What do you do when you know little about something you’re interested in?

If it’s a job then you research it and if it’s a dating prospect then you stalk the person on the internet until you what church his favorite aunt goes to. Whatever it is, you do your best to learn more about the subject via various mediums you have available. I found myself in that scenario recently and the subject at hand, olives. Knowing very little about olives, especially those from Spain, when I got the opportunity to learn more about them I went straight to a perfect source: chef José Andrés.

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Decorated chef José Andrés holds prestigious titles including 2018 “Humanitarian of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation, 2017 Lifetime Achievement award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” for 2012 and 2018. Born and raised in Asturias, Spain, chef Andrés can now add the unofficial title of brand ambassador for the second “Have an Olive Day” campaign by Olives from Spain with financial backing from the European Union. Through the campaign, chef Andrés will reintroduce the Mediterranean fruit in a light that showcases the styles, quality, and many ways olives can be incorporated into popular dishes. From the classic manzanilla green olive, hojiblanca black olive, the queen olive, and a few others chef Andrés wants to put olives as at the forefront of your next dish.

Holding a private party at his Beverly Hills restaurant, The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel, chef Andrés presented the new campaign, previewed a selection of his commercials in the initiative, and passed around plates that featured olives. Throughout the evening, chef Andrés and his team prepared cocktails topped with black olives alongside tapas of boneless chicken wings with manzanilla green olives, liquid queen olives, fresh shucked oysters with olives, and black olive brownies. In between bites, I was able to brush up on my understanding of the importance of olives. Learning that olives have been a part of European cuisine for over 2,000 years was a great place to start. Then finding that Spain is a prominent contributor in the production and distribution of table olives serving 21% of the world’s production and 30% of its distribution was pretty surprising. To go along with the lesson I easily sampled some of the food that came out of the kitchen. Seeing that olives could have a delicious place such as in oysters and not just as a pizza topping was eye opening and delicious.

The night at the Los Angeles unveiling of the “Have an Olive Day” offered a great and succinct lesson in the history and culinary varietals of olives. I enjoyed seeing chef Andrés passionately discussing his love for olives that come from his country and seeing how they can play a part in plates. If you’re looking to get a new perspective of olives, to see the many ways they can be prepared, and learn more about the world of olives, I highly encourage you to take a look into the “Have an Olive Day” campaign!

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