Cultural importance of olive oil to our region by MedDiet4Health

Chrysoula .D

2024-12-12 16:05:23 UTC

First of all most of the people who live here have olives and make their own olive oil .They even sell it .My dad who does this job we have all the years olive oil without buying it

Aspasia P. Nafpaktos

2025-02-06 09:20:44 UTC

In this place, where I live almost all the people have olive trees. The season for picking olives is around November. Olive oil is our golden wealth, it is healthy and very useful for the Mediterranean diet.

George D, Acharnes

2025-05-27 17:30:25 UTC

I am an olive cultivator myself in Sparta. Olive oil for us is more than just food but a way of life. So, in my village close to Sparta olive harvesting is more like a huge event. Usually it is families that gather for some days to collect olives by hand. Old people stil take the first batch of olive oil to the church to be blessed.

Olive oil is used throughout the year for cooking, lighting candles in the icons at home and even for skin treatments. In general we do not waste a single drop.

vagelis p. acharnes

2025-05-27 17:34:13 UTC

We work in our olive groups every October as a family. We always keep some days from our year's holidays for this work.

Olive oil is central to our diet but also used for religious events. In the past they also used to trade olive oil for other goods. Nowadays I think it is becoming as expensive as gold too :)

Elena P, Acharnes

2025-05-27 17:37:02 UTC

Olive oil in Greece is deeply connected to both culture and religion. My parents told me and I share that each "good home" had it's own olive oil to cook food and light lamps. We have a local custom where a drop of olive oil is placed on a baby’s head on the 40th day after birth as a blessing.

Marina- Acharnes

2025-05-27 17:45:30 UTC

In Kalamata my region olive oil is a part of our culture. My grandfather used to produce olive oil and sell it to support the whole family. Every November, we still go to our olive grove and help pick olives. We have a festival in the nearby village celebrating the new harvest, with music, food and oil tastings.

Eirini, Nafpaktos

2025-05-27 17:47:40 UTC

Olive oil in Greece is not only food but a medicine. My grandmother puts it on wounds and and she said that she used to add it in the bathwater when we were babies. Also, at baptisms they use olive oil to bless the child.

Marilia 1st EPAL Nafpaktou

2025-05-27 17:49:22 UTC

My grandparents say that in the olive harvest season, the whole village works together. After the first pressing, they celebrate and taste the fresh oil on bread with oregano and salt. This is a tradition that we still follow.

Charalambos, Nafpaktos

2025-05-27 17:51:44 UTC

In my region, and this is something my relatives tell me too, families still collect their own olives and press them at the local cooperative mill. At Easter and Christmas, we make all the sweets using our own olive oil as a basic ingredient. Olive oil we consume connects us with our land.

Konstantina-Nafpaktos

2025-05-27 17:54:28 UTC

The elder members of my family told me that in the past, people used olive oil to light lamps and cook. In Nafpaktos we have many olive trees, each family has their own and collect them every winter. Even we the youngs help. We cook ladera and many sweets. I believe there is no greek food without olive oil.

vanessa.nafpaktos

2025-05-27 17:57:02 UTC

My grandfather who is very old tells me that olive oil was very important, especially at hard times when it was the only fat available. My grandmother still keeps a bottle of holy water mixed with olive oil.

Alexis M-Nafpaktos, Greece

2025-05-27 20:26:00 UTC

My parents say that the olive oil is the heart of Greek cuisine. As many of my peers, we also have in my family our land where we have olive trees from our great grandparents. About something connected wit religion and ceremonies, they told me to mention "efchelaio" during Lent.

Sakis D, Acharnes

2025-05-27 20:29:34 UTC

My family has passed me stories about how important olive oil was during World War II, where it was used for food, the healing of the wounds or even as a means of exchange to buy goods when there was no money. In my village in Oropos, Attica, the priest blesses the first oil of the season every year. In general olive oil connects us to the generations behind us.

Dorota, GCD

2025-05-27 20:31:10 UTC

AI has helped me paint in a picture what I dream of through your stories. Greetings!

Antonia A, Acharnes

2025-05-27 20:34:27 UTC

I was born and raised in a village in Messinia. My dad used to work in an olive press and every year so he taught me from very young how to tell that an olive oil is good by the color and the smell.

Now we only harvest our trees there because he is old. With the first olive oil of the year we normally cook spanakorizo as a family tradition.

In church, olive oil as far as I know is given to families during blessings. In fact it is a fact from everything!

Aris, Nafpaktos

2025-05-27 20:36:24 UTC

During baptisms, the godparent brings a bottle of special olive oil to be used in church for the ceremony. Some people also light the icon lamp daily with it.

I believe olive oil exists in all our dishes. It’s part of our culture and faith.

Nikos S-Acharnes

2025-05-27 20:37:52 UTC

My father is a priest and he says that olive oil is used in every church service. They use it to light the candles or b;ess the people.

Efi, Nafpaktos

2025-05-27 20:39:11 UTC

Olive oil is part of our faith. On religious holidays we make dishes without meat or dairy but always with olive oil.

Betka, GCD Vranov nad Topl'ou

2025-05-27 20:44:12 UTC

Sunflower oil is more typical in Slovak homes, but in special cases olive oil was seen as more pure. For example, some churches use it for anointing during blessings, because of its Biblical roots. This makes me realize even more that olive oil is more than just Mediterranean food but something sacred even for our culture.

Filip, GCD

2025-05-27 20:48:03 UTC

With my family we have spent many summers in Greece, so we import this greek summer sunshine back home. So olive oil is not just a food but a connection between people and cultures.

Tobias-GCD

2025-05-27 20:50:43 UTC

My mother has high cholesterol, so almost five years ago her doctor recommended her to switch to the olive oil for healthy fats. That change made our whole family start eating more olive oil based meals. So, what I want to say is that olive oil has become part of our health story my friends.

Natalia GCD

2025-05-27 20:55:58 UTC

I asked my grandfather and he says that in the past they only used lard or butter. Now that we cook roasted vegetables dazzled with olive oil he says that nothing tastes like that.

Esra USGGED

2025-05-27 20:59:03 UTC

The only story I can tell is the one of my aunt who lives in Ayvalık where there are olives. She sends us a tin with her own pressed oil. We use it not only for cooking but also as a natural remedy, for example we warm it a little and use it for earaches.

Burak-USGGED

2025-05-27 21:00:53 UTC

My grandparents told me that olive oil was seen as a healing oil in their times and people used to massage sore muscles and treat their skin.

Buse-Usgged

2025-05-27 21:04:08 UTC

My father grew up in a small village in southern Turkey where olive trees are everywhere. Every autumn his family would gather olives by hand and take them to a local press to make oil. That was a hard work but there was nothing like the taste of fresh oil on warm bread.