When Natalie Wheen cooks, the resulting dishes - steamed fish, stir-fried meat and vegetables, soup and stir-fried rice with vegetables and eggs - would be familiar in any Chinese kitchen. But one thing sets her Chinese food apart: It all starts with a little olive oil in the bottom of the pan.

"Good olive oil would naturally go well with Chinese food, because the Chinese people put so much care into making food that is fresh and flavorsome," says the Shanghai-born Wheen, who runs an upscale, organic olive-oil business in London. After a successful career as a radio commentator in the UK, she's now on a mission to convince the Chinese market that olive oil is tasty, healthy and can bring out the best in Chinese food.

That's a challenge, because olive oil is fairly new on the mainland's grocery shelves, and the limited supply has been mostly mass-market brands.