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The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#61

Post by [deleted] »

logfromblammo wrote: post #58
balabaster wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now now, many of the British have far more varied and refined palates than you suggest. Since we actually have some of the leading chefs in the world our cuisine has actually stepped up it's game. It's not been the bland stodge we built a reputation for since I was a kid.

A lot of cuisine options open up with international shipping and with international immigration. It's not a surprise when a climate that can only reliably grow rye, barley, oats, potatoes, beets, and cabbage produces cooks and traditional dishes that don't even recognize the existence of certain flavors. But once the ships make it there and back again, those same cooks are forced to experiment to figure out what to d…

[deleted]

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#62

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

jhbadger wrote: post #38
derrasterpunkt wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, it would be weird if they mentioned potatoes or tomatoes in their texts.

Although a lot of Americans get confused when "corn" is mentioned in various translations of the bible, not understanding that maize is not being referenced (which would be very weird indeed) but that the word "corn" used to (and still does to some extant) be used to refer to grains in general and wheat was probably being referred to.

> Although a lot of Americans get confused when "corn" is mentioned in various translations of the bible, not understanding that maize is not being referenced (which would be very weird indeed)

A lot of people even in the Old World have forgotten that maize is an import. For example, for several centuries now the staple food of the poor in Romania was mamaligă, mush from ground maize like Italy’s polenta. (Mamaligă still remains popular as a quick and convenient dish, made tasty with cheese and sour cream). If you wonder out loud among Romanians what mamaligă was originally made from, a lot of people will tell you that it must have always been made from maize; they aren’t even aware that maize was brought to Europe after 1492.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#63

Post by riffraff »

falcor84 wrote: post #25
mbel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's even more weird is all abrahamic religions mention olive in their books. Not weird at all. After all they all originate roughly from the same region.

Exactly, and they mention pretty much every other major food item from the area too. Also, being direct influences on one another, it would be enough for the old testament to make a big deal out of olives, to make the conditional probability of the others doing so very high.

It does, doesn't it? I'm fairly sure there's an olive branch mentioned at the end of the deluge story.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#64

Post by riffraff »

spodek wrote: post #2

I predict that olive oil will soon go through the transition that orange juice did. When I was a kid, people viewed orange juice as healthy. Now we see it as unhealthy -- just the sugar. Maybe some vitamin C, but not many people get scurvy. Whatever health benefits it has are overwhelmed by the otherwise empty calories. People want to believe more olive oil will make their diet into a healthy Mediterranean one, but i…

Are you talking of industrial orange juice? I've never heard squeezed oranges to be considered unhealthy.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#65

Post by ska »

coldtea wrote: post #56
dmm wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've plucked an olive from a tree and eaten it? Try it sometime and you'll see... The olives eaten in Italian and Greek cuisines are all processed using one of the methods described in the article to remove the extremely bitter compound oleuropein.

> You've plucked an olive from a tree and eaten it? Try it sometime and you'll see... More often than you'll think. But we usually cut them open, and treat them (is this called "curing"?) in water, salt, and oil. But the article starts with "Thank goodness we figured out how to press olives into oil, because eating them raw is not a pleasant option" which is simply not true, except if raw here is meant like "exactly…

"exactly as they are on the tree"

Wasn't that was the point of the article? You pretty much have to do something to them to make them palatable.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#68

Post by joshuaheard »

riffraff wrote: post #64
spodek wrote: post #2

I predict that olive oil will soon go through the transition that orange juice did. When I was a kid, people viewed orange juice as healthy. Now we see it as unhealthy -- just the sugar. Maybe some vitamin C, but not many people get scurvy. Whatever health benefits it has are overwhelmed by the otherwise empty calories. People want to believe more olive oil will make their diet into a healthy Mediterranean one, but i…

Are you talking of industrial orange juice? I've never heard squeezed oranges to be considered unhealthy.

I read the sugar content is too high in orange juice. It was recommended to eat the whole fruit instead so there is less sugar and more fiber.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#69

Post by kiliantics »

spodek wrote: post #2

I predict that olive oil will soon go through the transition that orange juice did. When I was a kid, people viewed orange juice as healthy. Now we see it as unhealthy -- just the sugar. Maybe some vitamin C, but not many people get scurvy. Whatever health benefits it has are overwhelmed by the otherwise empty calories. People want to believe more olive oil will make their diet into a healthy Mediterranean one, but i…

There are already lots of people that believe olive oil is unhealthy. People who subscribe to a "whole foods" diet believe all forms of refined foods, including oils, can have negative effects on health, and there is quite a lot of research which supports these claims:

http://www.plantplate.com/Guide/Detail?GuideID=1009

The problem with fructose, its effects on the liver, and the mitigation of these effects from eating the whole fruit with its fibre and other nutrients, is now very well established scientifically. I would not be surprised if we reach a similar level of understanding about refined oils.

Re: The Bitter Truth About Olives (2016)

#70

Post by falcor84 »

riffraff wrote: post #63
falcor84 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, and they mention pretty much every other major food item from the area too. Also, being direct influences on one another, it would be enough for the old testament to make a big deal out of olives, to make the conditional probability of the others doing so very high.

It does, doesn't it? I'm fairly sure there's an olive branch mentioned at the end of the deluge story.

That's right, the dove brought an olive leaf. And another significant mention is as part of the anointing oil - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_anointing_oil
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