This has been a rough winter (1988) for Italian agriculture, and especially milk production. The reasons are purely political; a number of years ago the Italian delegates who participated at the meetings held to establish production quotas within the European Union accepted limits lower than Italy's daily requirements and lower than the production capacity of Italy's dairy farmers. This means that the country must import milk from elsewhere (primarily Northern Europe) and also levy fines on dairy farmers who produce to capacity.

There's something obviously wrong with this, and until now the Italian Government had been quietly paying the fines. However, the EEC decided last year that doing so was a subsidy and forbade it; faced with the choice of either being fined out of business or being unable to produce enough to survive, the dairy farmers have organized protests throughout much of the north and are threatening to halt Italian milk production all together.

What does this have to do with Italian cuisine? Well, a number of things. A farmer representing the Parmigiano producer's association recently said that the milk from the herds used to produce the glorious cheese is considered on a par with all other milks by the EEC and they are having fines levied against them even though all their milk goes to the cheese makers, and has been doing so for generations. This could have a drastic effect on cheese production and is boneheadedness of the worst kind on the part of the bureaucrats, both Italian and European, who have let this situation develop. At least pecorino production should be safe -- no quotas on sheep's milk yet.

The great ruckus in the north, which reached a highpoint (if you want to call it that) when a group of farmers turned a manure slinger on the police in early January, has also masked a potentially more insidious problem that is affecting olive oil producers, especially in the south.

In Italy the prince of extra virgin olive oils has long been considered either Ligurian or Tuscan. The Ligurian, especially that made from Taggiasca olives, is more delicate, while the Tuscan is in some cases more peppery, but they are both very good and very expensive. South Italian extra virgin oils, by contrast, tend to be heavier and more oily tasting -- fine for cooking with, but not necessarily what you want to put on your salad or drizzle over your minestrone. The problem is temperature, I heard at an olive oil conference last year -- it's too hot in the south, when the olives ripen, and the temperatures that the picked olives are subjected to during storage and pressing result in heavy-tasting oils. This was until recently; South Italian producers have begun to experiment with refrigeration and their oils are improving dramatically -- they're not yet to the level of the best Tuscan and Ligurian, but they're getting there. This bodes well for the consumer because southern olive trees are several times the size of their northern counterparts, and with high yields the producers will be able to make good oils at low prices.

Why would these people be unhappy? They're being undercut through crafty use of an EEC food production loophole, according to which an olive oil imported from outside the EEC (North Africa, for example) can be sold as EEC oil if it's cut with locally produced oil following its importation. All the unscrupulous producer has is buy cheap foreign oil for a hundred lire per liter, filter it, blend in some local oil, and voila' -- locally produced extra virgin oil! It's not going to be as good as what really is local, of course, but how's the consumer to distinguish between two bottles from the same town without buying both and tasting them? The consumer who gets burned will look elsewhere, and likely settle on Greek or Spanish.

The honest producers are furious and rightly so. Nor should you think that this gambit is limited to Southern Italy; in November truckloads of oil from elsewhere are driven into Tuscan estates to emerge as Olio Extra Vergine Imbottigliato Nella Tenuta (Extra Virgin Estate-Bottled Olive Oil).

How to defend yourself? Unfortunately, it's not that easy. In general, the better oils come in glass bottles, and their labels will say where and when they were pressed. Be careful of oils that simply say “estate bottled,” because of the problems listed above. Don’t worry if the oil is opaque, because it often is, nor should a bit of sediment upset you. Be wary, on the other hand, of overly green oil – that green could be from the olives, or it could be from leaves that got pressed with them. Also, be wary of an oil that is either extremely light colored, or far into the yellow (towards gold). The former could be tasteless, while the latter is almost certainly old.

These guidelines of course apply to all extra virgin oils, not just those made in Italy. If you live in the United States, I have heard good things about Californian olive oils, though I have never tasted one.

To make bruschetta? Simple. You will need day-old Italian bread (Tuscan-style would be best). Toast it, ideally over the coals, rub it with a peeled slice of garlic, then drizzle it with oil, season with salt, and serve. Four slices will serve four, and you'll have your guests asking for more.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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