From KeHE Distributor’s On Trend magazine comes an article co-authored by Maria Reyes, David Neuman and Alexandra Kicenik Devarenne. KeHE has a strong commitment to olive oil quality and is doing great work to raise the bar in retail selection. Partnering with Extra Virgin Alliance, KeHE sponsored Alexandra to do education at their holiday show’s Olive Oil Pavilion alongside other olive oil experts.
More than ever before, Americans are interested in olive oil and are paying attention to the nuances of a product that was once regarded as commodity cooking oil. Sadly, a lot of the attention is due to reports of scandal in the olive oil trade…. (read more)
Leave a Comment: (March 6, 2017, 9:25AM PT)
Congrats Ms. Devarenne for helping Greece and its olive oil exports!
Please try to attract Trader Joes and Super King Markets in S CA (6 stores and growing, started in 1996 by PhilHellene Armenian-American Peter). I find there Lebanese “Al Koura” Xtra virgin olive oil for $19:00 to $21:00 per glass bottle of 3 Lit.
The Greek olive oil is scarce, in tin cans, more expensive & I really wonder whether it’s “Greek” or faked by the Italian olive oil mafia.
Best of luck!
PS1. Making a documentary years ago for the Athens Nat Res Foundn, one researcher said on camera the Italian olive oil mafia (robbing Cretan olive oil for a long time) was severely penalized by the EEC for mixing up bad oils and selling them as extra virgin. Reason? Those fake olive oils cause cancer. I fear same dangerous “olive oils” have a big presence in US stores today under Italian labeling. Please try to protect the American consumers and assist suffering Greece.
PS2: And I am sure you have the blessings of PhilHellene Thomas Jefferson, olive oil lover (“the richest gift of heaven, the most interesting plant in existence”), who knew Ancient Greek as well.
Thank you very much again.
Thanks Dimitri! I do believe that Greek olive oil deserves more recognition in the US market. And I think it is true that Americans have consumed a lot of Greek EVOO over the years—they just didn’t know it because the brand sounded Italian! I would be careful, though, about repeating things like “those fake olive oils cause cancer.” Of course there can always be a case of contamination of a product with something like an industrial chemical, but most of the time the problem with olive oil “fakery” is just that people are not always getting what they think they are getting because US labels are so opaque. Still, I think it is important for us to reject the sort of blanket statements about “fake olive oil” that are being thrown around. Yes, we have work to have consumer-friendly olive oil labeling in the US, and our olive oil quality monitoring leaves much to be desired, but tarnishing the entire sector with constant talk of “fake” olive oil is not doing anyone any favors. We don’t want to turn people away from what is a good food by making them utterly paranoid about “fake” olive oil.