This love affair started almost 12 years ago when I was off to one sisterhood circle gathering after another, and all of them were potluck. There was and is something sacred about breaking bread together after a few hours of journeying to the core of our souls as a circle. Bringing food that was lush and life supporting was just as important to our soul work as ritualing itself was.
I’d always liked olives, just never thought about them much. But this was also during the time that I was discovering the deep soulful importance of food in general… I talk about that and how my Fristers (Sister Friends) at that time were introducing me to a juicier way of approaching food in my eBook.
Food became more sensual, vibrant, a source of pleasure on a much deeper level than just wanting to be sated. This and… the Whole Foods in Torrance, California created their olive bar. In terms of revolutionary food moments in my life? This one is in the top 5.
Up until this moment, Olives were either green or black. That was it. When I first saw that olive bar, and the colors, the shapes, the varieties! The NAMES! Forget it. It was all over for me.
Lucques. Nicoise. Kalamata. Cerignola. Castelvetrano. Sevillano.
Round and firm, it’s a fruit you eat with your hands, it’s savory, plump and comes in such a wide variety of flavors. Olives opened up a doorway into the sensual when it came to food, like nothing else did. It was in many ways, my beginning with Food Practice, even though I didn’t know it at the time. My initiation, as it were. I dare you to recline somewhere lovely, eating whole olives in a languid and indulgent fashion and not feel the sensuality of the entire process. It’s impossible.
Since then I always have olives on hand. Always. Great for guests, great as a snack, great in salads and as a tapanade. They are beautiful. If you don’t have a Whole Foods, or a Gelman’s or Wegman’s or any other specialty foods place around, Costco will usually carry a container of good quality olives varieties to have on hand.
A definite MUST for your cold pantry.
Enjoy!
I, too, have a love affair with olives. A can of black and a can of green were at every family gathering. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the wide world of Olives, and I’ve never looked back 😉
Olive lovers UNITE!