Ancient Greek Food: Olives

Today, you go to the store and buy a little containerknife. They, oil would come forth from the olives but
of olives. You can get them in all different shapesthis was just used to help preserve them. They
sizes colors, and more. You can buy them withwere then kept in wine, vinegar, and salty water.
pimentos in them or not. Many wonder how this foodOlive oil was created to help preserve the olives.
became such an important part of Greek culture andOlive oil was a great source of the Ancient people's
large part of their diet.diet because it was their main source of fat. You
Ancient Greeks used olives as there main source ofmight think that fish was a main source of their diet,
fat instead of meat from animal because theybut these things were very expensive so common
thought it was an unhealthy way of getting fat, sincepeople mainly just had olive oil. It is not as it is today
the barbarians (non Greeks) ate that way. Inwhere people eat a large variety of food no matter
actuality, the barbarians ate meat and their productswho they are. Ancient Greece was a very socially
such as milk and cheese because they were nomadicunequal place.
and had no way of growing an olive tree or preparingIf you ever dip bread in olive oil, you are carrying out
olives if they saw any.the actions of an aristocratic meal. In ancient times,
Preserving olives was possible because there was saltcommon Greeks mostly ate porridge and not bread
everywhere! Since Ancient Greece was a huge islandfor carbohydrates. Bread was a lot of work to make
basically, salt was easily accessible and allowed themand was not a common food among them.
to preserve olives with ease.Today, olives are eaten by anyone who has a few
To preserve their olives, first ancient Greeks wouldbucks and can walk or drive to a store. Not so in the
gather them while they where not ripe. They leftdays of past. Still, ancient Greeks still figured they
them in eater that they changed every 12 hours withcould turn tiny strange spherical objects on a tree
water that contains wood ash and then again clearedinto a delicious and nutritious food for all of the
the water. It might have taken a week. To decreaseMediterranean.
the time sometimes they would cut them with a