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Extra Virginity

The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
For millennia, fresh olive oil has been a necessity - for food, medicine, beauty, and religion. Today's researchers continue to confirm the remarkable, life-giving properties of true extra-virgin, and 'extra-virgin Italian' has become the highest standard of quality. But what if this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt? Starting with an explosive article in The New Yorker, Tom Mueller has become the world's expert on olive oil and olive oil fraud - a story of globalization, deception, and crime from ancient times to the present, and a powerful indictment of today's lax protections against fake and even toxic food products in the United States. Extra Virginity is an inspiring account of the people who are defending the extraordinary oils that truly deserve the name 'extra-virgin.'
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      The subtitle of this work,"The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil," captures the delectable, and distasteful, essence of its topic. Mueller, the world's expert on olive oil production and olive oil fraud, delves into the shocking realities of deception, product globalization, lax regulatory practices, and illegal mixology and bottling that are associated with this product. Narrator Peter Ganim presents this work in a style reminiscent of fiction. His voice lavishes the descriptions of beautiful landscapes of olive groves and delicious olive-oil-infused cuisine with audible love. He gives studied accents to the global range of olive oil producers, farmers, professors, and wholesalers, according to their country of origin. Historical context is provided, which is peppered with references and lavish quotes that still inspire olive oil makers today. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 31, 2011
      Italy resident Mueller, who wrote a piece on olive oil for the New Yorker, is well-situated to interpose olive oil against the Byzantine ways of its present-day production in this intriguing and sumptuously researched book. He begins in southern Puglia at a small, family-run olive oil business, then examines the vastness of Italian farming and olive production and the ongoing struggle for quality oil making. His history takes readers through Europe and eventually around to California and Australia. The book’s organizing conflict centers on current imbalances between trade quality and quantity, and the problematic roles of politics, government, and regulation. Mueller includes specialists in his book from a variety of disciplines, including archeology, classics, and epidemiology. Interspersed historical material follows the oil’s thread out of Mediterranean antiquity through subsequent civilizations and imperiums, into the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Mechanization during the Industrial Revolution, Mueller points out in this engaging story, accelerated production and consumption, but now the industry is plagued by questionable developments that are fortunately offset by the growing artisanal trade.

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  • English

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