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      • Arctic Tents
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      • Sleeping Pads
      • Condensation and Vapour Barriers
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      • What Time of Year to Row
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      • Safety Equipment
      • Electrical System
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      • R2AK Records 2015
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Olive Odyssey

Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World

Home Books & FilmsOlive Odyssey

Olive Odyssey – Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World

Inspired by her Syrian forebears’ intimate relationship with the olive, Julie Angus embarks on a voyage around the Mediterranean to unlock the secrets of the fruit that meant so much to them. Accompanied by her husband and their ten-month-old son, Angus collects samples from ancient trees to determine where the first olive tree originated; feasts on inky black tapenades and codfish drizzled with olive oil, among many other delights; witnesses the harvesting of olives in Greece; and visits perhaps the oldest olive tree in the world, on Crete. The result is a fascinating history and biography of this most influential and irresistible fruit.

Guaranteed to move readers from casual consumers of olive products to enthusiastic aficionados, Angus’s book, which sparkles with the sights, smells, tastes and stories of the Mediterranean olive, is as informative as it is infectious.

Publishers Weekly

An engaging mix of history, food travelog, and botany lesson . . . There is much to enjoy here, especially for foodies and armchair historians.

Library Journal

It is a pleasure to try to keep up with this book; like its author, it covers an enormous amount of territory.

Wall Street Journal

Watch the Olive Odyssey Trailer

Reviews

Olive Odyssey is also a beautifully written travelogue, describing in enticing detail some lesser known places along the Mediterranean coastlines of Spain and France, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and Greece. Angus writes with an engaging narrative voice, often sharing personal thoughts and emotions…

Vancouver Sun

A fascinating exploration for olive lovers, foodists, and culinary adventurers alike. Olive Odyssey is yet another impressive conquest on Angus’s enviable list of super-human accomplishments.

Bob Blumer, Gastronaut and Food Network Host

Olive Odyssey has many strengths: its contribution to scientific and historical research on olives, good food and travel writing, a sense of humour and an eye for detail, and a sense of adventure and exploration.

Literary Review of Canada

Angus excels in tracing the history of the olive: any botanist or cook will walk away from Olive Odyssey well-informed on the plant and its products.

Georgia Straight

See Photos from the Expedition

Read an Excerpt from the Book

Olive Odyssey – Book Excerpt

I inhaled deeply, savoring the smell of roasted garlic, browned lamb, and exotic spices that perfumed my aunt Noura and uncle Nabi’s apartment in Aleppo. Their faux-wood coffee table with its skinny aluminum legs struggled under the weight of pomegranate-infused lamb stew; chicken baked in a creamy yogurt sauce; salad topped with fried triangles of pita bread; bowls of steaming lentil soup; and platters of cigarlike rolls of meat and rice tightly wrapped in vine leaves, stuffed baby eggplant, and torpedo-shaped patties of fried bulgur and ground beef known as kibbeh. This feast was to celebrate our arrival, my first…

March 24, 2013Read More

Read Expedition Blog Posts

July Update – Olive Odyssey about to begin!!Read More
Boats, Olive trees and PickpocketsRead More
Sailboat Living and Ancient Olive TreesRead More
SailingRead More
Out of Spain and into FranceRead More
Birthday in CannesRead More
Exploring olive history in ItalyRead More
October Update – Sailing SardiniaRead More
Start of Olive Harvest!Read More
Olive Odyssey Completed!!Read More

More Reviews

  • It is a pleasure to try to keep up with this book; like its author, it covers an enormous amount of territory.

    Wall Street Journal
  • Olive Odyssey is also a beautifully written travelogue, describing in enticing detail some lesser known places along the Mediterranean coastlines of Spain and France, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and Greece. Angus writes with an engaging narrative voice, often sharing personal thoughts and emotions…

    Vancouver Sun
  • A fascinating exploration for olive lovers, foodists, and culinary adventurers alike. Olive Odyssey is yet another impressive conquest on Angus’s enviable list of super-human accomplishments.

    Bob Blumer, Gastronaut and Food Network Host
  • A well-researched paean to the magical olive, a scrumptious romp through history, agronomy, DNA science, cuisine, business, medicine, religion, and politics—all told through a young couple’s Mediterranean sailing and travel adventures with their toddler . . . This entertaining olive saga covers it all.

    Mark Pendergrast, author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Changed Our World
  • Olive Odyssey has many strengths: its contribution to scientific and historical research on olives, good food and travel writing, a sense of humour and an eye for detail, and a sense of adventure and exploration.

    Literary Review of Canada
  • Angus excels in tracing the history of the olive: any botanist or cook will walk away from Olive Odyssey well-informed on the plant and its products.

    Georgia Straight
  • [An] unfailingly interesting odyssey.

    Philip Marchand, National Post
  • An engaging mix of history, food travelog, and botany lesson . . . There is much to enjoy here, especially for foodies and armchair historians.

    Library Journal
  • Guaranteed to move readers from casual consumers of olive products to enthusiastic aficionados, Angus’s book, which sparkles with the sights, smells, tastes and stories of the Mediterranean olive, is as informative as it is infectious.

    Publishers Weekly

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