Palestinian Olive Oil

I was on my way to hear Alice Waters speak at the Green Festival this past weekend when I stumbled on a table selling Fair Trade Palestinian olive oil. Needless to say, I bought a bottle.

I first heard about Palestinian olive oil in Mort Rosenblum's book Olives. He tells the heartbreaking story of traveling all over the world tasting olive oil and finding perhaps his all time favorite on the West Bank, made by producers who had no infrastructure for exporting it. He was able to get some to take home in a reused glass bottle, but he dropped it and broke it at the airport as he rushed to catch his plane.

Five years ago I was vending at a Rolling Thunder event and there was a table there with folks selling dented cans of Palestinian olive oil for $25. I don't know how they got them, but it wasn't nearly as slick an operation as the one at the Green Festival. I bought a can, and nearly everyone working in my booth got one too. It was very, very tasty.

No matter how you feel about who has title to which Middle Eastern piece of land, you can't argue that the fact that thriving, small scale industry is in everyone's best interest. When people are gainfully employed and taking pride in their work, they're participating in something peaceful and life affirming.

Olive trees are especially well suited to this kind of endeavor because they live for a long time and their fruits go into creating a shelf-stable, artisan product. Some of the most important early ideas about democracy evolved in olive producing regions, most notably ancient Greece and eighteenth century France. The skill and pride that came along with tending these venerable trees and pressing their oil gave the citizens of these regions a sense of dignity and self respect which set the stage for political developments and ideas which endure even today.