Should The Best Gifts be Thrown Away?

Why has olive oil become the go-to gift for metropolitan elites? The answer lies in the Covetable Consumable.

In today’s newsletter: The reasons for olive oil being the giftable of the moment. An olive oil for every personality. And what this says about gifting culture right now.

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Christmas gifting season is upon us, and with it comes the rafts of gift guides helping you to navigate our wide and varied consumer culture. And why do we need to have such rigorous gift guides? Well, anxious reader, because we feel JUDGED when we give gifts. They’re a reflection on how well we know someone but not only that they show our taste, how much money we have in our wallet and all myriad of other factors that are like kryptonite for those that fear the judgement of others.

And if you’re navigating the gifting economy in 2025 there is one gift that seems to come up more often than ever. In fact we would go so far as to say it has become the default gift for a certain kind of person. We are talking, about olive oil. The EVOO industry (we use the acronym solely to show how ubiquitous it has become) is the benefactor of a perfect storm that has made it the perfect giftable and a whole raft of olive oil brands have sprung up to service this demand.

If you want to achieve ultimate dinner-party smuggery this Christmas, leave the bottle of expensive vintage champagne or magnum of 1982 claret at home. The metropolitan power move to play this season is to arrive with a bottle of the finest olive oil — extra virgin, of course — under your arm, ready to regale fellow guests with facts about the origin, the olive, the trees whence it was grown. — Hannah Evans writing last year for the Times

A very aspirational drizzle

In times gone by we have veered more towards the keepsake side of gifts. Presents that primarily signify status rather than enhancing everyday life. The manner of their enjoyment often emphasising their specialness. Jewellery. Watches. Artist prints. Even wine sits on the keepsake side as you’re likely to store the bottle rather than drink it straight away. (side note: I’ve always loved cliché life advice of saving your best bottles for your worst days).

But now more than ever gifts are to be used not stored. We are all quite used to hearing about the experience economy and behind this well-established phenomenon are the same attitudes that lie behind that famous old adage, ‘You can’t take it with you when you die.’ For most modern consumers material possessions are great, but experiences are what make life worth living. Even LVMH, the custodian of the keepsake, now trades in the experience — cafés, residencies, and perfume pop-ups contributing heavily to the bottom line.

The experience economy attitude is also very much applicable to how we buy gifts. In 2025, spending several thousand taking a loved one to a Taylor Swift concert feels more justifiable than buying a piece of jewellery. We look for things that the receiver will remember rather than treasure. But this doesn’t just apply to the big ticket gifts. It has become chic to gift things that are to put it bluntly — consumables. Albeit elevated ones. Things that we use up and then potentially discard (more on that later).

We are BULLISH on olive oil gifting continuing as a trend. It’s already jumped from the Erewhons and Daylesfords of the world to the Whole Foods and then on to the Waitroses and Gelson’s. BUT we think there is still headroom for olive oil to continue it’s march outside of ‘metropolitan elites’. Below are some of the factors we think contribute.

UP ↑

1. It’s still chic
   Somehow it’s still very chic to gift olive oil, you’re showing you care about provenance and are discerning about flavour.

2. Wallets are squeezed
   Budgets are stretched, so rather than that new Ferrari, it’s going to have to be olive oil this year.

3. General oil awareness
   Graza helped us understand the distinction between EVOO and regular ole olive oil. Seed oils chat has swarmed over TikTok. We’re acutely aware of what oils we are drizzling and sizzling with.

4. Alcohol’s loss is EVOO’s gain
   People attending parties can never quite be sure if the whole crowd is drinking so buying alcohol feels like a gamble. Olive oil is a safe and chic bet.

5. East Asia
   Consumption of olive oil in East Asia is low, as it’s not traditionally been used in East Asian cuisine. The perception of olive oil is aspirational though. It’s seen as being healthy and desirable. Domestic producers are even popping up in China and Japan.

6. Olive oil ice cream. Dirty martinis.
   Our palates are olive forward now. We lust after that little kick of salinity in recipes where it never used to belong.

DOWN ↓

1. Saturation of Brands
   Are there now too many brands of olive oil, meaning that the market will be too splintered? We think this will depend on distribution. Most people will encounter EVOO in the physical shoppy shop rather than in some specialised online retailer.

2. Algae oil
   Could algae oil take market share off olive oil? It’s a bit techy and doesn’t carry with it the historical glamour of olive oil so we’re a little sceptical about gifting algae oil. The Nara Smith collab was interesting though.

3. Beef tallow and lard
   If algae oil is modernity, then beef tallow and lard are tradition. We’re seeing more people go back to these old school lipids. I wonder if we’ll ever see someone come up with a giftable beef tallow format.

4. Streetwear olive oil

   Is streetwear a poisoned chalice? We don’t think so, but there’s something a little unnerving about Supreme followers being into olive oil.

When we talk of olive oil being a saturated market, we really do mean it. There’s an olive oil to suit virtually every personality. It’s pretty fun to try and match the oil to who you would gift.

1. Psyche Organic - $28 USD for 500ml
   Olive oil for the skater dads and moms.
   Brand activation at the Fucking Awesome store? Check. Psyche is based from Copenhagen but with a strong US audience that leans skate and punk.

2. Korontini - £14 for 500ml
   Olive oil for the young foodie crowd.
   The founder Gigi has worked for Delli for quite some time and instinctively gets what London foodies are after. Packaging by All Purpose also helps.

3. Good Phats Spanish Extra Virgin Squeezy- £14.95 for 750ml
   For the person just trying EVOO for the first time.
   An accessible starting point for olive oil, that I might be unfairly calling the UK Graza. Not that Graza is bad - it’s just such a thing.

4. Perfumer H - £150 for 100ml
   For the design cognoscenti.
   A perfumer turns her hand to olive oil. Of course it’s going to be delicate and delicious.

5. SP360 - £38 for 500ml
   For the health nut who is counting the polyphenols in their olive oil.
   Design looks a little like a skincare packaging from brands like AKT London. Probably not by coincidence either, as the messaging is all about wellness.

6. La Cavalerie - €34 for 500ml
   For the luxury fashionista.
   From the estate of Emanuel Ungaro at the foot of the Luberon, and stocked at Merci in Paris. What more need I say.

7. Flamingo Estate - $48 USD for 473ml
   For the rich celebrity obsessed person.
   As featured in Vogue. Flamingo Estate products are so focused on provenance it can become comical. Rather than solely being about terroir, provenance here can literally mean which celebrities house the produce is grown on.

8. Manni ‘Oil of Life ‘ - £46 for 250ml
   For the Michelin man or woman.
   Gwyneth calls it ‘liquid gold’. Thomas Keller uses it in his restaurants. And for the corporate gifting crowd, you can even have your clients logo printed on the front.

9. Frantoio Muraglia ‘Octopus Ceramic Jar’ - €38 for 500ml
   For the crowd that want to keep the ‘jar’.
   Art that pours as they deem it. Artisanal ceramic jars can be reused for other purposes.

10. Olive oil literally from your nonna’s land - priceless
    For the actual European who gets to take olive oil for granted.
    Some people get to rise above olive oil as consumer culture. Good for them. Even better for them if they get to monetise it.

As we’ve established olive oil is a pretty familiar gift by now. So where could this trend possibly go? We think the Frantoio Muraglia take is very smart. The idea of the KEEPABLE CONSUMABLE fits modern consumer mentalities very well. Something that stays behind but can also be experienced. It’s not a new strategy - see Jean Paul Gaultier perfume bottles, Fortnum and Mason tea tins, Sara Flynn for Tekla candles or Clase Azul tequila. Or even the Danish biscuit tin that your aunt has held onto to keep nicknacks in.

Oftentimes this strategy is most easily expressed as a product that comes with beautiful packaging that can be treasured and displayed long after the product has been used up. Playing with the permanence of your product is a great way to tread the line between experience and keepsake.

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Thank you for making it all the way down here. We hope you love olive oil as much as we do. Right now we’re making our way through a season of food content at SKEWED. Please subscribe if you’d like to read more.