THE ‘80s A Special Report :...

The 1980s came in like a cow and is going out like a tree.

In the beginning everybody ate butter. They ate it in sauces (remember beurre blanc ?) and they ate it on bread. And then suddenly everybody began to worry about the big C of the decade: cholesterol.

But olive oil was waiting in the wings. It tasted good--and you didn’t have to feel guilty about eating it. And it was the essential ingredient of all of the major dishes of the decade.

As the decade ends, you find some restaurants offering olive oil tastings and others serving olive oil instead of butter with the bread. Olive oil now pours into America from every olive-growing region in the world.

The Taste Makers project was edited by David Fox, assistant Sunday Calendar editor.