Know Thy Importer

Photo by Amy Zambonin
Elizabeth Kilvert, top, owner of The Unrefined Olive in Kanata and the Glebe, is a certified oleologist (think olive-oil sommelier.) Not only can you trust the quality and purity of the olive oil at her shop, but you can taste-test more than 60 different varieties, along with dozens of aged balsamic vinegars.
Mike George, above, sells small-batch olive oil at his newly open Aurelius Food Co. in Ottawa's Wellington West. He's holding down the shop while his uncle works with fellow olive farmers just outside of Rome to select and export the hand-harvested and -processed oils.
Kris Giannakos of Ilias & Sons, top, is shown talking to customers at La Bottega in the ByWard Market, sells olive oils made by his father in Greece, from trees grown on their fifth-generation farm.
Olive oil samples.