At the time of the Greek colonial expansion, around the seventh century a. C. The Greeks brought oil production to Italy. The Phoenicians, the great merchant town of the Mediterranean antiquity, took the cultivation of the olive tree to the coasts of the south of the Iberian Peninsula, the current Andalusia, towards the 11th century BC. C.
Nowadays most of the production is well carried out in the countries of the Mediterranean area. Although it could be seen that the zones of influence had at some point in the history of the Mediterranean countries, it makes their cultivation a protagonist, is the case of olive oil in California, as well as in some countries of Latin America. Olive oil participates in dishes with a Mediterranean character. Authors such as Georges Duhamel highlight the Mediterranean effect of the olive saying that: "The Mediterranean ends where the olive leaves to grow", the idea of Mediterranean cuisine naturally evokes the smell of olive oil
