Who would have thought that our nation’s third President was also a major foodie?!
Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, was not only a founder of this nation, had a passion for food and all things olive oil related.
Founding Father, teacher, scholar, botanist, plantation owner, gardener — there are many things Jefferson was, but there’s one huge part of him many people don’t know. He served as an envoy to France for many years during the Revolutionary War, and ended up touring many regions of Alpine and Mediterranean Europe. It was there that he developed a lifelong love of olive trees, even once stating “the olive tree is surely the greatest gift of heaven”. He was infatuated with them, and upon his return to the United States, begged the agricultural society of South Carolina to allow him to commission and purchase young olive trees.
Jefferson would eventually admit defeat in the harvesting of olive trees, and blamed it on South Carolinians unwillingness to grow something so new. In all actuality, it was the temperamental weather of the area that disabled the olive trees from growing, with the extreme humidity and bitter frosts the seasons brought.
Jefferson called olive oil a “necessity of life” and was adamant about keeping his own supply well stocked. It was his belief that olive oil had the ability to make a limited diet more wholesome and appealing. He was known for dousing his vegetables and salads in olive oil from France; so much so that a cousin of Jefferson’s included his version of salads in The Virginia Housewife Cookbook in the mid-19th century.
It is possible that Jefferson’s love and use of olive oil is the reason why he lived to be 83 years old in a time when the average lifespan was 40. Since then, studies have shown the countless health benefits of olive oils and many people encourage the use of it in foods daily. This Fourth of July, we can not only thank Thomas Jefferson for his wisdom and contributions to American history but also for, in part, introducing olive oil as an integral and delicious part of a healthy diet.
https://www.oliveoilsource.com/article/thomas-jefferson-and-olive-oil-our-first-foodie-president
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/mediterranean-journey-1787
Blog by Cailyn P.
