Publisher Description

For millennia, fresh olive oil has been one of life's necessities—not just as food but also as medicine, a beauty aid, and a vital element of religious rituals. But this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt. A superbly crafted combination of cultural history and food manifesto, Extra Virginity takes us on a journey through the world of olive oil, opening our eyes to olive oil's rich past as well as to the fierce contemporary struggle between oil fraudsters of the globalized food industry and artisan producers whose oil truly deserves the name "extra virgin."

Author Biography

Tom Mueller's writing has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, and Atlantic. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling Extra Virginity about food fraud, and Crisis of Conscience on whistleblowers and their enemies.

Review

"Mueller reveals the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and teaches readers how to sniff out the good stuff." -- Dwight Garner - New York Times "Mueller builds a convincing case for olive oil as one of the most miraculous and versatile substances in all of nature... Passionately written yet clear-headed." -- USA Today "Tom Mueller is, in turn, chemist, explorer, scholar and bard, infusing the narrative with a sense of wonder." -- Times Literary Supplement "Extra Virginity may make you reconsider the extra you're paying for 'extra.'" -- Wall Street Journal "The New Yorker writer does for his subject what Susan Orlean did for orchids." -- Columbus Dispatch "... [Extra-Virginity] does for olive oil what Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation did for hamburgers. Mueller traces the history of this valuable product from antiquity to the present, but the really disturbing part is his expose of the inferior quality control and outright fraud among today's' oil producers." -- Hollywood Reporter "Starred review. Engrossing history, vivid contemporary reporting and a cogent call to action, expertly blended in an illuminating text." -- Kirkus Reviews

Review Text

eoe... [Extra-Virginity] does for olive oil what EricSchlosser's Fast Food Nation did for hamburgers.Mueller traces the history of this valuable product fromantiquity to the present, but the really disturbing part ishis expose of the inferior quality control and outrightfraud among today's' oil producers.e

Review Quote

"Tom Mueller is, in turn, chemist, explorer, scholar and bard, infusing the narrative with a sense of wonder."

Details