The Land of Olive Oil and Cheese

I never knew how little I could know about something, and that something is olive oil. I mean, I know what it is in essence and in practice, I know that it’s an oil, and that you can use it to cook things, to garnish things, and to dip bread. Cornell in Rome has taught me, in addition to a plethora of other things, that there is so much more to olive oil. For one, there are people out there who have made it their profession to taste and judge olive oils. The man they invited to lead a tasting at the Palazzo was a professional in every sense of the word. He rarely laughed, spoke strictly Italian to deliver an articulate presentation unhindered by sloppy translation, and wore a suit. His stoic demeanor influenced us to take the whole thing very seriously.

He served us three different brands of olive oil from different regions and composed of varying types of olives. Apparently, there’s between five hundred and six hundred different types. Personally, I would’ve never cared to know that, but it’s still pretty cool to know. Oh, and they’re all green, all olives start out green and then change color as they ripen. So, black olives are just green olives that have gone through some stuff. Green olives are like babies. And red olives are teenagers. Are you enjoying this metaphor?

Tasting olive oil correctly requires an immersive experience involving all five senses. First, to best recognize the taste and quality of the oil, it’s better to drink it rather than eat it with bread. First, you warm it up by covering the glass with your palm, and then you smell it. Some people said they could smell tomatoes in the second one, but I just smelled olives. Next you sip some of it and pool it underneath your tongue, sucking in air through your teeth to release the flavors (or something). Finally, you swallow. The whole experience isn’t very pleasant because it’s similar to taking a shot of vodka. It burns. But it’s interesting just how different olive oils can taste.

In addition to teaching us how to taste, he taught us how to distinguish good oil from bad just by looking at the bottle. A rule of thumb: if olive oil is stored in a clear glass container, then it’s bad because olive oil responds delicately to light, and so quality olive oils are stored in dark glass bottles. I guess the one I have been using is bad.

After tasting olive oil, we tasted six different artisanal cheeses. They were all fantastic, and I had zero complaints. There was one blue cheese that was actually yellow that most people hated because it had gross green mold in it. But I enjoyed it, I just had to look past its homely appearance a bit.

All in all, I rate the experience a solid 8.

Ciao,

Jacob

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Jacob Swaim

Hi! My name's Jacob and I'm a fifth year Cornell architecture student studying in NYC. Hope you enjoy reading about my personal story in the city that never sleeps.

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