Extra Virginity

The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

By: Tom Mueller

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

For millennia, fresh olive oil has been a necessity - for food, medicine, beauty, and religion. Today's researchers continue to confirm the remarkable, life-giving properties of true extra-virgin, and "extra-virgin Italian" has become the highest standard of quality. But what if this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt?

Starting with an explosive article in The New Yorker, Tom Mueller has become the world's expert on olive oil and olive oil fraud - a story of globalization, deception, and crime from ancient times to the present, and a powerful indictment of today's lax protections against fake and even toxic food products in the United States. Extra Virginity is an inspiring account of the people who are defending the extraordinary oils that truly deserve the name "extra-virgin".

©2012 Tom Mueller (P)2011 Dreamscape Media, LLC

impressive story about olive oil

this book has allowed me to enjoy olive oil much more. learning about the intricate methods of producing olive oil from the groves, to the process, to the sale, this book enlightened me to look at olive oil in a new light! more a story telling than just a factual piece, the listen was easy and entertaining. I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about olive oil and the world behind it. As an educated consumer now, I now know what to look for when purchasing olive oil. You may also learn a little Italian while enjoying this book!

,Very interesting!!!!

I will be much more careful when buying olive oil!!! Thanks for enlightening me 😎!!!!!

A Superb Book and Performance

Where does Extra Virginity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Among the best

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is not fiction

What does Peter Ganim bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Characters to voices of various people interviewed for the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It introduces me to Extra Virgin oil, which is awesome

Any additional comments?

A very good book, both content and voice wise.

👏

This was pleasant yet compelling and familiar. a friend recommended it, hats off to the narrator.

Well worth the listen - if you eat

What did you love best about Extra Virginity?

This is an informative book about the olive oil trade. The scams that go on in oil labeling, bottling, and sales will likely shock most readers. Unless you are already well informed about this, the book will give you much needed practical information that will help you make informed decisions about what oil to buy, how to use it, and how not to waste your money.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Extra Virginity?

the section on oil substitutions and adulterants

What three words best describe Peter Ganim???s voice?

bad at accents

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

the slippery side of olive oil

Enjoyable, but...

I enjoyed it and I think I learned a lot.
I say I think I learned a lot because I noticed that not every bit of information related as truth was accurate.
For example, the book explains Hanukkah as being an internal matter of factions within the Jews battling over control of the temple. (If you don't know that history--suffice it to say that this is not what happened!)

Other than not fact checking some information, I liked it and have a couple bottles of real olive oil on order and the family is excited to see if we will enjoy what we have been missing!

Who new!

I had no idea that the history of olive oil could be so interesting. I was totally unaware and miss-informed about the subject.

Interesting but Pretentious

This is a book that I wish I had purchased physically instead of the audio book. The stories and subjects are interesting, and I learned more about olive oil than I'd ever dreamed of, but the reader comes across as patronizing and condescending, and he gets way too in to accents, which is problematic when nearly every speaker is either Italian or Australian. I'd recommend this book, but not from this reader

a sensory delight

Where does Extra Virginity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is one of my favorites

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

find out what you've really been eating

Any additional comments?

This is just a delightful book, with great narration and a fascinating story. I decided to go out and buy an olive oil that was higher grade than my usual grocery store brand oil, and found that there is a significant difference in the taste, color and texture in a better olive oil. Its nice to read a book and get a sense for what the author is trying to explain in your own home. Overall 5-stars!

The Sacred & Profane Of A Pressed Fat!!!

If you're a Foodie, you'll love "Extra Virginity"! If, however, you love political or religious history, chemistry, food revolutions, technology, you'll really like this book.
It chronicles the Golden Age of Olive Oil (those Greeks, I tell ya), to Oil Bosses, to Technologically Advanced Mills, and gets into the chemical composition of oil (and there are CSI types of sleuths who have to thoroughly examine acids, triglycerides, and the like because fudging with oil leaves a trace... just like a crime scene). There's its heathen appeal--smearing it all over your body for wanton practices, its symbolical appeal--Israeli soldiers planting a sapling, asking/declaring that anything beyond that is meant for them, its basis for judicial persecution (How dare you call my oil hazelnut oil!), so many things.
Indeed, at just over 10 hours, there's a lot. There's a lot of waxing poetic about nature, historical and physical features of the people Mueller's talked to (like someone with a hump on their shoulder), in depth digressions into the history of contraband and smuggling, etc.
Still, a delightful, eye-opening book.
I used to make fun of my brother for swirling his wine around, sniffing it, lolling it just so on his tongue. Now, after "Extra Virginity", I know how to loll around and judge extra virgin olive oil. Hint: Cleanse your palate with mineral water or a bite of a granny smith apple in between...!