--- an Arabic proverb, quoted in a NYT story about Palestinian olive oil.
“Look, everybody thinks their oil is the best,” he said, “but the olive oil from Rameh is smooth and doesn’t burn. It’s like a ripe fruit: pungent but sweet.”
As Mazen Ali put it, referencing an Arabic proverb, “A monkey, in its mother’s eyes, is a gazelle.” Mr. Ali, 60, is the co-founder of a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the region’s olive trees. Though he is from the neighboring village of Deir Hanna, even he acknowledged that Rameh’s oil is exceptional.
For the Greek version, see Swish! Swish! Swish! Patrick Leigh Fermor on the Mani olive harvest in the LRB:
‘Stavro,’ [his companion Petro] said as we set off. ‘Deep Mani olives are good. I’m not saying they’re not. But the best are the ones in the Outer Mani. The whole world knows it. It’s not just because I come from those parts – far from it. But it’s everybody’s opinion.’
‘So be it,’ Stavro said. He gave me a secret dig with his elbow and the ghost of a wink. I asked Petro where the best in the Outer Mani come from. ‘From Liasínova,’ he answered without hesitation. There was a scarcely audible chuckle from Barba Stavro. I asked Petro where he came from. ‘Me? You mean where do I come from?’ Then, in airy tones of slight surprise at the unexpected coincidence, he said: ‘From there. From Liasínova, that’s to say.’
It was a splendid illustration of local prejudice. But now, after many years and mature consideration, I think there was a lot in what he said. Certainly, the best olives in Greece come from the Outer Mani; and definitely from the region of Liasínova. But from Liasínova itself? I think a truly impartial and objective opinion might place the actual pinpoint of unsurpassable excellence a little further down the coast – only three or four kilometres away. More towards Kardamyli, perhaps.
Patrick Leigh Fermor's house, in case you didn't know, was in Kardamyli :-)
