I was born in 1981 in Eskisehir. I am married and have three children. In 2003 I graduated from Uludağ University Food Engineering. In 2006 I completed my Master’s degree in Food Engineering at Uludağ University. I started the doctorate in Ege University Food Engineering in 2014 about oils and fats technology- olive oils and phenolic.

After I worked as a project manager in a private company in 2003, I started to refer to it in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, General Directorate of Protection and Control in 2005. I settled in Bursa in 2007 and started to work as a specialist researcher at the Central Research Institute for Food and Feed Control (“oil technology” – as an area of expertise) – and I still continue to work here. I am also responsible for doing and create projects with EU & Turkey Collaboration.

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). I am a member of the jury in various competitions organized in various countries and cities of the World like Tunisia, Paris, London, San Remo, Verona.

I was a co-organiser and moderator of three of the olive oil competition held in Turkey. I took part in three training sessions held as a tutorial with ONAOO in Turkey and I work as a professional olive oil taster and a teacher at ONAOO.

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

A degree in Economics and Banking, a Masters in Family Mediation, 20 years of work in a banking institution were not enough to forget his ambitions which prominently pushed him to start a new life path in 2016.

His origins were firmly planted in the family olive grove of upper Tuscia (Viterbo area, in general upper Lazio).

Since he was a child, that place represented entertainment, celebration and conviviality in the moments of harvesting and producing oil. Over the years, he began a new adventure with the aim to emulating his Etruscan ancestors, the first true ambassadors of the culture of outstanding quality.

He followed his training mainly through the big family of ONAOO and in March 2022 he obtained the certificate as Professional Taster.

He has been living in Bavaria for three years, where he conducts an activity both of consulting to specialized retailers and restaurateurs and of importing and selling of high quality extra virgin olive oils.

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.