History of oil: origin and uses of one of the basic ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine

THE’oil it is a liquid hydrophobic with high viscositywhich can have different origins (animal, vegetable, mineral, “modified”) and is used for numerous uses. The oldest oil is the olive onewhich has existed since prehistoric times. THE’olive constitutes, together with the vine and the wheat, one of the elements of “Mediterranean trinity”: that is, it is one of the most important plants of the civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea basin. Oil production is mentioned by numerous texts of the ancient world, including the Code of Hammurabi. For many centuries, however, oil was used more for food lamps and for other uses than cooking. Furthermore, the olive tree, unlike other plants, is not never spread outside the Mediterranean and today it is still produced and consumed especially in the Basin countries. In the rest of the world, other types of oils are preferred.

What do we mean by oil

Oil is a word with a very broad meaning and generically indicates a viscous and hydrophobic liquid (i.e. that it cannot be mixed with water). Originally the word indicated only theolive oilwhich is the oldest, but was later used to designate numerous other liquids of vegetal origin (in addition to olive oil, that of sunflower seeds, soybeans, linseed, etc.), animal (for example, cod liver oil), mineral (petroleum and others).

Numerous “modified” artificial oils derive from “natural” oils. The use is also very varied: oils are used in food, cosmetics, pharmacology, as fuels and for many other uses. In the food sector, in our country, as in the entire Mediterranean basin, olive oil is mainly used in cooking.

When oil was born: production and consumption in the ancient world

The origins of olive oil date back to Prehistory. Man fed on olives produced by wild olive trees (i.e. wild olive trees) since the dawn of time and with the passage of time it has learned to extract the oil. Around 5000 years before Christ the cultivation of the domestic olive treewhich originally established itself in the Syro-Palestinian area and then spread to other territories of the Mediterranean and the Near East. Olive oil was certainly known to the Babylonian civilization and is mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest legislative code we know, dating back to 1700 BC. The olive tree was widespread in Crete and in the 2nd millennium BC the production and trade of oil became one of the sources of the wealth of the Minoan civilization.

Originally, olive oil was used not so much for food purposes, but for power the lamps and, to a lesser extent, for cosmetics and drug production. However, olive oil was not used everywhere. Since the ancient world, they also established themselves in the Mediterranean other types of oilsuch as linseed, while in other areas of the world different types prevailed, for example soybean oil in the East and that of palm in pre-Columbian American civilizations.

Oil in Greece and Rome

The oil was widely spread in the Greek civilizationas demonstrated by both literary texts and archaeological evidence. It was the ancient Greeks who spread the cultivation of olive trees in the Mediterranean Sea.

Olive oil also spread to Rome and was introduced into almost all the territories of the empire. In Roman times, the first classifications of oils based on geographical origin. Several authors, in fact, mentioned oil in their works and highlighted its importance.

The symbolic value of oil and the olive tree

Thanks to its diffusion, oil and the olive tree became important elements of the culture of Mediterranean civilizations and also entered the mythology and in the rituality. For the Greeks the olive tree was the sacred tree Pallas Athenawho according to the myth caused a plant to sprout in the place where the city of Athens was built. Oil also had a strong symbolic value in the Jewish world, to the point of being used for the anointing of kings and priests, who were “bathed” with consecrated oil upon taking office. From Judaism, the symbolic value of oil passed to Christianity. Since the first centuries, the Church included both the olive tree in its liturgy, with celebrations such as the Palm Sundayboth the oil, with rites such as theanointing of the sick. The same word Christ it is nothing other than the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means precisely “anointed”. From religious rites oil has also become an important element in secular ritualso much so that until the modern age sovereigns celebrated their coronation by being anointed.

Olive oil from the Middle Ages to the modern age

Olive cultivation decreased, like all agricultural production, after the fall of the Roman Empire, but it did not stop and continued throughout the Middle Ages. The Italian maritime republics also built their wealth on the oil trade. Although it was also used in cooking already in ancient and medieval times, only around the 18th century it became an indispensable component of the diet, at least in the regions in which it was produced.

The olive tree has never crossed, except to a limited extent, i borders of the Mediterranean basin. In the 18th century it was introduced to the American continent but, unlike vines and wheat, it encountered greater difficulties in establishing itself. American production has always remained marginal and the plant is almost completely absent on other continents.

Olive oil today

Today the production of olive oil comes largely from Mediterranean countries. According to data from the International Olive Oil Council, the top three producing countries are, in order, Spain, Italy and Greece. Global production is growing and has tripled in the last sixty years, going from one million to over three million tons. The consumption of olive oil is also widespread, especially in the Mediterranean basin, where it constitutes an important element of the Mediterranean diet. According to the North America Olive Oil Association, the country with the highest per capita consumption is Greece, with 24 liters per year, followed by Spain (around 15 litres) and Italy (around 13 litres). However, if we consider all oils, not just those for food use, it emerges that olive oil is the least used on a global level.