All olives matter, but some are more important, depending on the ethnicity.
Mexican and Italian really needs black olives. That’s not to discriminate against green olives, which belong on a blue cheese burger. But salsa, burritos, lemon-chicken salad, tacos, spaghetti, pizza—Mexican or Chicago—black olives matter much more than green or red olives.
Am I an olive chauvinist? Yes. But not as much as I am a food chauvinist. As farmers, my grandparents fed us soul food. While I didn’t much care for their overcooked, fattening recipes, they had black olives. And that mattered. It still does.