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The African (Olea Africana) and European (Olea Europaea) olive trees are as horticulturally divergent as the black and white cultures in South Africa. Grafted, the two varieties form a vigorous and productive combination, a metaphor for the progress of black and white cultures in South Africa in rural and semi-urban environments.

The narrative follows the stories of those from Europe who introduced olive oil production to the Western Cape, and the black people who used the African olive for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.

Simon Field is the founder of International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes and an olive producer and trader. He has a Masters degree from Cambridge University and is a former Executive Director of The Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Editor of the journal Agricultural Science. He has also held senior elected positions in farmer organisations. His publications include handbooks on every aspect of olive production, processing and marketing.

Fruity, a Little Bitter and Spicy provides a practical Australian producer’s view of the establishment of an olive enterprise and entry into the global market. Moving from the early days of planting trees, the production of olive oil and involvement in international trade and events, the reader acquires an expansive knowledge of the global industry.

Savantes Savourgram © to be Introduced at Savantes Melbourne, March 2023

The internationally acclaimed International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes Programme will restart in Melbourne with yet another innovation.

With programmes held prepandemic in 11 countries Savantes has introduced the Savantes Skills Test recognising individual tasters, the national Team Tasting Championships in France, Spain and Greece, and the inaugural World Team Tasting Championship held in Spain in 2019.

Now Savantes has developed a new creative multi-dimensional method of tasting and recording extra virgin olive oils.

In the continuing development of the Savantes tasting philosophy we have developed the concept of ‘The Palette of Flavours’ with colours representing the positive characteristics of fruitiness (blue), bitterness (green) and spiciness (red).

To represent the progression of flavours along the palate, a graph has been devised with the vertical axis representing intensity and the horizontal axis representing time in one second intervals.

Clearing out some dusty books I came across a 2011 publication sponsored by the European Union and Spain entitled ‘The surprisingly, marvellous, savoury, curious, healthy, historic, artistic and fantastic world of Olive Oil’. It is a beautiful informative book. The first significant pictorial of food comes on the 27th page. The preceding pages are full of production data, varietals, mythology, olive oil classifications and pictures of the olive groves of Spain stretching to the horizon.

The question is; does it sell olive oil to the consumer or is it a little self-indulgent, trying to satisfy those who paid for it first, the publisher, the producer organisations, the politicians and secondly persuade, incidentally, consumers? Is it trying to portray each of the facets described in the title? I am sure it has made money for the graphic artists, the designers, the authors and the administrators – I question the return to producers? My observation is that in the last 10 years since the publication of this book our narrative has not changed.

We hear endlessly of the Mediterranean diet pyramid in the context of olive oil sales.  Analysis of Google Trends in the USA shows that a slight upward trend in searches on the Diet does not seem to lead to increased searches for olive oil.

  1. Are Laboratories the Replacing the Palate?