[Ammi]

For the past decade, the oldest cultivated trees on Earth have been showing their vulnerability with many of the Mediterranean's olive groves drying up due to increasingly difficult weather conditions such as droughts and severe hailstorms leading to floods. And in 2023, the region – as well as the whole planet – experienced the hottest summer on record.

Italy, Greece and Spain, the largest olive-oil producing nations, have felt the greatest impact – as have chefs and consumers, who are baffled at what to cook with in lieu of their staple ingredient.

"I never saw in all my life a dryness like this one," said Rossella Boeri, olive oil producer and fifth-generation owner of Olio Roi in Badalucco, Italy, referring to the drought of this past summer. "Luckily the olive trees are strong, but we are facing a really big lack of production which is reflected in our olive oil prices, which coincidentally has led to a lower consumption and demand for our olive oil."