Lately, however, I have been overwhelmed — if not straight-up exhausted — by all of this overemphasis on graphic design. I have tasted most of the options above and admire their commitments to quality ingredients and desire to build thoughtful brand identities (Heraclea’s recent fair trade status comes to mind). But I have also observed a slow, steady gravitation amongst my friends and food media colleagues toward pantry items that feel less aggressively hopecore-d out by what has, admittedly, become a predictable onslaught of wavy, squiggly, font-forward millennial packaging.
I’ve been yearning for the lo-fi, unbothered olive oils of yore. I’ve been looking with fresh eyes at my towering, plastic Pompeian olive oil jug that was a mainstay of my mother’s shopping cart in the 1990s, with its so-uncool-it’s-cool Thomas Kinkade-esque landscapes on the packaging. A single glance at its Under the Tuscan Sun era packaging sends me to a place of comfort.
Pompeian is a solid olive oil, for the record — the Robust EVOO in particular has a ripe and slightly nutty taste that I like for both cooking meats and dipping crusty breads. And while it may not look like it belongs on the shelves of an overpriced boutique gift store in Williamsburg, it’s not necessarily a super-budget pick; a 25.3-ounce bottle of Graza is about $16, while a 16-ounce bottle of Pompeian is about $9. Pompeian is also sustainably grown, owned by a family of farmers, and uses cold-press technology to create a smoother taste. In short, it may not be “aesthetic,” but it’s still good stuff. And I’m not throwing a gauntlet down against today’s cool kid olive oils, but not everything in your kitchen has to be Instagram-optimized.
