Integrative Assignment – Olive Oil

Image: Salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

1. Assumption & Dish:

I miss how my mom always rambled and forced me to eat salad at least twice a week, since she said it was good for my skin. Because I did not like the taste of raw vegetables, I had a tendency to drown my salad in different kinds of creamy dressings until I could not recognize the taste of the vegetables anymore. I sometimes even dipped each salad leaf in the dressing before I ate it. I never knew this was more of an American way to eat rather than Italian until taking Eatalians with Professor Daniela. Now I eventually realize the way my mom eats her salad is the same as Italians do. She doesn’t like her food to be drown in condiments as she wants to enjoy the flavor of what she is eating. She usually dresses her salad with a little bit of olive oil, and vinegar, which is known to be a common dish in Italy.

Image: Olive oil mixed with vinegar, which eventually forming two separate layers.

2. Chemical Analysis:

Olive oil is mostly made up of triglycerides (also known as fats), which contain mainly nonpolar parts, and are hydrophobic. They are also insoluble in water meaning they do not mix with water. This is why when we add vinegar to olive oil, we will see the temporary mixture eventually separate into two layers since vinegars are solutions of acetic acid and water, which are both polar molecules; so in order to properly mix olive oil with water or something acidic, we need an emulsifier, which has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions and is able to attract with polar and nonpolar molecules simultaneously. Olive oil contains a high proportion of monounsaturated fat which makes up from 55 to 83% of the oil, and is liquid at room temperature. Unlike butter that is 50% saturated fat (no double bonds), olive oil is more molecularly unstable due to the double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids, which means it is easily broken down and will oxidize and lower its smoke point when heated. This is also the reason why olive oil has to be packed in dark green bottles and stored in cool, dark places so as to prevent oxidation meaning for the oil not to go rancid with heat and light.

3. Cultural Analysis:

Italians, in particular, care a lot about how they eat and the quality of their food. They demand quality, especially when it comes to extra-virgin olive oil that is known to be the “liquid gold” of Italian cuisine. In the book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, Tom Mueller wrote: “The vast majority of what’s sold around the world as ‘extra-virgin olive oil’ isn’t extra-virgin at all”. We learned about this olive oil fraud in Eatalians, and how the poor quality oil was passed off as fresh, pure, and truly extra-virgin olive oil. This is due to the fact that inferior olive oil, or lampante is deliberately mislabeled as extra virgin on the bottles, which might eventually lead some authentic olive oil makers to close down their business if the problem continues. Unlike people in America or even where I am from, Italians, from distant past to present day still care a lot about the quality and how “extra-virgin” the olive oil is. This is why Italians often travel with their own extra virgin olive oil rather than risk being subjected to rancid or counterfeit one on the table. The higher the quality of the oil, the better it tastes on the salad or other dish. There is also another concern on how they should use olive oil on their food. There is nothing known as “Italian dressing” or “French Dressing” in Italy. In fact, there is only one really popular dressing there – a simple mix of olive oil, and vinegar. Italians like to taste what they are eating, so they make sure to never drown their salad in dressings as they believe condiments should only be used sparingly to enhance, but not to rob the actual flavor of the food.

4. Integration:

Olive oil, is more than something to drizzle over a dish. It is something that Italians cannot be separated from. From my observation, I see a connection between the fact that olive oil is not dissolved in vinegar and the way Italian people never want their food to be drown in dressings. They enjoy the actual flavor of the main dish so they do not want their food, such as salad to be “mixed” with the condiment, just like the way oil is insoluble in water due to its nonpolar parts. Another connection which I found quite interesting is that olive oil is molecularly unstable just as the way the olive oil industry is unsteady. Because of the double bonds in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, olive oil is easily broken down light, heat, and air, which is as unstable as the structure of the oil industry leading to oil fraud, and making the quality of the oil go down.