An olive oil tasting event inspired by a Vincent van Gogh painting and guided by a leading chef will be offered in English by the B&E Goulandris Foundation on February 20, 2025.
Titled “The olive tree is like Delacroix,” the event will be held on February 20 at the Athens museum’s café-restaurant with chef Aristotelis Megoulas.
The foundation aims to give English-speaking audiences the opportunity to discover unknown aspects of olive oil by attending this special event, which draws inspiration from Van Gogh’s painting “Olive Picking” on display at the first floor of its permanent collection.
“The olive trees are very characteristic, and I’m struggling to capture that. It’s silver, sometimes more blue, sometimes greenish, bronzed, whitening on ground that is yellow, pink, purplish or orangish to dull red ochre. But very difficult, very difficult. But that suits me and attracts me to work fully in gold or silver,” Van Gogh wrote to his brother in 1889, concluding “But the olive tree is something else, it is, if you want to compare it to something, like Delacroix.”
Starting from the French olive groves that inspired Van Gogh, Megoulas will guide attendees through the world of the Greek olive oil, showing them how to identify high-quality product and all the different ways that it can be used.
Attendees will try award-winning olive oil varieties from various parts of Greece, along with fresh sourdough bread baked in a wood-fired oven from the Akra restaurant as well as freshly-baked, gluten-free loaves from the Asterisque bakery, and have the opportunity to meet Greek olive oil producers.
Participants will also taste a unique dish by the chef that highlights olive oil’s distinctive flavor and will take home a sample of the featured producer’s olive oil, the chef’s monthly recipe and a specially chosen surprise gift inspired by Van Gogh’s painting.
They can also join the event’s mailing list to receive the chef’s new recipes each month, gradually completing a unique recipe booklet dedicated to olive oil.
Megoulas is featured on the list of the 100 most influential chefs of the decade.
The event, which is limited to 20 participants, costs €60 (or €48 for B&E Members).
More information and Pictures: via website Goulandris Foundation
