We're out of olive oil. Again. I don't know why, but these dark green glass bottles always seem to be empty earlier than expected. My friend Luk over at Pensive Ibex buys his in the form of a big 5 l barrel directly through the farmer, and he claims that's enough for about a year. He couldn't believe we go through these bottles that quickly and we couldn't believe he only needs five liters a year---which one's right?

In other words, what is the average olive oil consumption rate per capita (in Europe, since Europe produces 70% of the world's olive oil)? The biggest bulk consumers are without surprise Mediterranean lands, with Greece leading the charge by far: Greece 16, Spain 13, Italy 11, Portugal 8. These numbers vary depending on the source: that was Statista's, yet the International Olive Council came up with something similar, putting Cyprus in-between Italy and Portugal.

I was surprised to find France at not even 2 l, as the Provence is also a big olive oil production region, but I presume the bigger bulk of France relies on native sunflower oil and of course mostly butter. So where's Belgium in these charts? Below France, at on average 1.5 l per capita, according to Eos Trace and the EU Commission of Agriculture. That means both Luk and me could be called exaggerators!

Since olive oil consumption almost doubled since 1990, that means when I grew up the average household in Belgium consumed 0.75 l, which is even less than one of my 1 l dark green glass bottles, while in our house, we consume a bottle every two months¹. Why? Let's try to summarize what I use olive oil for:

• When frying anything but eggs (butter) and pancakes (sunflower);
• When baking pizza & focaccia: royally;
• When roasting vegetables in the oven: with coarse sel gris: royally;
• When mixing & preparing food for our daughter: royally;
• When making pesto: royally;
• When trying to get that network cable from the router through the ribbed waiting tube upstairs: royally (just kidding).

I love roasting veggies in the oven: that's our vegetarian go-to feel-good food here, but yes, it involves a lot of green liquid pouring. It's never stated what kind of olive oil is included in these stats so I take it they simply grouped the regular with the extra vierge. We never deep fry at home and you can't use olive oil for that as it'll start to smoke beyond 190 °C.

Mort Rosenblum's Olives book taught me to keep two or three kinds of olive oils permanently on the kitchen counter ranging from a spicy green Italian one to a mellow Spanish one, but so far I've been simply relying on what's available in the local organic supermarket. I don't have second-pressed oil and use my virgin also for frying (gasp!). Italian almost poison ivy-esque oil can be quite sharp: don't try to make mayonnaise out of that one! That's what neutral tasting peanut/arachis oil is for.

The European Commission also publishes an interesting agricultural dashboard of olive oil data where you can track prices, production, trade, and stocks. Italian olive oil is currently the most expensive one, at €8,965 per kg (for extra virgin)---an increase of almost 50% since last year! The only way is up... That's not true: global production has gone down by quite a margin, probably also partially explaining the price increase.

Does this all mean we're not eating very healthy? Considering the average Belgian household cooks and bakes with either big dollops of "good" butter, or even worse, margarine variants, I wouldn't say so. Then again, the claimed health benefits of olive oil consumption are only partially relevant if the oil is unheated, meaning we can forget about the roasting, frying, and baking. Only on occasion I prepare a salad with olive oil dressing as we don't digest raw vegetables very well.

And then there's the matter of olive oil fraud, where mixing different harvests and regions makes it impossible to determine what happened with it---just like honey or wheat flour. The solution is simple: try to buy pure stuff locally, and if you can't, since in Belgium growing olive trees is a bit of a challenge, buy from a farmer or family you trust. Don't do like me, say shoot, we're out of olive oil! in the supermarket and grab a bottle of shaky origins.

According to Helgi Library, the total vegetable oil consumption rate per capita of Belgium is around 23 l, somehow even ranked higher than Portugal? If these numbers are more ore less reliable, that means 21.5 l of that is something other than olive oil, most probably sunflower oil, since peanut oil is mostly used in China and India and the aggregate EU row peak is huge for sunflower oil.

Gotta run now, out to go and buy some more oil! Schol!