So what’s so great about olive oil? You can get so much more vegetable oil for the same cost as a jug of olive oil. Well olive oil will bring so much more flavor to your cooking. Certain foods won’t taste as greasy. And you can dip your bread in it and eat it straight like that. I would most certainly not recommend doing that with normal vegetable oil. With all of the different flavorings, you can use, the options are limitless for olive oil. Much like wine, the flavor of olive oil will vary season to season and place to place. This is due to climate conditions and the soil. Olives are also crushed for their oil in a very similar way that grapes are for wine. Olive tree groves are mainly in Australia, California, France, Morocco, Portugal, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey, Spain, and of course Italy and Greece, from these groves come over 600 varieties of olive oil. Gourmet olive oils can either carry the natural flavor of the olive or it can be flavored with other things like herbs, peppers, and garlic. Olive oil also has some health benefits, certain fats in the oil attract cholesterol and transport it out of the body.