Stig has been Senior Brand Manager at Haugen-Gruppen AS, the largest food import company in Norway.

He has worked in the food sector for more than 25 years, in companies such as Nestlé, Mars, and Haugen-Gruppen AS. He started working with olive oil in 2000 when he joined Haugen-Gruppen as a Key Account Manager. He sold olive oil to the main retail chains in Norway. For 15 years he has been a brand manager in the retail sector.

For 3 years he has been a brand manager in the food service sector. In 2015, he took a technical course for olive oil tasters and started training to become a professional taster. He has participated in international meetings for “ONAOO tasters” since 2017.

He has taken part in many olive harvests and presses in Spain, Italy and Greece in the last 12 years to get to know the different “cultures” of olive oil production (from small producers to large ones) and to understand the differences. He has been teaching Norwegians about olive oil by tasting it with managers of big companies, shop managers, journalists, salespeople, and others. He now runs his own company, Lukt, Smak og Nyt (Smell, Taste and Enjoy), teaching consumers how to select and use extra virgin olive oil.

Roberto Rastrelli is a Professional Taster of ONAOO since 1989.

Maria was born in Salento and lives between Busto Arsizio, Rome and San Remo. She has had a career in public administration for 28 years, in a municipality and a ministry.

Maria works freelance as a journalist, PR, communicator, writer, event organizer. She has written books in teams and individually, and has edited several texts and volumes. She is a member of ONAOO and became a Professional Oil Taster at the ONAOO School in 2017.

She is also a chocolate taster in the Lindt panel. For the last six years she has been working in the oil industry as a producer, taster, communicator and event organizer.

Born in a country where butter is king and mayonnaise is queen, I was pleasantly surprised by the magnificent taste and pleasantness of extra virgin olive oil during my holidays in south east Crete in the 80s.

At the time, I was working in the product engineering sector in a multinational company, but I was ready for a change.

I started importing this delicious product and I set myself the challenge of letting the people who love butter in my country taste this gift of nature. As a pilot, I knew it was possible to fly without an engine, but not without knowledge and skills. I quickly realized that additional support was needed to achieve my goals.

So I knocked on ONAOO’s door. Thanks to the dedication of the teachers, I embarked on a fascinating 3-year learning path.

I enjoyed developing my skills and knowledge and thanks to this support I have seen my business grow. Through retail, restaurant, direct sales and the web shop, I distribute two superb brands of extra-virgin olive oil, one Greek and one Spanish. “Olijfwinkel.be” is my starting point, alongside my company “Techtel.be”.