`EVOO Takes Center Stage as Milan Expo Winds Down - Olive Oil Times
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

EVOO Takes Center Stage as Milan Expo Winds Down

By Ylenia Granitto
Oct. 26, 2015 15:21 UTC

Expo 2015 is going through the final month of events, over­flow­ing with last-minute vis­i­tors who wind through the long lines to reach the var­i­ous pavil­ions and enjoy food and cul­ture from around the world. And now, the focus is on olive oil.

The Universal Exhibition was the occa­sion for a spe­cial edi­tion of Ercole Olivario, a national com­pe­ti­tion ded­i­cated to the best Italian extra vir­gin olive oils.

- Laura De Parri, Cerrosughero

A selec­tion of com­pa­nies with a his­tory of suc­cess at Ercole Olivario was pre­sented to Expo atten­dees. The ​“Premium List 2015” was com­posed of 103 com­pa­nies from 17 Italian regions — a cat­a­log of pro­duc­ers and farm­ers who rep­re­sent Italian olive oil excel­lence. The series of con­fer­ences, tast­ings, pair­ings and cook­ing shows involved pro­fes­sion­als and ama­teurs, cooks and press.

Ercole Olivario also had a social per­spec­tive at the Expo. The uni­ver­sal value of the olive oil as a uni­fy­ing ele­ment of peace and broth­er­hood was the sub­ject of a meet­ing enti­tled ​“Olive Tree, Guardian of the Earth, Guardian of Men” that took place in the Holy See Pavilion.

During the event a bas­ket con­tain­ing 100 bot­tles of EVOO was deliv­ered to rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Refettorio Ambrosiano, an insti­tu­tion that com­bines qual­ity food and sol­i­dar­ity in the recep­tion of refugees. All pro­duc­ers par­tic­i­pat­ing in the com­pe­ti­tion were invited to join the ini­tia­tive by send­ing olive oil to a migrant recep­tion cen­ter in their region — a small ges­ture in the face of a huge cri­sis, yet one that can serve as a call for ethic and social respon­si­bil­ity in the agribusi­ness sec­tor.

Laura De Parri runs the farm Cerrosughero in Canino, Latium, where the mono­va­ri­etal EVOO DOP Canino is pro­duced. ​“It is a great sat­is­fac­tion for us to be selected for the Premium List,” she said. ​“We are so proud to have cre­ated a qual­ity prod­uct despite the dif­fi­cul­ties encoun­tered last year. This year, our olives are per­fect and we expect a great olive oil.”

About the spirit of sol­i­dar­ity that per­me­ated this edi­tion of the com­pe­ti­tion De Parri added, ​“It was touch­ing to give our small con­tri­bu­tion to help peo­ple who faced such dif­fi­cul­ties. I hope every­one will fol­low this exam­ple.”

Another win­ning pro­ducer, Roberto Ranise, announced ​“We can count on a larger pro­duc­tion and a bet­ter qual­ity than the last year of our Taggiasca.” He received sev­eral awards with the light fruity EVOO DOP Riviera Ligure, Riviera dei Fiori, pro­duced in province of Imperia. ​“I am pleased that Ercole Olivario judges rec­og­nized our ded­i­ca­tion to qual­ity over years.”

Another event was orga­nized by Pandolea — Women of Olive Oil — an asso­ci­a­tion of pro­duc­ers and experts. They pre­sented ​“Bruschetta or Merendina?” — an edu­ca­tional project on healthy eat­ing and olive oil cul­ture for stu­dents in pri­mary schools.

More articles on:  , ,

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles