The olive is an appropriate star of today’s EZ Vegan™ Alphabet Recipe, considering the legend that the fruit was a gift from the Greek goddess Athena to the residents of her namesake city Athens. The subject of this week’s EZ Vegan™ Alphabet Recipe Challenge is a woman who might be seen as a goddess, considering her practically unparalleled power in popular media and culture today—Oprah Winfrey.
Life is a bowl of olives; Photo: K.Makris/AnimalBeat.org
Athena knocked out Poseidon with an olive
Just as Oprah has the smarts and the strength to beat out ratings rivals, Athena, goddess of wisdom, smacked the sandals off Poseidon in a heated contest to win the name of the city now known by her own.
As the mighty god of the sea, Poseidon offered the city the gift of the horse, arguing that the animals could plough fields, pull weight, and provide transportation.
But then Athena showed up with an olive tree, explaining that not only was its fruit edible, but that its oil could provide a precious commodity—light. The Greeks got the picture, and crowned their fabulous city with her name.
Olive versus horse
In a way, the story might be viewed as a vegan moment. Which did the people prefer: a beast of burden or a little black fruit? Athenians took the long view and went for the fruit.
Cultivation and culture
Olives grow on trees—olea europaea—lovely ones with silvery leaves and gnarled branches—which can live to be hundreds or even thousands of years old.
In Greece every fall it’s common to see folks of all ages—from five years old to a hundred and five—climbing those trees to harvest the olives. It’s hard work and somewhat alarming to watch, but they seem to enjoy themselves in the company of friends and family, while a picnic basket waits nearby for the lunch break.
Olives knock out diseases
These days we appreciate the olive because it adds pizzazz to a variety of dishes, provides us with heart-healthy olive oil, and because it’s packed with nutrients such as Vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, and polyphenols.
Some researchers believe that eating olives can lessen the severity of asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and that its rich store of vitamin E may help curb the hot flashes of menopause.
Too salty?
If you’re trying to cut back on salt in your diet, just give olives a few rinses in cold water. Or set them in a bowl of water to soak for a few minutes, then drain off the water and rinse. The secret to immortality
We might not be immortal, but the olive certainly seems to be—sprouting and spreading down through the millennia, passing along to us Athena’s gift of life and health.
Dream of visiting Greece? Check out a tempting glimpse of eco-travel on a gorgeous island.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton, and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog (The Lyons Press). Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time battling a severe addiction to dogs.
