Description: Olive oil is the principal dietary fat throughout most of the region, as far as the northern margins of the cultivation of the olive tree Olea Europea, where it is gradually replaced by solid animal fats such as butter, lard and goose fat.
food (18695) diet (2556) santé (2086) mediterranean (635) cholesterol (193) huile d’olive (13) monounsaturated fat (1) heart disease. (1)
Although olive oil has been a staple food in the Mediterranean for thousands of years, it is only relatively recently that its goodness has come under medical scrutiny, to emerge with flying colours.
Olive oil is the principal dietary fat throughout most of the region, as far as the northern margins of the cultivation of the olive tree Olea Europea , where it is gradually replaced by solid animal fats such as butter, lard and goose fat. To the east, in Asia Minor, in parts of the Middle East, and into Asia, it is replaced by sesame and other nut and seed oils, and ghee (clarified butter), and to the south, in the African hinterland, by peanut, coconut and palm oils.
In the West, the culinary use of olive oil is now commonplace but its widespread availability is a fairly recent phenomenon. Although olive oil of acceptable quality is generally available in the large supermarkets and multiple stores at very reasonable prices, thanks to volume buying, specialist food stores and delicatessens stock a better range of extra virgin and blended oils from different countries, predominantly Italy, Spain and Greece.