The Olive, Tree of Civilization

by John Train

The Olive Tree of Civilisation has a rich and varied history. The gnarled tree and its fruits has been extolled by bards from Ovid and Homer to Kipling, Tennyson and Nerua. What other fruit provides light, is a fundamental ingredient in perfume and adds joy and flavour at the table? The ancients knew these virtues and olive oil became a key to their religious and political ceremonies, from the temples of Ra in Egypt where lamps burned olive oil, to the temple of Soloman, where kings were anointed with oil based ointments. Christ was offered a sip of oil on the cross; Hanukah is, at its origin, a festival to celebrate olive oil; the tree and its oil are found in the Koran. Today the oil is worshipped by chefs for its flavours and its colours. For decades, cooks and anthropologists have divided Europe along an olive oil/butter boundary; that line is vanishing as olive oil spreads around the globe. This book explores and brings to life the olives's glorious past, with chapters on the fruit's role in

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2004

About the author

John Pell Coster Train was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of The Paris Review.

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author gives a brief look at the olive throughout history. He has short chatpers on uses, production, and cooking with olives. At least half of the book consists of photographs. One fault is than when talking about cooking with olives, he has photgraphs of dishes but no recipes for those dishes.

[Daniel Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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