意大利顶级橄榄油故乡的美味之旅

Oiled Up From the Groves to the Gate, Olive Oil Takes a First-Class Flight Staying fit and healthy on the road involves more than just going to the gym.

It also includes eating properly, for instance, having olive oil with your salad and with bread. Premium passengers in first and business class on many airlines already have such an option. You'll be familiar with the little bottle of olive oil.

I went to Perugia to visit the olive groves and see where that bottle comes from. And the journey starts here, the olive groves that surround Monte Vibiano. Lorenzo Fasola Bologna is the man who oversees the whole operation.

What's the time from picking the olives off the trees to pouring the oil on the plane? We pick the olives, press them, and in one month and a half, it has to be on the plane.

But these olives, even if they get to full growth, they are not the same size as the olives you would have with a drink? It's the same like the grapes. There are grapes that you eat and grapes that you use for wines. Same happens with the olives.

This is what you produce. How many olives does it take to make the olive oil for this bottle? More or less, this quantity together. It's one single portion of olive oil.

Those single portions are what it's all about. Once onboard the aircraft, they become the ingredient X to transform10 the flavor of high-altitude cuisine, with the passengers themselves deciding how much to use.

But convincing the airlines was no easy task for Lorenzo. We have to go and say why extra virgin olive oil was good up in the sky, because I think that every single plate you have on board,

even if you have the best chef possible, all the ingredients that you can put, at the end of the day, they are dry. And the extra virgin olive oil on top just makes the possibility for all the flavor to come out again.

Lorenzo works with all the major airlines, providing bespoke blends. Different combinations are one thing, but the taste of pure fresh olive oil, now that's another. Do you actually drink it?