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

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

Extremely interesting history of olive oil

Had really great history and interesting insights into today's olive oil corruption. A little long on some topics.

An absolutely wonderful book :)

The mind blowing truth about the world of Olive Oil and beyond. Absolutely wonderful, a book that I will always treasure. I am grateful for the information found in this book... it opened my eyes and changed my life.

Interesting and informative - get the word out!

A little dry for the average reader, I found this book very enjoyable and informative unfortunately, a lot of the story is a bit disturbing in terms of the state of the olive oil industry. A must read for the serious foodie, though. I learned a lot about olive oil, it's quality, it's history, and the industry. Hopefully more will read it resulting in improved olive oil quality everywhere.
Excellent narration as well.

Great story; not so great narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, with the caveat that the narrator reads rather slowly (not terrible), but his impersonation of the voices was TERRIBLE. I was cringing by the end of the book and just wanted him to quit trying. Just read!!!

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

The story of the olive oil industry! Fraud in the industry goes back to the Romans. But what surprised me most is that Mark Twain actually commented on it in his book, Life on the Mississippi!!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Let me count the ways!! I enjoy the flexibility of Audible but it is the RARE reader who adds to a book being read. More often, it is readers like the one narrating this book, that totally detract from the reading experience. The narrator had such a fake, sappy voice for most of the characters he impersonated. It would have been FAR better if he had just read the book straight without trying to make individual characters voices.

If you could give Extra Virginity a new subtitle, what would it be?

Food Fraud from Roman to Modern times

Any additional comments?

How does Audible choose its narrators? Seriously, I think I could do a better job than many of the ones I've heard.

Like School

What did you like best about Extra Virginity? What did you like least?

I got a lot of knowledge from this book and the narrator was great, but I wasn't really enertained. It was like a college course on olive oil.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I know that the author switched subjects and places, but it seemed like the same story over and over.

Which character – as performed by Peter Ganim – was your favorite?

He did a great job with all characters. One of my favorite narrators

Was Extra Virginity worth the listening time?

It was interesting. I learned a few things. I never sat in my garage at home, because I couldn't turn off the book though

olive or fake

Gives an overview of the olive industry and how it has become mix of those who love the olive and those who love money more than quality. You will want to research any olive oil source before you buy. Much needs to be done to clean up the industry and get the true product to consumers.

Great story; ok performance

The title certainly leads one to know what to expect, & the story itself was fantastic.

Through the 1st 1/2 of the book especially, however, the reader's performance of various accents and personalities felt very forced.