The best Italian extra-virgins are made by authentic artist-craftsmen, who combine traditional farm wisdom and cutting-edge extraction technology to produce the finest oils in history. Despite the unprecedented quality and popularity of their oils, however, top Italian producers are being steadily driven from the market by fraud. Extra-virgin olive oil is difficult and expensive to make, yet alarmingly easy to adulterate with inferior grades of olive oil, cheap seed and nut oils, or worse. Skilled oil criminals are flooding the market with low-cost, faux extra-virgins, reaping rich profits and undercutting honest producers. Yet the Italian government does little to fight this corruption. Extravirginity introduces olive oil's saints and sinners, whose conflicts, over the next decade, will determine the fate of quality olive oil worldwide: a feisty pugliese woman of sixty struggling to keep the family business afloat; her mafiosa neighbour who has grown wealthy on adulterated oil; a terminally-ill manager from Milan who is dedicating his last years to preserving high-quality olive oil; and a Catholic priest in Sicily who harvests olives and makes oil on lands confiscated from Cosa Nostra, despite regular death-threats. Extravirginity is rich with classical allusion, with the integral cultural significance of olive oil, and the passion of those who produce it.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.05
Trade in Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.05, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'Eye-opening, a brilliantly researched expose of the industry' --Sunday Times
'This fascinating investigation shows there's no trade more slippery than olive oil' --Observer
'Mueller has a gift for balance, celebrating olive oil and inspiring the consumer to be more oil-aware' --The Times
'Admirable and enjoyable... The author's revelation of olive-oil crime is alarming' --Irish Times
`Mueller writes about olive oil with passion and style, and offers many surprises. Who would have thought that the world of olive oil could be so full of intrigue and crime?'
--Literary Review
'This fascinating investigation shows there's no trade more slippery than olive oil' --Observer
'Mueller has a gift for balance, celebrating olive oil and inspiring the consumer to be more oil-aware' --The Times
'Admirable and enjoyable... The author's revelation of olive-oil crime is alarming' --Irish Times
`Mueller writes about olive oil with passion and style, and offers many surprises. Who would have thought that the world of olive oil could be so full of intrigue and crime?'
--Literary Review
About the Author
Tom Mueller lives in Liguria, Italy with his wife and three children. Educated at Oxford and Harvard, he is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, and also writes for National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Blue in Washington
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
An interview with author Tom Mueller on NPR's "Splendid Table" program led me to buy the book. Mueller is just as passionate in person about his subject--great olive oil--as he is in his writing. He is equally strong in chronicling his outrage over what the greed of producers and distributors is doing to undermine the quality of the product. All of this is laid out at length in "Extra Virginity". And it is the extensive investigatory reporting on the greed and criminality that makes the book drag considerably. Still, it does make his warnings and buying counsel to consumers of olive oil the more convincing, even if it makes the book more difficult to read.
What I (gratefully) did get from this book were some great sources to find authentic extra virgin olive oil and a persuasive argument that quality in the product does matter for culinary and health reasons. These are two good reasons to buy Mueller's book. And here's a tip to perspective readers who might, like me, tire of the long passages about Italian oil criminality or semi-cryptic descriptions of olive oil's chemical makeup: you can skip to page 221 of the book where begins Mueller's detailed Appendix, and where you will find all of the information you need to locate, buy and appreciate authentic extra virgin olive oil of any origin. It includes what to avoid as well as how and when to purchase. I have used the information and bought my first Mueller-recommended oil--a Spanish label, Castillo de Canena, that is every good thing that Mueller promised it would be, including crushingly expensive.
Finally, here are few things that I learned from this book: most extra virgin olive oil sold in the U.S. probably isn't extra virgin oil; to get the good stuff, you have to pay a premium; olive oil is great for your health, if you get the right stuff; the color of the oil doesn't indicate quality; point of origin indicated on the label of any olive oil doesn't relate to quality; there is no single country that produces "the best olive oil".
So, although this may not be the easiest-flowing book, overall it's a fine source of information about an important and interesting food product that is a big plus to quality of life.
What I (gratefully) did get from this book were some great sources to find authentic extra virgin olive oil and a persuasive argument that quality in the product does matter for culinary and health reasons. These are two good reasons to buy Mueller's book. And here's a tip to perspective readers who might, like me, tire of the long passages about Italian oil criminality or semi-cryptic descriptions of olive oil's chemical makeup: you can skip to page 221 of the book where begins Mueller's detailed Appendix, and where you will find all of the information you need to locate, buy and appreciate authentic extra virgin olive oil of any origin. It includes what to avoid as well as how and when to purchase. I have used the information and bought my first Mueller-recommended oil--a Spanish label, Castillo de Canena, that is every good thing that Mueller promised it would be, including crushingly expensive.
Finally, here are few things that I learned from this book: most extra virgin olive oil sold in the U.S. probably isn't extra virgin oil; to get the good stuff, you have to pay a premium; olive oil is great for your health, if you get the right stuff; the color of the oil doesn't indicate quality; point of origin indicated on the label of any olive oil doesn't relate to quality; there is no single country that produces "the best olive oil".
So, although this may not be the easiest-flowing book, overall it's a fine source of information about an important and interesting food product that is a big plus to quality of life.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a genuine call for action. Action against worldwide fraud and for traceable quality.
Action by the consumers: get to know the real stuff. Don't accept wrongly labeled (or worse) oils.
Tom Mueller doesn't hide his emotions, especially when describing the passionate people he has met all over the world. Some of us may not like this; they might have preferred a facts-only book. Yet, once you have tasted real Extra Vergine olive oil ... you cannot but become a missionary.
If you are at least a bit interested in authentic Extra Vergine olive oil, then this book is a must. Take your time and read it page by page. Verify what you read on the internet or even better: in the field. I am sure Mr Mueller won't mind.
Action by the consumers: get to know the real stuff. Don't accept wrongly labeled (or worse) oils.
Tom Mueller doesn't hide his emotions, especially when describing the passionate people he has met all over the world. Some of us may not like this; they might have preferred a facts-only book. Yet, once you have tasted real Extra Vergine olive oil ... you cannot but become a missionary.
If you are at least a bit interested in authentic Extra Vergine olive oil, then this book is a must. Take your time and read it page by page. Verify what you read on the internet or even better: in the field. I am sure Mr Mueller won't mind.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. D. Hinds
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
a very good book which extends are knowledge of what to and what not to do with it. good value for money
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 87 reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting read
As a buyer and consumer of olive oil I found this book quite interesting although not quite as 'scandalous' as the title would have you believe! Read more
Published 7 days ago by traveller
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good read!
This book is so well written and such a revelation that has made me more careful about the olive oil I buy. A real eye opener.
Published 28 days ago by BJack
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing read
For a person that starts its olive oil journey, this book is an eye opener. It certainly compels me to conduct my own research of course and it provides the pathway to do so. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Salgeorge
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good buy.
A well researched,well written and informative book The only reservation to my mind is that the printing is a bit small in the paperback edition anyway! A good buy!
Published 3 months ago by Mr. Philip Blythin
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very interesting and TRUE account of the where your olive oil comes...
If you have ever bought a bottle of olive oil from the supermarket thinking, "Great, I'm going to start using olive oil because it's good for me", then read this, and get ready for... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tuscan Sam
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasure Trove
This book touches on a myriad of subjects surrounding the history of olive oil, its qualities and its uses. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Chris Mercer
2.0 out of 5 stars
Extra Virginity - the people but not the product
I should have heeded the warning from Washington Blue - this book is long on people but rather short on the product - Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Read more
Published 13 months ago by R. Mackenzie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extra star
I agree with the view and analysis of the first reviewer of this book .. it is at times turgid in its detail and unstructured. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Narwhal
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
