An olive oil war rages between Italy and Spain. - eviltoast
  • BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    In this case both wins, Italy gets a cut and Spain gets to sell their oil.

    The only loses is us consumers.

    Regarding olives, my favorite are Kalamata from Greece.

    • dalz@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      Olive oil will become a luxury product anyway, with Xylella and climate change harming production. Italy’s olive future looks especially grim, considering we’ve banned cultivattion of GMOs which could aid against the parasites and droughts.

      Most (all?) people I’ve cooked with use EVO oil for everything but deep frying, so I bet a significant fraction of olive oil used in Italy ends up ruined in a hot pan!

    • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That’s an angle I’ve yet to see at upscale markets, turbo-branding the specific qualities of olive oil from Morocco.
      Someone could make a fortune if they’re not careful!
      “Whoops! I slipped on Moroccan olive oil and hit the ground rich!”

  • Damage@feddit.it
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    2 months ago

    Italy has a fraction of the territory of Spain, of which a fraction is usable in agriculture (Italy is mostly mountains), and a fraction of that can be used for Olive trees. Of course Spain has more yield, with their immense spaces and flat fields.

    As for selling more or less, it’s just a supply chain thing, Italian companies were better placed to sell it, but the bottle clearly states when it’s Italian oil and when it’s not.
    These sort of antagonizing takes intra-EU are not helpful.

    • Sconrad122@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Italy is 60% of the size of Spain and has a similar ratio of arable land (27.1 vs 27.9% per Wikipedia, Spain is also quite mountainous). Doesn’t really invalidate the point in your comment, but I expected a bigger difference when comparing "immense spaces and flat fields"to a mostly mountainous fraction of the territory

      • Damage@feddit.it
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        2 months ago

        Honestly I’m surprised, but anyway you grow crops on arable land, not trees.

        • federal reverse@feddit.orgM
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          2 months ago

          A big difference between Spain and at least Greece, is that in Spain, farmers tend to optimize for yield. This means they are planting and cutting down trees quite often, whereas in Greece old trees are usually left standing for longer.

          (Can’t really say about Italy though.)

      • AdNecrias@lemmy.pt
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        2 months ago

        One of the world’s biggest olive producers is Tunisia, where you have actual desert. Anything that can capture a little of the humidity, like valleys in between hills, they plant olive trees. If it has a little more water it’s dates.