003)
prac
tices.
I elaborate
in Meneley
2004.
this point
16. My Umbrian
olive oil-tasting
tutor, who was one of the olive
to the
oil judges for the assignation
of the DOP, was here referring
rather widespread
and
of buying
up oil from elsewhere
practice
it under
Italian
labels.
bottling
15.
was
to hot
extraction
extraction
with
chemi
17. Cold
opposed
one Californian
to
olive oil expert
likened
cal refinements,
which
This content downloaded from 147.222.232.69 on Fri, 13 Feb 2015 01:58:02 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
686
American Anthropologist
petroleum
production
considered
Vol. 109, No. 4
December
that the oil produced
processing,
stressing
by the latter
was
so far from nature
method
that it could hardly
be
food.
18. Obviously,
the
more multifaceted
the themes
of
in the following
"ancientness,"
statement
national
By coordinating
cies for olive
standards
are much
of the IOOC's activities
one can see
address here. However,
and "technoscience"
"naturalness,"
from their website:
implications
than I can
oils
to ensure
and
and marketing
poli
rules and
adopting
production
table olives,
and
product
authenticity
activities
in the
[International
19. In contrast,
that, for tasting,
of the oil cannot
olive
earn
Olive
implement
of agricul
to continue
for
community
working
their livelihood
from olive
farming.
Oil
Council
n.d.,
the Californian
Olive Oil
one had to use dark blue
on the evaluation
impinge
emphasis
added]
Council
insisted
judges
so that the color
glasses
of the taste and smell.
on a graham
20. Baker describes
his peanut
butter
and banana
cracker as "p?t? de fruit?s de nuts of Georgia,"
implicitly
drawing
our attention
to the fact that one does not use this
of dis
language
tinction
to refer to "industrial"
food
(2003:43).
Monty
Python's
a waitress
one of the specials
announces
as
sketch where
spam
aux Crevette
a Mornay
"Lobster Thermidor
sauce served
with
in
a Proven?ale
manner
with
shallots
and aubergines
with
garnished
a fried egg on top and
truffle p?t?, brandy
and with
spam" plays
with
this same theme
(see Monty
1975).
Python
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