My memories this week go back to the very early days of my work with olives and olive oil not very long after I had retrained to switch from wine writing to olive oil in the early 1990s. I had written a paper for the then European Union on assessing and describing extra virgin olive…
Spreading the Word……
I am very pleased to announce the addition of another foreign language edition of The Olive Oil Diet, written in conjunction with my co-author Dr. Simon Poole. This one is Bulgarian and it follows Turkish and Spanish editions as well, of course, the English edition. If you would like to buy one of these editions,…
Travel: Nyons and Les Baronnies 2
My first post about this region concentrated on Nyons itself. This time I shall be travelling round the Route des Oliviers from Nyons taking in the villages of Mirabel les Baronnies, Mollans sur Ovese, Buis Les Baronnies and Entrechaux. There are 61 villages included in the Nyons Appellation and they all grow the Tanche olive….
A Taste of Northern Provence
The best places to try the authentically rustic food of the region are at the Fermes Auberges or farm inns like the Auberge du St Julien at Buis Les Baronnies, the Auberge du Domaine Guilon at Chamaret with its own winery and Moulin de Chateau near Villeperdrix with its 12th century buildings and 16th century…
GFW Awards: The Winners and the Best of the Rest
I was one of the judges for the Guild of Food Writer Awards International and Regional Section and was very pleased with the final nominations on which our panel of judges agreed. However, there were some other outstanding books which didn’t quite make it into the final five and but which are well worth buying…
Travel: Nyons and Les Baronnies 1
This is the first of a series of posts about some of the olive trails and routes that I have followed during my travels around the olive oil world. It covers the region of Les Baronnies in the Drome, the most northerly department of Provence. The area takes its name from the local hills but…
A Taste of Catalonia
Writing my post on the Vea estates in Catalonia last week brought back memories of some of great dishes the I have enjoyed when visiting that area. Here are just a few of them. Escalavida …and beyond …
Memories: The Vea family and The Oil Merchant
I first met Charles Carey – The Oil Merchant – when I was still earning my living mainly as a wine writer and was only just starting to take an interest in olive oil. He organised a tasting for the Circle of Wine Writers which I attended and we kept in touch. He became a…
A Taste of Sicily
The food in Sicily is rich and varied and I have collected a good many recipes on my travels there. Here is a selection of them. Caprese and Salami kebabs These lovely little hors d’oeuvres come from a selection of recipes on the new website of The Gift of Oil which I reviewed in my…
Website of the month: https://www.thegiftofoil.co.uk/
The Gift of Oil website is the brainchild of Phil Bianchi who spent the early years of his working life working for blue chip food companies, ending up in Athens working for a large olive oil company. There he was inspired by the quality of the Greek olive oils and vinegars which he felt were…