Ciao !
People think "Oh those tourist Americans who ask for oil and bread"; that may be true in restaurants but...EVERYONE whose culture includes good olive oil eats A LOT of oil and bread! On my recent trip to Italy (and every trip) it was ubiquitous. One of the food shows that I watch featured restaurants whose oil and bread are worth travelling for, and remember, this is Italy where the bar already starts really high!
I just took my baby to New York and poured it all over my leftover New York pizza slice... I carry it on the plane, I carry it in my purse, EXCELLENT OLIVE OIL ELEVATES EVERYTHING.
For over 20 years I have used our olive oil several times each day and usually as a condiment and always wonder out loud, how can this be SO SO good?
"...In a country that debates everything food, one of the things about which Italians do not argue is bread and olive oil. Lock a group of Italian grandmothers in a room, and they could feed an army. They would likely do it with bread and olive oil—the cure-all for every ailment, the timeless snack, capable of healing even the existential blues. A bit hungry, but not too much? Bread and oil. Still have a little room left after a meal? Bread and oil. A stomach ache? You can have it then, too—you always can. Bread and oil is never out of place.
The irresistible pleasure of the final *scarpetta*
Fresh white bread, with a crisp crust and a firm crumb. Or perhaps not—better to have a few more air pockets to soak up that liquid gold, watching it pool on the plate, giving you an excuse to mop it all up with that last piece of crust. A pinch of salt—sometimes not even that. Two ingredients, just two. And all the others can only look on in admiration.
Toasted bread for *bruschetta*—the mother of all appetizers—with garlic just lightly rubbed over the surface. You can debate cultivars and intensity, but when the oil is good, nothing else is needed. One last piece: the knife sinking into the soft crumb, the crust cracking, the crumbs soaking up the oil left on the plate. Another round—just one—to clean the plate, promising yourself it really will be the last.
The food that everyone agrees on
Does it really matter where this custom comes from? What counts, rather, is what it represents for generations of Italians. It is a snack from Grandma’s time—humble yet delicious. It is wholesome—recommended today even by nutritionists, though long championed by peasant wisdom (as the Abruzzese *sdijuno* tradition teaches us). It is a pairing with no downsides. There are foods that divide opinion, and then there are those that bring everyone together; bread and olive oil belong to the latter category. It has neither enemies nor detractors. It creates no factions. No one claims it as a badge of identity, and no one turns it into a passing fad. It is a meal for all of Italy, transcending regions and age groups, food trends and health obsessions.
The meal that needs no explanation
It isn’t a recipe—perhaps not even a dish. Bread and olive oil is a solution. It is the answer a country found whenever it needed something simple yet substantial, affordable, and comforting. It is the comfort food that existed long before "comfort food" even had a name. So yes, it’s perfect when you aren’t exactly hungry, or when there’s still just a little room left. Even for no apparent reason.
Bread and olive oil needs no excuse."
The above comes from an article in a daily Italian food email that I receive. There is not one day when olive oil is NOT mentioned, or even featured.
There really is a glory about bread and oil.
And you can't write about how amazing an olive oil is without recognizing all the hard work and legacy that goes into making it.
For those same 20 years we've had the privilege to see the backbreaking labor, the science, the technology, the religion of praying for the weather, the hundreds of years of tradition, and the great satisfaction and celebrations of a great harvest. We've been so honored to be invited by our family producers to be a part of it all and to become good friends in the process. I can't tell you the joy that I receive from this.
And of course I am referring not to the large industrial companies but of the small producers, usually families, who have been in the business for generations.
And you can't write about all the hard work that goes into making it without mentioning what it takes to then get it from Italy to America. It takes an immense amount of government registrations and regulations and constant monitoring thereof, on both sides of the Atlantic. It takes forming long term relationships with producers to build trust and confirm quality. A lot of lab testing happens also on both sides of the Atlantic to confirm the quality that we promise to our customers. And also building a long term relationship with our Italian freight forwarding company to insure the temperatures during shipment and storage are correct (olive oil is a living food and can be lost easily when stored incorrectly.) and to help complete our paperwork.
We drive to Chicago – and have driven to NYC – to pick up the oil rather than have it shipped here by truck to avoid those same extreme temperatures and to insure that the oil is in pristine condition. It is also why we bottle by hand, we want to touch every process in the system and sign off on each product. And finally, it takes an immense amount of passion to stay the course and stay true to the commitment of small producers only. It is our absolute privilege to do this. And usually... what a blast!
Of course, you taste the results of ALL of that.
Americans worry about eating bread (carbohydrates) and oil (fat), but when it is great and nutritious bread in combination with high quality olive oil it is nothing but health. And so freaking delicious! Bread is actually better for you when you eat it with fat, it slows down the carb's impact on the blood stream.
A year or so ago I was in the kitchen of the family home of friends in Trapani who own an oliveto (olive grove). They had a bottle of the newly harvested oil and a loaf of bread made that morning. They made small sandwiches with local salami.
They poured the oil onto a large plate, sprinkled it with oregano and salt, then took the top slices of their sandwiches and dragged them around the plate to soak them in the oil. Then replaced them on the sandwiches. These are a lot of words to describe one of the most delicious and fun ways to share olive oil! | 
