Olive Oil: Integrative Assignment 2

1. Assumption:

Whenever I went to a restaurant, I always ordered a salad dressing with my salad for the longest time. I assumed everyone was like that. When I started having just olive oil and balsamic vinegar on my salads, I did not realize that was a very Italian thing. I never thought that salad dressing wasn’t a commonality around the world. I never really considered it until Eatalians when I learned that Italians tended to dress their salads with olive oil and vinegar. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are people, who like myself, want to accentuate their food rather than drown it.

2. Dish:

A salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing is not a commonly thought Italian dish, but because of their appreciation for tasting what you are eating and not drowning your food in sauces or dressings, I believe it to be an Italian dish. Being able to taste the greens and vegetables in the salad and appreciate the flavors with the pairing of vinegar and olive oil is a very Italian thing.

3. Chemical Analysis:

Olive oil is composed of triglycerides (fats) meaning it has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts and does not mix with water. Olive oil needs an emulsifier to mix with a liquid, which is why if you let your oil and vinegar dressing sit for too long, the oil and vinegar will form their own layers in the bottle. When olive oil is heated, fatty acids from the triglycerides break off which make the oil taste more unpleasant taste and lowers the smoke point of the oil.

Olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fatty acid. This can vary from about 55 to 83% of the olive oil. The other 17 to 45% is made up of polyunsaturated fatty acid and saturated fatty acid. Olive oil contains no trans fatty acids, which has been known to cause cholesterol problems and heart issues in people who consume too many.

4. Cultural Analysis:

Italians have a great appreciation for food and like to actually taste what they are eating. Unlike Americans, they will not drown their salads in dressing. Many restaurants will not even have the dressings we know in the United States. The dressing they tend to put on their salads are olive oil and vinegar, which instead of overpowering the vegetable flavors in the salads, accentuate them. There is a big difference in the way many Americans eat their salads and how most Italians in Italy eat their salads. There is also more of a care for the quality when dressing their salads. There is more of a care about olive oil and more concern, from some, on whether the oil is really extra-virgin or not.

The care for the quality of olive oil isn’t as strong as it used to be, but there are still people who push for the olive oil industry to be as strong as it can be and to create the best olive oil possible. The flavors gotten from a quality olive oil really adds so much to a salad or other food, but as a dressing, you don’t want to adulterate it with a mediocre oil, you want olive oil that tastes good, so the more truly extra-virgin (purely olive oil with fresh picked olives that are pressed that day and have no impurities) is what you want, but that is now difficult to find as it is very expensive.

5. Integration:

The higher the quality, the better the olive oil tastes and compliments the food. In the book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller, he talks about people whose job it is to sniff and taste olive oil to test the quality of the oil. They could detect different flavors in each oil that gave each one its own unique flavor. They lightly heat the oil to get the aroma to waft out, but are careful to not heat it too much as that will release the fatty acids, breaking them off of the glycerol backbone, and causing hydrolytic rancidity. They have to be very careful to not overheat the oil and not ruin the flavor, but keep it so it warms to release the aromas and bring out the flavors. Olive oil, when it is truly extra-virgin, is a desirable, high-quality addition to foods, like salads as a dressing, and allow you to enjoy all flavors without being overpowering because it is a light additive, instead of a thick, super flavored dressing.