|

Liquid Gold in a Grey Land: A Cultural History of Olive Oil in the United Kingdom (1900-2025)

ByDylan Williams

From the Chemist to the Kitchen

The British Palate Pre-1900: A Land of Animal Fats

For most of its food history, the United Kingdom was a nation defined by animal fats. The British taste was built on the savoury, solid richness of beef dripping and lard. These fats weren’t just for cooking; they were a basic part of the national diet and identity. Beef dripping, prized by many, was the only “proper” way to fry chips, while lard was the secret to perfect pastry. This was a hearty, northern European food tradition that valued the crisp result of frying with solid, rendered fats.

In this world, “oiliness” was not a good thing. It was often seen as a “soft” or weak quality, linked negatively with “southern Europeans”. The national preference for dripping and, later, commercially produced vegetable oils like Crisp ‘n Dry—a product marketed specifically on its promise not to make food soggy or “oily”—created a major cultural barrier to using liquid plant oils in the kitchen. The British food identity was, in short, anti-oily.

“Liquid Gold” in Antiquity (The Foreign Context)

This British dislike for oil was the complete opposite of the entire history of Western civilization, which was, in many ways, built on olive oil. To understand its eventual, revolutionary impact on Britain, you first have to understand just how “foreign” it was. In the Mediterranean, it was the “lifeblood of early economies”.

In the Mediterranean basin, olive oil was a true “liquid gold”.4 Archaeological evidence shows it was grown 6,000 years ago. For the Minoans, it was a central part of their economy. To the Greeks, it was a sacred gift from the goddess Athena, a symbol of peace and life. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, listed over 60 medicinal uses for olive oil, from treating skin conditions to digestive problems. Athletes covered themselves in it, and women used it in cosmetics and even as a form of birth control. The Romans, in turn, took its use and production to new heights.

Its appearance in early British history was brief and unusual. The 14th-century English cookbook The Forme of Cury is the earliest known to mention olive oil. However, this was not proof of a local tradition. The book’s recipes, including an early form of macaroni and cheese, were heavily influenced by Arabic and Italian food, likely via Sicily. This brief mention was a foreign curiosity, not the start of a domestic cooking practice. For the next 600 years, olive oil remained, for the vast majority of Britons, a substance with no place in the kitchen.

The Victorian View: Industrial Lubricant and Luxury Soap

During the 1800s, olive oil and other plant-based oils were imported into the United Kingdom, but they were classed as industrial goods, not food. The British Empire imported huge amounts of palm oil, for instance, which was used as an industrial lubricant, a fuel, and, critically, for making soap. Unilever, one of Britain’s foundational corporations, got its start making palm oil soaps.

Olive oil filled a similar, though slightly more high-status, industrial role. It was a key ingredient in ‘Windsor soap’, a luxury item made with tallow and olive oil. The idea of eating these substances was culturally unthinkable. Asking someone in Britain in the early 1900s to cook with olive or palm oil would have been like “asking a modern American to cook with synthetic Valvoline motor oil and chase the meal down with a bite of Dove brand hand soap”.

This industrial and cosmetic use created a powerful psychological barrier. Before olive oil could ever be considered food, it would first have to be mentally separated from industry. But it was not just seen as a soap ingredient; it had one other, far more common, identity.

The Central Thesis: From Ear to Table

This report follows the 125-year cultural journey of olive oil in the United Kingdom, tracking its change from a medical substance to a kitchen staple. This is the story of how an ingredient, mostly known as a medical treatment for earaches, was slowly re-defined as food.

It is a story of a two-part transformation. First, the decades-long process that moved olive oil from the chemist’s shelf to the supermarket aisle, changing it from an obscure medicine into a mass-market product. Second, the parallel and lasting function of high-quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) as a sign of class, education, and “high society.”

This report will argue that the adoption of olive oil was not a simple change in shopping habits but a deep cultural shift. It was driven by a series of catalysts: the aspirational “travel guide” cookbooks of the post-war era; the eye-opening experience of the first package holidays; the “health halo” of the Mediterranean diet; and a series of media influencers, from the chaotic “glug” of the TV chef to the stylish “drizzle” of the social media influencer.

Finally, the report will look at the current, uncertain state of olive oil in 2025. After a 50-year campaign to make it available to all, a severe climate and price crisis now threatens to reverse this progress, possibly returning olive oil to its original status: a luxury item for the few, not a staple for the many. It is a journey from the ear to the artichoke, and, perhaps, back again.

Table 1: The Chronological Evolution of Olive Oil in the UK (1900-2025)

EraDominant PerceptionPrimary UK SourceKey Cultural TouchpointKey Influencer(s)
Pre-1900Industrial / Elite FoodSpecialist Importer Soap / Fine Cookery N/A
1900-1949MedicinalThe Chemist (Boots) Small bottle for ear wax N/A
1950-1979Aspirational / ExoticSpecialist Delis (Soho) “A Book of Mediterranean Food” / Package Holiday Souvenir Elizabeth David
1980-1990Healthy & HedonisticSupermarkets / Delis“A glug of oil”  / The “Delia Effect” Keith Floyd / Delia Smith
1990-2005Democratized Staple / New StatusSupermarkets “A good lug”  / The River Café Jamie Oliver / The River Café
2005-2023Wellness / Artisanal LuxuryOnline / Supermarkets#avocadotoast / EVOO Tasting Social Media / Wellness Influencers
2023-2025Precarious StapleSupermarketsRecord-high prices Climate Change / Supermarket Buyers

The Chemist’s Secret (1900-1949)

A Pharmaceutical Commodity

For the first half of the 20th century, the British relationship with olive oil was not about food but medicine. There is a powerful and widely shared cultural memory on this point, a story repeated almost word-for-word by many chefs and journalists recalling the “food wilderness” of mid-century Britain.

Chef Heston Blumenthal, writing about the 1970s, recalled it as “a time when olive oil was available in Britain only at the chemist’s – for putting in your ears rather than in a pan”. This memory is a key cultural reference point. A 2002 Guardian article states, “For most of the 20th century in Britain, olive oil was something you bought in the chemist and then stuffed in your ears with cotton wool”. This is echoed by The Independent, The Sunday Herald, The Irish Times, and The London Times, all of which identify its source as the pharmacy, such as Boots, and its use as medicinal.

It was sold in small, pharmaceutical bottles, not as a food item but as a remedy. This reality lasted for decades. Even in the 1980s, as the food revolution was just beginning, TV chef Delia Smith was still directing her audience to buy olive oil from the chemist. This single fact—its sourcing, sale, and classification as a medical product—is the most critical baseline for understanding its 75-year journey that followed.

The Generational Memory (The “Ear Wax” Nostalgia)

Your request for “nostalgic memories” is perfectly captured by this “ear wax” story. For the generations born before and during the post-war boom, this is the defining memory of olive oil. It was not an ingredient but a tool for slightly unpleasant home first-aid.

A 2005 Guardian piece vividly captures this cultural placement: “Olive oil didn’t used to be a subject of conversation, certainly not a culinary ingredient: it was something kept behind the counter at the chemist’s, along with kaolin and morphine and syrup of figs”. This description is revealing. It frames olive oil as a controlled, non-food substance, locked away with other potions and remedies. Its primary remembered uses were for “bunged-up ears” or, as The Times put it in 1995, for “cleaning children’s ears”. Other, more obscure non-food uses, such as for perineal massage or moisturising, were “hardly on the British agenda”.

This firm classification of olive oil as “medicine” created an almost unbeatable psychological barrier to its use as “food.” It was not just a matter of ignorance or availability; it was a matter of what was culturally ‘done’. To put the substance from the bathroom cabinet into a frying pan would have been completely wrong, as absurd as cooking with the industrial lubricants it was also known to be. This explains the deep-seated reluctance—why, even after its “discovery,” adoption was a slow, multi-decade process. The nation first had to be convinced that the contents of the ear-dropper bottle belonged on their salad.

The Culinary Void

While olive oil was locked in the chemist, the British kitchen was fuelled by other fats. Mainstream cookbooks from the early 20th century are marked by the near-total absence of olive oil. Cooking, particularly frying, was done with lard or beef dripping. These were the traditional, culturally accepted fats that formed the heart of the national diet.

There was, however, one significant exception: the immigrant communities. In areas like London’s Soho, a small but thriving Italian community had existed since the late 1800s.These families established their own food shops, bars, and restaurants, running them for generations. Specialist delis like Lina Stores and I Camisa & Son (located in Old Compton Street) were like food embassies, stocking the “Roman and Tuscan exotica” (or ‘exotic goods’) that were staples of their home diet: pasta, parmesan, pesto, and olive oil.

But this was a closed world. For the average Briton, these shops were not part of their food landscape. They served the local Italian community and a small, adventurous set of “bohemian” elites or writers. It is true, as some historians note, that olive oil was imported and known to the wealthy in the Georgian and Victorian eras. However, this “urban myth” of it being completely absent must be understood in context: its use in rich 19th-century cooking did nothing to shape its identity for the general public in the 20th century. For the vast majority of the population, from 1900 to 1949, olive oil was not food. It was a foul-tasting medicine one bought from the chemist.

The Aspirational Palate (1950-1979)

The David Revolution (The Aspirational Catalyst)

The revolution began not with a taste, but with a book. In 1950, Elizabeth David’s A Book of Mediterranean Food landed in a “grey and daunting”  post-war Britain, a country still defined by shortages and the “terrible” food of rationing. David, an upper-class rebel who had spent the war in France, Greece, and Egypt, wrote the book out of an “agonized craving for the sun”.

The book was a burst of colour in a black-and-white world. Its opening pages described a sensual, foreign landscape of ingredients: “…the oil, the saffron, the garlic, the pungent local wines; the aromatic perfume of rosemary, wild marjoram and basil… the brilliance of the market stalls piled high with pimentos, aubergines, tomatoes, olives, melons, figs and limes…”.

This book was the single most important catalyst in the history of British olive oil use. However, its initial impact was not practical, but aspirational. As David herself and many historians have noted, the ingredients she described—especially aubergines, garlic, and olive oil—were “scarcely obtainable” in Britain at the time. Rationing would not even end until 1953. Therefore, the book was not, at first, a practical cookbook. It was, as food historian Sam Bilton notes, a “travelogue as well as [a] cookery book”. It “piqued the imagination of the middle class cook”  and sold them a fantasy. It was a “window on to a more expansive, colourful future”.

For this new, aspirational “high society,” olive oil became the central, symbolic ingredient of this Mediterranean fantasy. Its status was thus established in theory long before it became a practical reality. Elizabeth David’s work created the desire for olive oil, influencing generations of future chefs and food writers. She single-handedly managed the first stage of its cultural re-branding: she moved it from the world of ‘medicine’ to the world of ‘sophisticated fantasy.’

The Package Holiday Pioneers (The Experiential Track)

If Elizabeth David provided the “top-down” ideas for the elite, a second, matching revolution was happening from the “bottom-up.” The rise of the package holiday in the late 1960s and 1970s gave ordinary Britons their first direct, hands-on experience of Mediterranean food.

For a generation of Boomers, the defining “first taste” was not from a book but from a beachfront restaurant in Spain or Italy. This holiday experience “tempting the British palate with tasty new foods and ingredients” was transformative. This is where the nostalgic memory of the first “foreign” dish, like Spaghetti Bolognese, was born.

Crucially, this experience created a new, mass-market consumer demand. The nostalgic “souvenir” from this era was often a bottle of olive oil or a straw-covered bottle of Chianti, brought back to recreate a taste of the sun. This created a new, growing demand that was entirely separate from the “high society” interest of David’s readers. This was not about aspiration; it was about nostalgia for a direct, enjoyable experience.

The Stark Domestic Contrast

This new desire, however, clashed badly with the reality of the British kitchen in the 1970s. This was the decade of “Duck with Orange” and “Black Forest Gateau”. It was the absolute peak of “Crisp ‘n Dry”. This popular vegetable oil was marketed with the specific boast that it wouldn’t stick to food and make it “soggy,” a direct continuation of the cultural dislike of “oiliness”.

The average British diet was still dominated by boiled potatoes and carrots. Wine, now a common holiday drink, was still seen as something only for the “upper classes” back home.

This created a “pincer movement” that would define the next two decades. At the top, David’s middle-class readers were beginning to seek out the specialist Soho delis for “authentic” ingredients to fulfill their culinary fantasies. At the mass-market level, package holidaymakers were creating a new demand for the flavours of the Mediterranean. These two distinct tracks—one seeking “authenticity” and “high society” status, the other seeking the nostalgic “taste of holiday”—laid the foundation for the two-track market that still exists today: the elite, artisanal EVOO and the generic, mass-market olive oil.

The TV Revolution: Health, Hedonism, and the Home Cook (1980-1999)

The Health Halo: Permission to Consume

Before olive oil could truly enter the mainstream, it needed to overcome one final hurdle: the “fat-fearing” culture of the 1980s and 1990s. This was the era of the low-fat craze, a time when all fat was seen as the enemy. The main food conflict was the “butter v margarine” war, with shoppers urged to switch to margarines full of trans fats, which were mistakenly believed to be healthier.

The “Mediterranean Diet” was the intervention that changed everything. The concept, first proposed by Ancel Keys in the 1970s and based on his “Seven Countries Study” in the 1950s and 60s, gained widespread medical and popular support in the 1980s and 90s. This diet—based on plant foods, moderate fish, and olive oil as the main culinary fat—was scientifically linked to clear cardiovascular protection and reduced risk of chronic diseases.

This was the “green light” the British public needed. In a world terrified of “bad fats,” the Mediterranean Diet re-classified olive oil as a “good fat”. It provided a scientific and medical reason to embrace a “foreign,” oily food culture. This “health halo” allowed a generation of health-conscious shoppers to get past their cultural dislike of “oiliness” and make the switch, choosing olive oil over both butter and margarine.

The Hedonistic “Glug” (Keith Floyd)

With scientific permission granted, the first generation of true celebrity TV chefs arrived to provide cultural inspiration. The most important pioneer was Keith Floyd. Floyd was the total opposite of the “posh snob” stereotype that Elizabeth David had, perhaps unintentionally, created. He was a “Great British Eccentric”, a “pissheaded cultural equator” who “changed all that” for a generation.

Floyd’s shows, beginning with Floyd on Fish in 1985, were “cheerful mayhem”. He famously ad-libbed his scripts, cooked on makeshift hobs in “sun-drenched locations”, and punctuated his instructions by swigging from an “ever-present glass of wine”.

His nostalgic, cultural signature was the “good glug of olive oil”. His style was an “easy ‘throw it in and see'” instruction that took the mystery and snobbery out of European cooking. He took the “exotic” ingredients of David’s books and showed a mass audience that cooking with them could be fun, chaotic, and achievable. He associated olive oil not with snobbery, but with pleasure, travel, and a joyful rejection of “staid” British food. He gave a generation, primarily Generation X, the confidence to finally use it.

The Conscientious Teacher (Delia Smith)

If Keith Floyd provided the confidence, Delia Smith provided the know-how. As Britain’s most trusted food writer, she was seen as the “Volvo” of cooking—safe, reliable, and essential. When Delia recommended an ingredient or a piece of equipment (like a lemon zester), it triggered the “Delia Effect,” causing nationwide shortages.

Delia’s career perfectly charts the nation’s transition. As late as the 1980s, she was still acknowledging the old way, directing her audience to buy olive oil from the chemist. But as supermarkets began to stock it, she guided her millions of followers through the new, confusing landscape. In a world now facing “wall-to-wall oils”, she was the teacher who explained the difference.

Her distinction, captured in her columns, was vital: “Extra virgin olive oil is for special occasions; for cooking, just plain slutty olive oil will do”. She gave her audience clear permission and instruction. Delia, more than anyone, was the figure who held the nation’s hand and moved olive oil from the chemist’s counter to the kitchen counter for millions of ordinary households.

The 90s Dinner Party: The Nostalgic Payoff

The 1990s was the decade where all these forces—David’s aspiration, the holidaymaker’s nostalgia, the health halo, Floyd’s confidence, and Delia’s instruction—finally came together. The nostalgic memory of the 90s dinner party is one of “posh pesto”, sun-dried tomatoes  (once a luxury, now a common ingredient), and “unashamedly sickly-sweet” desserts like banoffee pie.

Crucially, this was the era of the “drizzle.” In the new gastropubs and at middle-class dinner parties, “balsamic vinegar… alongside extra-virgin olive oil and crusty bread”  became the standard starter. The act of “drizzling” was the decade’s key food trend. It was the mass-market version of the fantasy Elizabeth David had sketched 40 years earlier, now a real, edible, and aspirational reality for the British middle class.

Table 2: The “Liquid Gold” Tastemakers: Key Influencers on UK Olive Oil Consumption

InfluencerEraKey ContributionCultural/Nostalgic Tagline
Elizabeth David1950sIntroduced the concept of Mediterranean food; made olive oil intellectually aspirational for the middle class. “An agonized craving for the sun”  / “Pimentos, aubergines, tomatoes, olives” 
Keith Floyd1980sDemystified “foreign” cooking; associated olive oil with hedonism, confidence, and chaotic fun. “A quick glug”  / “Pissheaded cultural equator” 
Delia Smith1980s-1990sInstructed the nation; gave millions of home cooks the competence and explicit permission to buy and use it. “The Delia Effect” / “Plain slutty olive oil”
The River Café (Rogers/Gray)1990sEstablished provenance (origin) as the new status. Made single-estate EVOO the cornerstone of high-end, simple, seasonal cuisine. “Tuscan odyssey”  / “A grilled piece of bread with the new season’s olive oil” 
Jamie Oliver1990s-2000sDemocratized EVOO (made it accessible to all) for Millennials; made it the default everyday ingredient, completing its cultural assimilation. “A good lug”  / “Ripped up in any old fashion” 


The Dual Track: For the Many and For the Few (1995-2010)

The 1990s and 2000s locked in the two-track system for olive oil. As one cultural force, Jamie Oliver, completed its total mainstream adoption, another, The River Café, simultaneously lifted it into a new stratosphere of luxury.

Part 1: The Mass-Market “Lug” (Jamie Oliver)

The final step in making olive oil an everyday staple was taken by Jamie Oliver. A product of The River Café himself, Oliver’s genius was in translating its elite, ‘rustic’ Italian ideas for a mass-market, ‘lads ‘n’ lasses’ television audience.

His first show, The Naked Chef, “undid years of weird British snobbery around food”. He was not a “vol-au-vent man”; he was about simple, bold flavours. His nostalgic, cultural signature was the “good lug” or “glug” of extra virgin olive oil, which he famously put in everything—from salads and pastas to fried rice. His huge, almost comical, use of EVOO (“half a bottle!”; “400ml” in one meal) became a beloved national joke.

This shift from Floyd’s “glug” to Oliver’s “lug” is important. Keith Floyd’s “glug” was an act of rebellion—a mischievous permission to use this “foreign” oil. Jamie Oliver’s “lug” was an act of assumption. For his Millennial audience, EVOO was no longer “Mediterranean” or “exotic”; it was the normal starting point for all modern cooking. His very surname, as noted on social media, contains the word “olive”.He represented the final, total adoption of olive oil into the British kitchen.

Part 2: The High-Status “Drizzle” (The River Café)

Just as Oliver was making olive oil a “pukka” staple for the masses, his mentors were teaching “high society” how to set themselves apart. The River Café, founded by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, became one of Britain’s most influential restaurants, training a generation of chefs.

Their philosophy was an “obsessive”hunt for seasonal and locally-sourced food (“provenance”), at a time when neither was fashionable. It was built on a love for simple, perfect Italian ingredients. Ruth Rogers recalled her culinary revelation in Italy: “The first thing I remember eating there was a grilled piece of bread with the new season’s olive oil… I was so impressed! It’s amazing to think that you can get so many flavors from one ingredient”.

This philosophy was cemented at the restaurant. The annual “Tuscan odyssey” by Rogers and Gray to find the “finest extra-virgin olive oil” became legendary. As supermarkets began to flood the market with cheap, generic, and often “dusty” or “mouldy” tasting oils, The River Café and its best-selling cookbooks created the new signifier of “high society.”

Status was no longer about if you used olive oil (everyone did, thanks to Jamie), but which EVOO you used. The ultimate status symbol was no longer the 1990s gastropub “drizzle”, but the specific drizzle of a single-estate, new-season Capezzana 2006 from a medieval Tuscan estate over a simple piece of bread. This defined the new luxury market.

The Supermarket Aisle: The Battleground

The retailers responded to this two-track system. The 2000s saw “dynamic growth” in the oils market, overwhelmingly dominated by olive oil. Supermarket shelves, which were once simple, became “confused” and complex. A 2000s report noted that with only 30% of UK households then buying olive oil, the “growth potential is phenomenal”.

To capture this, supermarkets developed a “good, better, best” strategy, reflecting the new dual market:

  1. Good (The Mass Market): Cheap, generic “pure” or “mild and light” olive oils, designed for cooking and to convert users of other vegetable oils.
  2. Better (The Mainstream): Branded extra virgin olive oils, dominated by names like Filippo Berio and Carapelli.
  3. Best (The Aspirational): Supermarket own-brand luxury EVOOs, such as Sainsbury’s “Extra Virgin Olive Oil di Canino”, designed to copy the “high society” origin trend set by The River Café.

This layered system fixed the dual identity of olive oil in the British mind: it was both an everyday item and an aspirational luxury good.

The Modern Era: Connoisseurship, ‘Clean Eating’, and Crisis (2010-2025)

From Staple to Status Symbol (Again): The New Connoisseurship

The 2010s saw the River Café idea of ‘provenance’ (knowing where food comes from)  become a mainstream concern for a new generation of ‘foodies.’ This drove the growth of a “new luxury” market for EVOO, which was valued at over $453 million in the UK by 2024.

This trend was a direct reaction against the “democratization” of the 2000s and the high-profile fraud scandals that revealed many mass-market “Italian” oils were fake or watered-down. A new, educated shopper emerged, one who believed it was “worth paying extra for authenticity”. Provenance, as one analyst noted, became “flavor’s new partner”.

This created a new “high society” of EVOO experts, moving far beyond a simple “drizzle”. This new luxury market is defined by:

  • Artisanal Brands: A demand for single-origin, hand-harvested (to be “songbird-safe”), and DOP-certified oils, prized for their high polyphenol content and “grassy complexity”.
  • “Olive Oil Sommeliers”: The rise of formal training courses in the UK and Europe, teaching professionals and enthusiasts the art of sensory analysis, much like wine tasting.
  • Tasting Experiences: High-end delis and restaurants began offering “olive oil tasting menus,” where courses are designed to highlight the specific flavour profiles of different oils, such as an “olive oil ice cream” or “olive oil caviar”.

The #AvocadoToast Generation: Olive Oil as Wellness

At the same time, on the mass-market popular culture front, olive oil went through its final and most important re-branding. Driven by Millennial and Gen Z wellness culture and amplified by social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, it became a central part of the “clean eating” movement.

The nostalgic, cultural touchstone for this generation is not an ear-dropper or a souvenir bottle; it is #avocadotoast. This dish, a “culinary sensation”, is culturally and visually incomplete without a finishing drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

This represents the final shift in thinking. The “Mediterranean Diet” of the 1980s was medical—a way to prevent heart disease. The “clean eating” trend of the 2010s is visual and about identity. The photogenic “drizzle” of EVOO on a “vibrant” dish is a visual symbol of a balanced, health-conscious, and “cool” modern lifestyle. Olive oil completed its journey from a medicine to a health food, and finally, to a core part of wellness as a lifestyle identity.

The Great Price Crisis (2023-2025): The Mass-Market Unravels

Just as olive oil seemed to have completed its 125-year conquest of the British kitchen, a “historic disruption” threatened to undo decades of progress.

The cause is climate change. Severe, long-term droughts and “climate extremes”  in key producing nations, particularly Spain (which produces 50% of the world’s oil), led to “record low harvests”  and a massive drop in global production.

The effect on the UK, a nation that relies completely on imports, was immediate and devastating. UK olive oil prices surged by an astonishing 150% between late 2021 and early 2024. The most powerful data point, cited in 2025, was the price of a standard 500ml bottle of Filippo Berio—a mass-market staple. At the end of 2022, it retailed for £3.75; by the end of 2024, it was £10.50.

This price explosion shattered olive oil’s “everyday staple” status, which had been won by Jamie Oliver only two decades earlier. Consumers are now being forced to “rethink how they buy cooking oil”. This consumer impact is twofold:

  1. Trading Down: Shoppers are abandoning trusted brands and “trading down” to supermarket “best-value” own labels, relying on reviews to find affordable options.
  2. Substituting Out: In a more alarming trend, many are being priced out of the category entirely, “reallocating spending” and actively seeking cheaper substitutes like sunflower and rapeseed oil —the very fats olive oil spent 30 years replacing.

This crisis has effectively collapsed the two-track system. The “high society” track of artisanal, single-estate oils remains viable for the wealthy, but the affordable mass market—the one built by package holidays, TV chefs, and health trends—is in danger. Out of economic necessity, olive oil is rapidly returning to its 1970s status: a “special occasion” luxury. The democratic victory of Floyd and Oliver, it turns out, depended not just on culture, but on a stable climate.

As of 2025, there is a fragile “positive outlook.” Better harvests in the 2024/2025 season are predicted to “halve” wholesale prices. However, the market remains volatile, and the fundamental weakness of the global supply chain to climate change has been starkly revealed.

The Enduring Elixir

The 125-year journey of olive oil in the United Kingdom is a unique story of cultural re-branding. It is the story of an object that was successfully moved, in the nation’s collective mind, from the bathroom cabinet to the kitchen pantry; from a medical item to a fantasy; from a foreign “exotic” to an affordable staple.

It began the 20th century as a medicinal substance, sold in small bottles at the chemist to treat “bunged-up ears”.1 It was then “discovered” by the intellectual elite via the sun-drenched, aspirational books of Elizabeth David, who framed it as a fantasy of a better, more colourful life. This fantasy was given real form by the first package holidays, which provided the sensory “souvenir” that created mass-market desire.

This desire was unlocked by the “health halo” of the Mediterranean Diet, which gave a fat-fearing nation scientific permission to indulge. A generation of media tastemakers then translated this permission into practice: Keith Floyd’s hedonistic “glug”  provided the confidence; Delia Smith’s trusted instruction provided the know-how.

This led to the great two-track evolution of the 1990s and 2000s. While Jamie Oliver’s “good lug”  completed its total adoption by the Millennial masses, The River Café’s “Tuscan odyssey” simultaneously reinvented it as an elite, high-status signifier, where origin was everything. In the modern era, this dual identity was finalized: it became both a core, photogenic element of “wellness” culture via #avocadotoast  and a subject of intense “sommelier” expertise.

Today, olive oil is the only item in the British kitchen that exists as both a (now-expensive) commodity and an elite, artisanal luxury. Its cultural position is secure; it has fundamentally changed the British taste. The great question for 2025 and beyond is no longer cultural. The culinary war was won. The new, major battle is economic and climatic. The “liquid gold” that defined a civilization has become an uncertain staple, and its future in the British kitchen now depends not on the influence of chefs, but on the unpredictable weather.

Works cited

  1. Oil or nothing | British identity and society | The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jul/28/food.britishidentity
  2. The Secret Recipes Of The 19th Century – C.A. Asbrey, accessed November 17, 2025, https://caasbrey.com/the-secret-recipes-of-the-19th-century/
  3. The History of Olive Oil in Ancient Medicine and Rituals, accessed November 17, 2025, https://theolivebar.com/the-history-of-olive-oil-in-ancient-medicine-and-rituals/
  4. The History and Origins of Olive Oil: A Journey Through Time, accessed November 17, 2025, https://extravirginoliveoildirect.co.uk/blogs/articles/the-history-and-origins-of-olive-oil-a-journey-through-time
  5. From antiquity to contemporary times: how olive oil by-products and waste water can contribute to health – NIH, accessed November 17, 2025, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10615083/
  6. The Forme of Cury – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forme_of_Cury
  7. The History of Olives & Olive Oil – Eat My Globe, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.eatmyglobe.com/olives
  8. Was there a reason why olive and palm oil wasn’t more common in Britain given it’s Imperial connections? Especially in margarine. : r/AskFoodHistorians – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskFoodHistorians/comments/1nk9jcz/was_there_a_reason_why_olive_and_palm_oil_wasnt/
  9. Soap and the Victorians ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ – University of Plymouth, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-history-2-2/soap-and-the-victorians
  10. The Cult of Elizabeth David | English Heritage, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/blog/blog-posts/cult-elizabeth-david/
  11. Food in Britain in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s – Historic UK, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Food-in-Britain-in-the-1950s-1960s/
  12. The Mediterranean Diet: From an Environment-Driven Food Culture to an Emerging Medical Prescription – PubMed Central, accessed November 17, 2025, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6466433/
  13. My cooking inspiration: Keith Floyd | From my kitchen | Food – Travel – Life | The Guiri, accessed November 17, 2025, https://theguiri.co.uk/writing/writing-my-cooking-inspiration-keith-floyd/
  14. 35 food trends from the last four decades – ranked, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/foods-trends-from-the-last-four-decades-ranked
  15. UK Consumers Seek Value as Prices Reach Record Highs – Olive Oil Times, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/business/uk-consumers-seek-value-as-prices-reach-record-highs/142267
  16. Climate Extremes Drive Historic Disruption in European Olive Oil Supply Chain, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.einpresswire.com/article/797277213/climate-extremes-drive-historic-disruption-in-european-olive-oil-supply-chain
  17. Originality and olive oil – adrian monck, accessed November 17, 2025, https://adrianmonck.com/about/2009/12/originality-olive-oil/
  18. A tale of two Sohos: anarchist assassins and hospitality incubators – Neil Sowerby, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.neilsowerby.co.uk/2025/02/20/a-tale-of-two-sohos-anarchist-assassins-and-hospitality-incubators/
  19. A Book of Mediterranean Food – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Book_of_Mediterranean_Food
  20. Delia Smith | Eat My Globe, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.eatmyglobe.com/season-12/delia-smith
  21. Images of cooking oils packaging | SA/PKC/PRO/1/14/4/4 – Sainsbury Archive, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.sainsburyarchive.org.uk/catalogue/search/sapkcpro11444-images-of-cooking-oils-packaging/search/eweo-reference_number:sapkcpro/view_as/list/sort_by/date/order/asc
  22. The Grocer focus on oils | News, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/the-grocer-focus-on-oils/69291.article
  23. The Oral History of Jamie Oliver’s ‘The Naked Chef’ – VICE, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-oral-history-of-jamie-olivers-the-naked-chef/
  24. For 35 years, The River Cafe has remained one of London’s most significant restaurants – Foodism, accessed November 17, 2025, https://foodism.co.uk/features/river-cafe-35-years/
  25. Olive Oil Tasting Experience SOLD OUT – Bar Gigi – Nottingham, accessed November 17, 2025, https://bargigi.co.uk/olive-oil-tasting-experience/
  26. Why olive oil is so expensive as experts share best alternative – LADbible, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.ladbible.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/olive-oil-alternative-uk-price-cost-824827-20251026
  27. Olive oil prices set to halve after weather crisis eases – Grocery Gazette, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2024/11/18/olive-oil-prices-set-to-halve/
  28. 18th and Early 19th Century Cookbooks: Searchable, and FREE. | Savoring the Past, accessed November 17, 2025, https://savoringthepast.net/2014/08/28/18th-and-early-19th-century-cookbooks-digital-searchable-and-free/
  29. The Italian Community In Soho, London – The inspiration behind EVO, A Soho Story Cocktail, accessed November 17, 2025, https://bantof.com/2022/09/17/the-italian-community-in-soho-london-the-inspiration-behind-evo-a-soho-story-cocktail/
  30. Elizabeth David – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_David
  31. The enduring legacy of Elizabeth David, Britain’s first lady of food | Chefs | The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/08/elizabeth-david-first-lady-of-food
  32. The 100 best nonfiction books: No 30 – A Book of Mediterranean Food by Elizabeth David (1950) – The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/22/100-best-nonfiction-books-no-30-book-of-mediterranean-food-elizabeth-david
  33. Elizabeth David Hardback Review by Antonia Lloyd – Women In The Food Industry, accessed November 17, 2025, https://womeninthefoodindustry.com/elizabeth-david-a-book-of-mediterranean-food-reviewed-by-antonia-lloyd/
  34. What did British people eat everyday back in the 50s, 60s and 70s? : r/AskUK – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1fv9xw6/what_did_british_people_eat_everyday_back_in_the/
  35. Still Holding On to 1980s Diet Myths? It’s Time to Let Them Go – Scout Moor Pharmacy, accessed November 17, 2025, https://scoutmoorpharmacy.co.uk/still-holding-on-to-1980s-diet-myths-its-time-to-let-them-go/
  36. I can’t believe it’s not … healthy! | Food – The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jan/23/margarine-butter-health-wars
  37. Virgin Olive Oil and Health: Summary of the III International Conference on Virgin Olive Oil and Health Consensus Report, JAEN (Spain) 2018, accessed November 17, 2025, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6770785/
  38. Mediterranean diet – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet
  39. The Mediterranean Influence on the UK’s Culinary Landscape – Walnuts, accessed November 17, 2025, https://walnutscafe.site/the-mediterranean-influence-on-the-uks-culinary-landscape/
  40. Avocado Toast | Breakfast of the Millennials – Eat More Art, accessed November 17, 2025, https://eatmoreart.org/avocado-toast-breakfast-of-the-millennials/
  41. The Mediterranean diet: a view from history – PubMed, accessed November 17, 2025, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9322586/
  42. Butter’s back! But can it really be healthy? – Saga, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-and-wellbeing/butter-is-it-healthy
  43. Works of Keith Floyd – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_of_Keith_Floyd
  44. Keith Floyd – Wikipedia, accessed November 17, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Floyd
  45. Keith Floyd Changed My Life – VICE, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.vice.com/en/article/keith-floyd-changed-my-life/
  46. Delia Smith: The Delia Effect – YouTube, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR6JJtVQv3Y
  47. Delia’s guide to the perfect vinaigrette | Food – The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jan/13/delia-smith-guide-to-perfect-vinaigrette-oil-vinegar-recipe-the-delia-project
  48. 50 Women Game-Changers in Food – #35 – Delia Smith | More Time at the Table, accessed November 17, 2025, https://moretimeatthetable.com/2012/02/17/50-women-game-changers-in-food-35-delia-smith/
  49. The foods that ruled Britain in the 90s – Yahoo Life UK, accessed November 17, 2025, https://uk.style.yahoo.com/31-weird-90s-foods-brits-130000265.html
  50. 7 “luxury” foods from the 90s that even broke college students buy now – VegOut, accessed November 17, 2025, https://vegoutmag.com/food-and-drink/s-7-luxury-foods-from-the-90s-that-even-broke-college-students-buy-now/
  51. Food and drink everyone loved in 1990s Britain | lovefood.com, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.lovefood.com/gallerylist/226926/food-and-drink-everyone-loved-in-1990s-britain
  52. On the Rise: Olive Oil Tastings in the U.K., accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/world/olive-oil-tasting-in-the-uk/37926
  53. The Cafe Cook Book: Italian Recipes from London’s River Cafe by Rose Gray | Goodreads, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/531461.The_Cafe_Cook_Book
  54. Ruth Rogers: The Culinary Journey of the River Café’s Legendary Chef | PRIOR, accessed November 17, 2025, https://priorworld.com/editorial/ruth-rogers
  55. The River Cafe – London – Restaurant – 50Best Discovery, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theworlds50best.com/discovery/Establishments/UK/London/The-River-Cafe.html
  56. Why is Jamie Oliver hated on so bad? : r/AskUK – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/14im8u1/why_is_jamie_oliver_hated_on_so_bad/
  57. The River Cafe legacy: the enduring influence of one of Britain’s best loved restaurants | Food | The Guardian, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/aug/22/river-cafe-legacy-italian-restaurant-jamie-oliver
  58. Tweet This: “Jamie Oliver bloody loves olive oil!” | California Olive Ranch, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.californiaoliveranch.com/articles/tweet-this-jamie-oliver-bloody-loves-olive-oil
  59. 6 Restaurant Cookbooks That Have Made Me a Better Home Cook | The Kitchn, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.thekitchn.com/restaurant-cookbooks-that-have-inspired-me-216553
  60. Jamie Oliver is quite possibly the worst celebrity chef on the planet. In fact, I feel bad calling him a chef. He’s a cook, at best. Chubby mockney tosser. – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/iwn64d/jamie_oliver_is_quite_possibly_the_worst/
  61. Watching Jamie Oliver pour Italy’s entire reserve of extra virgin olive oil on everything he cooks – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/comments/a7qh25/watching_jamie_oliver_pour_italys_entire_reserve/
  62. U.K. Consumer Guide Reviews Supermarket Olive Oils, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/world/magazine-olive-oil-survey/17883
  63. The River Cafe Look Book: Recipes for Kids of all Ages | Standard Edition – Phaidon, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.phaidon.com/en-us/products/the-river-cafe-look-book-recipes-for-kids-of-all-ages
  64. Fine dining cookbooks (contemporary or classic) : r/finedining – Reddit, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/finedining/comments/1hjltiv/fine_dining_cookbooks_contemporary_or_classic/
  65. The River Café (The Return), London | Food Snob, accessed November 17, 2025, https://foodsnobblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/the-river-cafe-the-return-london/
  66. Chefs Weigh In on Their Favorite Brands of Olive Oil – EatingWell, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.eatingwell.com/chefs-weigh-in-on-their-favorite-brands-of-olive-oil-11788426
  67. Image of Sainsbury’s Olive Oils | SA/PKC/PRO/1/14/4/4/11, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.sainsburyarchive.org.uk/catalogue/search/sapkcpro1144411-image-of-sainsburys-olive-oils/search/ewao-everywhere:packaging/timeline-from/1880/timeline-to/3594/view_as/grid/c/2
  68. UK Extra Virgin Olive Oil Market Size, Growth, Trends, 2035, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/uk-extra-virgin-olive-oil-market-44527
  69. Like An Extra Virgin: Olive Oil For The 21st Century Cook – Kitchen Detail, accessed November 17, 2025, https://lacuisineus.com/extra-virgin-olive-oil-for-the-21st-century-cook/
  70. Olive Oil Market Trends: 2025 Outlook & Future Insights – Torg, accessed November 17, 2025, https://usetorg.com/blog/olive-oil-trends-in-2025
  71. What Are the Best Olive Oil Brands? – Sous Chef, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.souschef.co.uk/blogs/the-bureau-of-taste/what-are-the-best-olive-oil-brands
  72. Olive Oil Academy – IRVEA, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.irvea.org/en/olive-oil-academy-2/
  73. The Olive Oil Professor | The Class You Always Wanted To Take, accessed November 17, 2025, https://oliveoilprofessor.com/
  74. Renowned Sommelier Program Expands in Europe – Olive Oil Times, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/tasting-olive-oil/sommelier-program-expands-in-europe/136892
  75. Olives & Olive Oil Tastings – Oliveology Organic Artisan Products, accessed November 17, 2025, https://oliveology.co.uk/product/olives-olive-oil-tasting/
  76. How TikTok is Fueling Overconsumption – YouTube, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKkQdS6VxNM
  77. Tik Tok Culture, Overconsumption, & Corporate Greed – YouTube, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uohyaz_lJw4
  78. An Ode to Avocado Toast – rachelartus, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.rachelartus.com/nutrition-wellness/an-ode-to-avocado-toast
  79. Craving Avocado Toast? How Love Island USA Inspired My Daily Habit – Lemon8-app, accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.lemon8-app.com/@isismpinto/7401306659672343045?region=us
  80. Is the olive oil price crisis over? – Commercial Purchasing, accessed November 17, 2025, https://commercial-purchasing.co.uk/market-news/f/is-the-olive-oil-price-crisis-over

Similar Posts