For thousands of years, olive oil was known to be beneficial for health. Muhammad, the ancient prophet of Islam, applied it to his head and advised his followers to use it on their bodies as it was good and life giving. It was also revered as “holy oil” and used in baptism within the Christian church for centuries. Even the Mediterranean Diet is touted as the healthiest diet in the world due to its high consumption of the oil.
Before the 20th century, edible cooking oil – like olive oil – was limited. We just didn’t have the technology to extract a variety of oils, and olives were one of the few that could be easily extracted by the sun naturally. Over time, technology provided equipment to make the extraction process available for certain seeds. In fact, that process has had a major effect on the lives of millions of people around the world – an effect so great that it could be considered homicidal.