On Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, we eat two meals of cooked food with oil. As we prepare to add oil to our lenten fare, it may be interesting to discuss olive oil.
Many people are wary of seed oils - probably, for a good reason. I am not an expert, but there may indeed exist some reasons to avoid them. Seed oils may become dangerous for human health when heated; but even in their unheated form, they do not seem to be the best oils to consume. Additionally, minders of canons will quickly point out that the Typikon speaks of “tree oil,” which has traditionally been understood to mean olive oil. However, there are at least two problems with olive oil.
First, olive trees grow in subtropical climates. Thus, olive oil is readily available to those living in the Mediterranean, but has to be transported for thousands of miles to supply those living in Upstate New York or Wisconsin. We are used to global supply chains, but does anyone else think that a foreign import that has to travel across an ocean is more of a luxury item than lenten fare? I do not think I am alone in finding it off-putting to humbly demand that in order for the lowly me to observe Lent, an item must be brought to me all the way from Italy, or Greece, or across an entire continent from California. For centuries, Russian peasants used flaxseed oil as a replacement for olive oil. In the U.S. today, however, flaxseed oil is a specialty item so expensive that a peasant could not afford it.
The second problem is that, according to some reports, most olive oil sold in grocery stores is either low quality or diluted with seed oils or even mineral oils. This too I am not an expert on; perhaps, this is so. I do not buy Italian olive oil. I only buy olive oil produced in California. Maybe, this is an easy solution to this problem.
I would like to open this post up to everyone for a discussion on this topic. What do you think about the two problems I identified above? Are there other problems? Are there any good solutions? Please share your thoughts and tips in the comments!
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May your Lent be fruitful!
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