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Although no one has yet made a movie about two men on an olive oil-tasting road trip, a culture similar to that of wine aficionados is growing around olive oil, both internationally and here in Israel. This summer, olive oil greats from around the world converge on the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem for events surrounding TerraOlivo 2010, an international olive oil competition taking place from July 25th through the 29th.

The contest-convention features olive oils from around the world, tastings, competitions and a day-long industry conference on July 28th, followed by an olive-oil themed gala dinner prepared by the Inbal's executive chef, Itzik Barak. Competition includes blindfolded evaluations, where judges rate the oils based on quality and freshness, balance and acidity.

TerraOlivio co-organizer Chaim Gan, who primarily serves as manager and owner at the Old city of Jaffa's Grape Man wine establishment in Old Jaffa, is also involved with TerraVino, an anual international wine competition held since 2006. In many ways, Gan feels that TerraOlivo is a natural outgrowth of TerraVino. In the Hebrew language, "We refer to a kerem zeitim, an olive vineyard," he explains to GoJerusalem.com, "so you see that we even use similar language to describe wine and olive oil. And there are other similarities as well. Both have many types, many varietals, both wine and olive oil are sensitive to when they were made, how long they are good for, how long they should be stored for. We do a lot of projects to encourage wine and olive oil and the culture surrounding them. We give the professional tools to a wider audience. Unlike bread and cheese, few people know how to determine what is a good wine, what is a good olive oil."

Although the competition is international in scope, with extra virgin olive oil contestants from as far away as Argentina and Chile as well as from Turkey and Greece, Gan has high prize for Israel's local varieties. "Ancient Israel was the leading producer of both olive oil and wine," Gan says. "Both are part of the seven species, kings used to be anointed with olive oil, it is deep in our culture - Chanuka and the miracle of the oil - I could go on and on. We are the cradle of wine and oil production. We have a history of olive oil making and we kept up that knowledge. Now we have many boutique oils."

Both the wine competition and the olive oil one are productions overseen by Gan in cahoots with entrepreneurs Raul Castellani and Moises Spak, and Gan sees his partners as key promoters of Israel's profile in the international culinary scene. "It's amazing to see Moises Spak, an immigrant from Argentina, work day and night to speak about Israel in a good light, to promote Israel," says Gan. "Raul Castellani is a mature and international man who did a lot to promote wine throughout the world, and this led to our collaboration; we wanted to do it the most professional way here in Israel."

And not only in Israel, but specifically in Jerusalem. Gan explains TerraOlivo's choice to hold the event in the Holy City: "Everywhere in the world people know about Jerusalem. It's the center of the world.... The Inbal Hotel was also especially helpful in organizing this event. It's very hard to organize to bring olive oil samples in from Turkey, Tunisia [and Palestinian areas], and the Inbal was very helpful to us, so we hope to keep holding the event there for years to come. We think Israel can and should be a capital of wine and oil production once again."