Hilda is a certified Professional Olive Oil Taster since 2017 and a student with ONAOO since 2014.

She is a passionate home cook and baker always looking for new ways to use extra virgin olive oil in her kitchen.

She has published a Mediterranean cookbook, is a distributor of Olive oil (evirginoliveoils.com), has a food blog with lots of recipes (iwanttocookthat.com) and a YouTube channel (@iwanttocookthat3059).

I started studying tasting related to olive oil, one of the subjects I worked in 2010, and got the title of Professional Olive Oil Taster at ONAOO, the first international school in Italy and number one in the world. I am still continuing my education. I have organized olive oil tasting trainings with ONAOO, workshops and at the world’s most famous capital cities (Paris, Roma, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Morocco, Tunisia and Istanbul).

Özden Gözlüklü Saka, a graduate of Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir with a degree in Business Administration, completed an MBA at the University of Sunderland’s London campus.

She currently serves on the executive committee of the Women Entrepreneurs of the Aydın Chamber of Industry and is also a member of the Women in Agriculture cooperative in Kuşadası/Aydın. She maintains her professional involvement with her family business, HAUS Centrifuge Technologies, a manufacturer of olive oil extraction machines in Turkey.

The company, which is a leading industry benchmark, is now in its third generation of family ownership. As a key member of the family business, she played a pivotal role in establishing a state-of-the-art olive oil production and research and development facility in Kuşadası/Aydın. Additionally, Özden is the founder and manager of the Defnelia extra virgin olive oil brand, which is distributed both in-store at the factory and through an online sales platform.

She takes great pride in being able to explain to her customers the importance of quality olive oil, a topic that has been a lifelong interest of hers, beginning with her childhood when she helped her mother with the olive harvest. Her personal connection to the product prompts her to appreciate the significant effort and dedication required to harvest and process olives into olive oil, a process she considers highly valuable. Özden completed her training, having begun the ONAOO technical course in 2022 in Palermo. In 2024, she earned the qualification of professional taster, which will strengthen her commitment to the industry. It will also allow her to further deepen and raise awareness of tasting techniques and interpretation of olive oil’s organoleptic characteristics.

Alia has added a new skill to her culinary & gastronomy portfolio, being the first Egyptian female chef to hold a certificate as an advanced professional olive oil taster & sommelier from ONAOO Scuola in Liguria, Italy (The National Organization of Olive Oil Tasters).

Through her tasting skills & extensive practice, Alia has started a wave of awareness & tasting events across Cairo by partnering up with premium Egyptian olive oil brands as well as taking it internationally via harvest retreats/gastro-tourism across the Mediterranean.

Guests, chefs & enthusiasts are invited to explore the world of extra virgin olive oil by understanding the harvest process, touring olive groves, doing professional tasting sessions to look out for flavor notes & positive attributes of the different oil varieties and taste and pair each variety with different dishes through her curated menus.

I am very looking forward to continuing my educational journey into the world of olive oil with ONAOO and its network of tasters and professionals in the field, and also look forward to also educating more clients through my work.