Alex, a native food enthusiast and skilled chef from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, runs a restaurant called Alessandro Mediterranean, which offers a wide array of delectable Mediterranean dishes.

Driven by his passion for European cuisine, Alex has also established a European gourmet food store.

This store specializes in various European food products and tableware, with a particular emphasis on Italian cuisine. It aims to bring authentic European flavors to its customers by providing high-quality ingredients, handcrafted products, and elegant silverware, creating a unique dining experience.

Alex honed his skills in this area as a professional olive oil taster by completing his training in ONAOO in 2018. He also serves as a trainer for the Specialty Coffee Association.

With these skills, he ensures that customers receive the finest products and services. To help customers understand European culinary culture better, Alex’s store regularly hosts cooking and coffee classes and wine-tasting events.

These activities allow customers to learn how to create authentic European dishes hands-on and bring the Italian lifestyle to their homes.

I completed my training in O.N.A.O.O. in 2018. Through my work as purchasing director of Mediterranean products, I was also responsible for the olive oil category. Being Dutch, I knew very little about it and luckily I found the training in Imperia and I can safely say it changed my life.

After 12 years I quit my job as purchasing director and continued in the world of olive oil. By now I had also done the Sommelier training in New York as well as the Master Miller training in Jaen, Enough baggage to ask the Ministry to nominate me as a panel leader at the European Union.

In between, I wrote the book “Olive Oil” and this has been translated into English, French and German and still my book brings olive oil lovers the idea to follow in my footsteps and we will meet again in Imperia. O.N.A.O.O. is one big family! Meanwhile, I founded the Olive Oil Institute and the Netherlands has an IOC certified panel consisting of 15 panel members, most of them trained by O.N.A.O.O.

In addition to a panel, the Olive Oil Institute has an electronic nose so that tests can be done not only subjectively but also objectively.

Several universities are also looking for such a method and we expect that this combination will improve quality overall. However, the panel will always exist because how good is good or how bad is bad, that remains a human judgment.

Fil Bucchino, a Florence-born and Toronto-bred trilingual documentarian, educator, and entrepreneur, has a fervent passion for olive oil, as showcased in his award-winning documentary “Obsessed with Olive Oil,” which he both hosted and co-produced.

Embracing the mission “No Grove Abandoned,” Fil founded Abandoned Grove to produce premium extra virgin olive oil from regenerated groves, raising awareness and restoring the connection to the olive tree, the landscape, the environment, and the community.

In 2023, A.I.R.O. honored Fil as the “Olive Oil Personality of the Year,” an award given to an individual who has shown remarkable commitment to spreading and sharing their passion for olive oil. Fil collaborates with numerous institutions and culinary icons, teaching master classes and working on projects with organizations such as Yale University, the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA), the Italian Trade Commission, Slow Food, the Mediterranean Round Table (MDR), the Lebanese Embassy, the Italian and Spanish Chambers of Commerce, and Women in Olive Oil.

He is a regular fixture as a judge at international olive oil competitions, including EVO-IOOC, Olio Nuovo Days, Olivonomy, Orciolo d’Oro, Olive d’Or, and Canada IOOC. Fil’s expertise has been featured in various global olive oil publications, such as the Toronto Star, UAE’s Shawati’ Magazine, The Brazilian Olive Oil Guide, El Anuario Olivar Español, South Korea’s Magazine F, Italy’s Chef Andrea Perini’s “Trenta Gocce,” and the USA’s David Neuman’s “Extra Virgin Olive Oil: The Truth in Your Kitchen.”

Accredited in the ONAOO International Register of Professional Olive Oil Tasters, Fil is also the only Canadian member of the Italian National Directory of Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Experts at the CCIAA of Florence, Italy.

For nearly 20 years, Fil has been a passionate communicator and avid promoter of extra virgin olive oil, focusing on education, production techniques, sustainability, and health benefits. He holds a BSc in BioMedical Sciences and spent almost a decade as a professional musician, recording and performing throughout his career.

Angela is graduated in Psychological Sciences and Techniques. She is an agronomist, landscape gardener and professor of Agricultural Sciences. Angela follows the production of the historic family olive oil grow in Castellabate (Cilento, Salerno), using sustainable agronomic practices and she believes that “Agricultural can and must integrate with natural resources of a territory, with the aim not only to safeguard the environment, but also to pursue the best quality characteristics of product contributing to generate the well-being place, the foundation of everyone’s health”.

Since 2016 she has been a Member of ONAOO and she started her educational path. In 2020 she concludes her studies by obtaining the Qualification of Professional Taster of ONAOO.