Waverley Root, an eminent food authority, once decreed that the food of a region is shaped by the fat it is cooked in more than any other ingredient. With that and our geographical location in mind, we used our day at sea to indulge in an olive oil discussion and tasting. As we sailed along the Cantabrian coast of Spain, food writer Jenifer Lang explained that Spain produces more olive oil than any other country; in fact, Spanish olive oil accounts for 30% of the world's total, with over 5 million acres under cultivation. Some of the world's best olive oil comes from Spain, labeled "extra virgin" and often with the D.O. quality designation on the label.
The regions that we passed in the Caledonian Star - Galicia, Asturias, Cabrales and Cantabria - all share, culinarily at least, a Celtic heritage (of sorts), so you can find meat pies, called empanadas, in Galicia, and hard cider that is drunk in Asturias. However, olive oil, a gift of the Moors, is used liberally in this region as well in the rest of Spain. Olive oil has well-documented health benefits: On her 121st birthday, Jeanne Calment of Arles, France, had a simple answer when asked how she survived to be the world's oldest-living person: olive oil. It appears in every meal she eats and each day she rubs it into her skin. "I have only one wrinkle," she said, "and I am sitting on it."
Other lectures of the day included deliveries by Bob Frost on national identities in the Basque country and Galicia, David Barnes on Napoléon and Catholic public rituals in Spain, and Kenneth Brassil on Romans and Celts in early Iberia.
