ONLY 4% OF WORLD POPULATION USES OLIVE OIL. IN ITALY IT’S 50%, IN THE U.S. A LOW 2.6%

It has even claimed the title of “health food”. One spoonful a day helps against bad cholesterol, diminishes the risk of heart disease and the incidence of cancer in women, but still olive oil is only used by 4% of the world population. In Italy, total use does reach 50% but in the U.S. use barely rises above 2.6%. This data was recently released by Flavio Tattarini, president of Enoteca Italia in Milan, during the presentation of Settimana Nazionale dell'Olio (National Olive Oil Week), an event created to launch and to sensitive people to the beneficial uses of Italian olive oil. This year, the initiative’s 10th edition will be held from February 17 to 26. It was inaugurated at “Identità Golose”, a huge kermess dedicated entirely to the culinary arts held in Palazzo Mezzanotte at the end of January.

The event’s guest of honor this year will be Sicily, the only region that managed to register an increase in production (+12%) in 2005, which is the opposite of a national trend that registered a drop of 13.5%. Overall, however, regardless of its 200,000,000 trees, 350 varieties, production of about 700,000 tons of oil, and 36 registered DOP (Denomination of Protected Origin) oils, Italy has been surpassed by Spain in olive oil production.

”A gap that we could not close even if we planted olives in Piazza Duomo”, commented Enrico Lupi, president of the Città dell’Olio association. Italy must therefore put an emphasis on quality production, just as other “Made in Italy” sectors are doing.

”If we are in second place for quantity, we are surely in first place for quality”, continued Tattarin. “Our exports surpass a value of 2,000 billion lira with an increase of 15%, and we are present on all of the most important markets”. The olive oil sector earns about 961 million euros, and more consumers must be allowed to discover this typical Italian product (the olive is also a symbol of the Mediterranean) year after year.

In 2004 Italian families bought 1.4 billion euros worth of olive oil, an increase of 6.3% in respect to 2003. But consumers, according to producers and experts alike, are still not sufficiently sensitized to the importance of using high quality oil in the kitchen. While tactics are being studied to promote the use of olive oil in restaurants (with ideas like offering a 10 centiliter bottle to customers that can be taken home if not finished during the meal), the week long Settimana dell’olio event will kick off a new campaign to promote Italian oil.

Sponsored by the Fondazione Qualitativa, the campaign is titled “Io amo l’olio italiano” (I love Italian oil) and hopes to re-launch various quality olive oil products with the DOP, IGP and extra virgin seal. Oil Week will be held in Siena, Ragusa, Rome, and Milan offering, among other things, exclusive olive oil tastings.

The Ampolla d’Oro prize will also be awarded to ex German Minister Otto Schily (an avid Sicily fan), to journalist Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti, cook Ciccio Sultano, and actor Ricky Tognazzi.

There’s even a curiosity that will be presented during the event, the “Frangitura del Decennale”, a mini and portable olive press, invented and patented in Tuscany.