For many years, the Indian kitchen has viewed olive oil through a purely functional lens. It was something bought in a chemist or a specific health aisle, used sparingly to sauté vegetables for those watching their cholesterol. We treated it as a medicinal fat, a substitute for ghee or refined sunflower oil, rather than an ingredient with its own personality. However, to truly master the art of the Mediterranean diet and modern gourmet cooking, one must stop thinking of olive oil as a medium for heat and start thinking of it as a seasoning. Olive oil is essentially a fruit juice. Unlike seed oils which require heavy processing and chemical extraction, extra virgin olive oil is the oil extracted from the olive fruit using purely mechanical means. Because it is a juice, it carries the terroir of the land, the soul of the soil, and a complex spectrum of flavours that can range from the scent of freshly cut grass to the spicy kick of a green peppercorn. When you cook with it correctly, you are not just greasing a pan: you are layering a sophisticated flavour profile into your meal.