The Olive: Friend or Foe?
By Hayley Birch
There are two types of people in this world: the olive lovers and the olive haters. At the one extreme we observe the olivephiliac; gazing upon his fennel and pink peppercorn marinated olive with what can only be described as lust, lips parted, salivating ever so slightly over the plump green curves of its tender form. At the other end of the scale, the olivephobe is in limbo; unsure whether to burn the offending olive infested pizza, or call back the unwitting delivery boy to ram it in his pasty white face.But what is it that makes the olive so controversial? And are they any good for us? The Null surveyed a few of you phobes and philiacs to see what you thought. (I should just elaborate on the term ‘survey’, which here should be taken to mean forcing a very small and completely non-random sample of dim people to answer questions beyond their comprehension.)
The results of our survey suggest that olivephobia arises as a result of some kind of block in the maturation of taste during adolescence. 75% disliked or strongly disliked olives as children, yet two thirds of these became complete converts in adulthood, categorising their olive eating behaviour anywhere between “a special treat in a restaurant or when cooking at home” and “usually in bed with a jar and a spoon”. Just over 12% of all those surveyed thought their behaviour constituted an “olive problem”. We also uncovered a rather shocking level of olive-related prejudice aimed at black olives, even among olivephiles.Most survey subjects had little or no idea of the effects olives might have on their health. Half agreed or didn’t know whether olives contain high levels of cholesterol – in fact, they contain no cholesterol – and all grossly overestimated the levels of salt contained in an average portion. It’s worth mentioning that despite the Food Standards Agency’s “Eat Less Salt” campaign, only 25% actually knew the recommended daily intake of no more than 6g a day. Interestingly, a bowl of cornflakes contains more salt than five medium sized black olives. Of course, it does rather depend if you’re throwing away the left over brine or slurping it up through a straw.
Only half of those questioned agreed eating olives was better for them than eating crisps. Both are considered high in salt, but as we found out only last week, one in five 8-15 year olds are munching through two bags of crisps a day, which equates to 0.6g of sodium or 1.6g of salt. All this fuss about salt led us to wonder what’s actually so terrible about it. What happens to you if you eat too much?
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