Tunisia's Tasty Elixir

Olive oil is to Tunisia what wine is to California. Some say the olive tree belongs to the Mediterranean landscape as much as the grape vine belongs to the Napa Valley. And for thousands of years, great civilization: Phoenician, Cretan, Greek, Egyptian and Roman, have dominated because of this tasty and healthy elixir.

My first brush with Tunisia came not in the form of architecture, politics or religion but a national taste-testing contest to determine who the country's favorite olive oil producer is. The winner: the Golden Tunisian Olive Oil company. Their logo - "Protecting your Health is our Mission."

With over 500 varieties, "Yosra" as it's called, is a leading exporter for Tunisia. And, it's not just for cooking.

Families take their newborn babies and bath them in olive oil to keep the skin moisturized and soft. Athletes do the same right before exercising. Women dab it on their face to prevent wrinkles and dentists encourage regular application of it on the gums to keep teeth white.

Mix it with lemon juice and you have a tanning lotion or combine with castor oil and cologne and it works great as a anti-dandruff shampoo. Boil 20 olive tree leaves for fifteen minutes in a half liter of water, add sugar and drink warm in the morning for fifteen days and miraculously your high blood pressure and diabetes will cure itself.

I learned more about olive oil in one hour than all the wine tasting festivals I've been to combined. And, I wasn't the only participant. Leading politicians, hundreds of guests and a media circus of cameras and reporters gathered for this headline news story.

Tomorrow we hop a bus to one of the local tree farms to see what all the fuss is about. They tell me the trees are immensely old, some 700 years and too beautiful to describe. I'll do my best in tomorrow's blog.