Does price matter when it comes to olive oil? Aussie chefs weigh in on the debate
Unless the cook of your family is someone who fell victim to '90s diet culture, chances are that olive oil is used in simply everything in your household.
A salad? Sprinkle it on. Pasta? Pour it into the sauce mix and add it to the pasta water while you're at it. A cake? Reality star Kylie Jenner did, after all, moonlight as a baker for a time with her viral olive oil cake recipe.
It may be a humble pantry staple, but it's not always priced as such. The liquid gold, in fact, can range anywhere from $1.10 per 100mL to $40 per 100mL.
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Olive oil is called liquid gold for a reason, but does it need to cost as much as the valuable metal? Getty
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And with the cost-of-living pressures increasing, sometimes the only thing that's going through your head in the supermarket aisle is this: Will anyone really notice if I grab the cheapest olive oil I can find?
That depends on who you ask.
Does price matter when it comes to olive oil?
"Yeah, I think it does," ivy executive chef Nathan Johnson tells 9Honey Kitchen. "I think you've got to use a good olive oil."
"It doesn't need to be super, super premium, but a good extra virgin olive oil finishing a salad or a fish dish, it makes all the difference over the cheap stuff," Johnson says.
Dan Hong, executive chef of Sydney restaurants Mr Wong, MsG's and MuMu, however, doesn't necessarily agree.
For him, it's not about the price tag. It's more so about where it's come from.
"It does not matter whether your olive oil is cheap or expensive," Hong says.
"Just make sure it's Australian because olive oil does not get better with age, so usually the Australian stuff is fresher."
So there you go – you can put that €12,000 (approx. $19,800) 500mL bottle of Greece's λ /lambda/ ultra premium olive oil back on the shelf.
Nathan Johnson has curated the menu for and will be cooking at Good Food Events' Sydney Loves Cooking: Festive Feast Event on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at Bennelong Lawn in Sydney.
Nine is the owner of both the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food and nine.com.au.
