Did you know that each Greek consumes about 18kg of olive oil per year? Greece is on the top of the world list in per capita consumption and has been there forever.

A story of true love

According to most Greeks, there simply cannot be a meal that does not include olive oil. From breakfast to brunch, lunch or dinner, they all contain their fair amount of this shiny golden product that has formed the Mediterranean cuisine ever since antiquity.

The olive tree had always been regarded as a sign of prosperity and honour, in recognition to its contribution in the health and economic development of Ancient Greece. Together with the olive, its fruit, they have helped sustain, cure, light, aromatize and clean ever since 8.000 B.C.

As for the Greeks, there is simply no other oil. When they say that they use oil in every food, that could only be one: olive oil!

When and how to use olive oil

A myth has been spreading for decades now that olive oil shouldn’t be ued for cooking. Well, that is all wrong. The only way you are not supposed to use olive oil is at very high temperatures and you cannot use the same olive oil to fry repeatedly. Other than that, it can freely by used in frying, in cooking in the oven and you can also use it for many sweets.

But its by far most useful usage is in raw form, in salads, poured on already cooked and served legumes, on meat, on cheese, on bread, when making phylo pastry, in spinach pies and all sorts of pies, on your hair (! yes, it is true, they become soft, elastic and shiny), on your skin (it gets smoother and younger) … you get the point, right?

You can’t expect anything different from me. After all, I’ve been living in Greece for 6 years now that I already consider myself Greek.