There’s rarely a kitchen without it! Olive Oil. Great to cook with, great for your skin, really good for your hair and I’m surprised Cleopatra didn’t have a bath in it! A few months ago I was in Mendoza, Argentina sampling their greatest produce across several vineyards when I was given the chance to go and visit a local olive oil producer. Now most of us attribute olive oil to the Mediterranean without a second thought to the possibility that all the way on the other side of the world there is a place producing some very high quality oil! After all, a place that’s good to grow wine, has the weather to grow olives! Whilst my visit to the factory, a small producer in the foothills of the Andes, was during off-production period, it was fascinating to see, nonetheless, how the worlds most popular oil is produced.
Origins: Olive Oil
La Brigada, Buenos Aires, Argentina
This is THE land of meat and honey! With steak of legendary renown and, of course, the wine needs no introductions either. Buenos Aires is a city that absorbs you, falling more and more in love with it with each passing day. As far as the food is concerned, there is an eatery to suit every taste, but really, what one should be eating, is all matter of the moo-cow, and there’s one restaurant that will put even Fergus Henderson to shame when nose to tail eating is concerned. La Brigada in the neighbourhood of San Telmo is full to the brim of locals who come here for the only offering on the menu – carne! Not to mention the astounding wine list of bottles from every bodega in the country. The restaurant too, is a delightfully cosy and comfortable space full of pictures and football memorabilia and extremely friendly waiters who carve the meat with a spoon (yes! a spoon – tender beef or sharp spoons? I think the first option is definitely the case!)
Origins: The vines and vins of Bordeaux!
It is said that the AOC region of Bordeaux in France produces an average of 600 million litres of wine a year. That’s 600, 000, 000 litres, which basically equates to a serious drinking problem. Not wanting to be left out of such a party, we decided to pilgrimage to the UNESCO world heritage village of St. Emilion, to get the inside scoop on the worlds favourite tipple.
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